Tryst by Cambria Hebert
(Take It Off #8)Publication date: May 16th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Goodreads: Click
Sometimes all a girl needs is a little fling…
Talie Ronson needs a vacation.
From life.
Since she caught her cheating, loser husband in bed with his assistant, her life has been on a steady spiral—right into hell. Her car’s a junker, her job sucks, and her perfect, gorgeous sister likes to brag about her wonderful life every time they “do” lunch.
In an effort to salvage what’s left of her life and her sanity, she takes the advice of her kooky best friend and takes off to Topsail Island. A week at the beach, alone, is exactly what she needs to recharge, regroup, and relax.
Only, her alone time is about to get derailed.
Gavin Palmer’s favorite activity is walking around in his boxers and eating junk food. He and his neighbors have an understanding. They stay out of his business and he stays out of theirs. He lives at the beach, not for vacation, but for isolation. He’s had enough of people to last him a lifetime.
Gavin’s isolation is interrupted when his normally quiet neighbor starts disturbing his peace. He stomps across the sand to give the guy a piece of his mind… only it isn’t a guy.
It’s Talie.
She’d maddening, nosy, and talks too much.
But she’s hot and her bedroom eyes have him thinking maybe he’s had enough solitude. Maybe a week of company is exactly what he needs.
Maybe what they both need is a no-strings-attached tryst.
Talie Ronson needs a vacation.
From life.
Since she caught her cheating, loser husband in bed with his assistant, her life has been on a steady spiral—right into hell. Her car’s a junker, her job sucks, and her perfect, gorgeous sister likes to brag about her wonderful life every time they “do” lunch.
In an effort to salvage what’s left of her life and her sanity, she takes the advice of her kooky best friend and takes off to Topsail Island. A week at the beach, alone, is exactly what she needs to recharge, regroup, and relax.
Only, her alone time is about to get derailed.
Gavin Palmer’s favorite activity is walking around in his boxers and eating junk food. He and his neighbors have an understanding. They stay out of his business and he stays out of theirs. He lives at the beach, not for vacation, but for isolation. He’s had enough of people to last him a lifetime.
Gavin’s isolation is interrupted when his normally quiet neighbor starts disturbing his peace. He stomps across the sand to give the guy a piece of his mind… only it isn’t a guy.
It’s Talie.
She’d maddening, nosy, and talks too much.
But she’s hot and her bedroom eyes have him thinking maybe he’s had enough solitude. Maybe a week of company is exactly what he needs.
Maybe what they both need is a no-strings-attached tryst.
Excerpt from TRYST
by Cambria Hebert
Copyrighted
material. Do not copy or share.
Just
as the road started to gradually lift and lead onto the bridge my car
made a very loud clunking sound and then groaned like it was going to
come apart at any second.
Even
though my foot was pressed on the gas the car slowed considerably,
idling along like a turtle who had no where it needed to be. “Come
on!” I yelled at the dashboard as I gave the steering wheel a
smack.
Suddenly
the wheel seemed extremely hard to steer. What usually was an easy,
effortless task now seemed like something that required large
muscles.
Did
I mention I was lacking in the muscle department?
I
applied the brakes and fought the Jetta to the side of the road. I
wasn’t about to try and make it over the bridge like this. My luck
I would plunge over the side and get eaten by a shark when I hit the
water.
The
loud rattling sounds the stupid car made drowned out the cadence of
the ocean waves and caused some of the peace I was found on my way
here to disappear.
After
several long moments of just sitting there, leaning my forehead on
the steering wheel and asking God why I was cursed I turned off the
engine. The car stuttered and then died. I knew it wasn’t going to
turn back on.
“And
the hits just keep on coming,” I said out loud.
I
opened the car door, letting it open so that the light would stay on
for a few moments and bent down to look for the hood release latch.
After I found it and popped the hood I stood there staring down in
the dark at the insides of a car I couldn’t see.
Then
I remembered my phone. The flashlight app was handy in moments like
this. Even with the engine and innards of the car visible I had no
clue what was wrong with it.
“I
am so getting a new car,” I sighed. I called up the number to
Triple A in my phone (I might not know how to fix cars but I knew how
to call people who did) and wondered how long it would take them to
send a tow.
A
pair of headlights appeared traveling in my direction. I raced around
the side of the car and leapt into the driver’s seat, slamming the
door behind me. After the way this week was going I would not be
surprised at all if the person behind the wheel of that car was a
serial killer out looking for his next victim.
The
car slowed and pulled directly behind my car.
See?
Total serial killer.
I
heard the slam of the door and watched as a large dark figure
approached. I could make out nothing because his headlights turned
him into nothing but a dark shadow.
The
only thing I knew for sure was that it was a man. Unless of course it
was a woman. Judging from the sheer size of the black shape if it was
a then she would have to be a professional body builder.
Seconds
later a darkened face appeared at my window.
“Car
trouble?” he rumbled. His voice was deep and his southern accent
was strong.
I
screamed.
I
forgot my window was down!
I
jammed the key back into the ignition and turned the engine over. It
made a puny, pathetic sound and stalled out. The windows were
electric. I couldn’t get it up if the car wouldn’t start.
“Please
don’t kill me!” I burst out.
A
laugh floated through the night air and wrapped around my body. He
put one of his hands on the door, so that it rested where the window
should be, his fingers falling down the inside of the door.
I
snatched the keys out of the ignition and swung down to stab the
fleshy part of the back of his hand. Seconds before I made him bleed
he jerked away.
“I’m
not going to murder you!” he shouted.
“Don’t
you yell at me!” I retorted.
“You
tried to stab me!”
“You
tried to kill me!”
“I
stopped to see if you needed help. You know, because your junker car
here stopped working.”
“How
dare you call it a junker.” I fumed. My car definitely was a junker
but I wasn’t about to let him insult me. I’d had enough of men to
last me a lifetime.
“Sweetheart,
I call it like I see it.” he drawled.
Damned
if I didn’t get goose bumps. His voice was like the velvet sky I
was admiring only moments ago. “Well, okay, it’s a piece of
crap.” I allowed. Obviously his southern accent was making me
stupid.
“I’m
just going to take a look,” he said. Before I could tell him no he
was walking around the front of my car. The glow of his headlights
gave me a glimpse of the way his hips rotated when he walked.
He
had long legs, the kind that owned the ground whenever he took a
step. He was tall… he had to be at least six two. Other than that I
couldn’t make out anything else about him. He was wearing a
baseball hat and it was pulled down low, shading all of his face from
the little light out here.
A
light clicked on up front (he must have the same app as me) and I saw
him reaching down into the engine. The sound of something being
pulled out of the car had me leaping out of my seat and rushing
around the front.
“What
the hell are you doing!” I demanded horrified as he pulled out this
long black thing. “Is that a snake?” I shrieked. Had I somehow
run over that giant thing and it got caught in my engine?
He
paused and looked up at me. “A snake?” he asked like he couldn’t
understand what I was saying. Then he shook his head. “It’s the
drive belt,” he muttered, going back to pulling it out.
“Well
if it’s supposed to be in there why are you pulling it out?”
“This
way when I go to kill you, I know you won’t be able to get away.”
Cambria Hebert is the author of the young adult paranormal Heven and Hell series, the new adult Death Escorts series, and the new adult Take it Off series. She loves a caramel latte, hates math and is afraid of chickens (yes, chickens). She went to college for a bachelor’s degree, couldn’t pick a major, and ended up with a degree in cosmetology. So rest assured her characters will always have good hair. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband and children (both human and furry) where she is plotting her next book. You can find out more about Cambria and her work by visiting http://www.cambriahebert.com
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