Excerpt:
“It happens all the time on the ice. Guys will say
anything to get inside your head. You don’t want to know what they say about
me.” Sergei shrugs, though his smile has faded. “That’s why I don’t like to let
them see the real me. Because then, no matter what they say, it’s like it’s not
even really me they’re attacking. It’s someone else entirely.”
In spite of myself, I’m reaching for his face,
brushing my fingers against his still-swollen lower lip. I’d heard what he said
in the interview—that he got injured in practice. Yet he hadn’t explained it
any further than that. None of his teammates had said a word about it. Sergei’s
eyes lid as I touch his lip, and his breath gusts over my fingertips as he
exhales, slow.
“What really happened?” I ask. I try to keep the
question light, but I can’t shake the feeling that it has something to do with
his brother.
Sergei sighs, and closes a hand around mine. He
kisses my fingertips, sending a thrill through my arm, then lowers both our
hands to my lap. “I can’t lie to you, Jael.”
My shoulders tense. This is it. Part of me hopes
desperately he’s speaking loudly enough for my phone to record it, but the rest
of me? It wants to keep this moment for myself.
“But there are some things I can’t discuss. With you,
or—or with anyone.” His fingers loosen around mine. “Please trust me when I say
it’s for the best.”
I can already imagine Frederica and Chief Ha shouting
at me to push him harder, to try and coax out whatever secret he’s locked away
behind those cold Siberian eyes. It’s not like it’s completely unknown—a few of
the news outlets have made vague whispers about his family being mixed up in
some bad shit along the Eastern seaboard, though everyone knows better than to
name names. To utter that which shall not be uttered. Bratva. The Slavic mafia boogeyman lurking in the night.
But this is more than some titillating crime drama to
be gobbled up in the news. This is personal for Sergei—a private pain. He’d
told me what it was like to grow up with nothing in Moscow; how his brother
took the first chance he could to make something of himself. Sergei could have
followed him into the mafia back then, but he chose not to—he chose to pursue
his real passion of hockey. To do honest work. He deserves some respect for
that.
I lick my lips. My throat feels impossibly dry. “Well,”
I force myself to say, “if you ever change your mind, I promise I’ll listen.”
Sergei smiles again, so bright it lights me up
inside. “Milaya devushka.” My darling one.
Book & Author Details:
Body
Checked by Katherine Stark
Publication date: August 18th 2015
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Suspense
Publication date: August 18th 2015
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Suspense
Synopsis:
SERGEI DRAKONOV. The newest
left wing for the Washington Eagles hockey team is a triple threat: muscle,
roughed-up good looks, and a dangerous tabloid reputation. Not the kind of guy
who fits into Jael Pereira’s five-year plan. Jael doesn’t have time for a
relationship, between her challenging senior-year course load and her
stiflingly dull internship at the FBI. But for one steamy night, she gives in
to Sergei and his smooth-talking ways.
Sergei wants more than just
another one-night stand. But his brother—a high-ranking member of the Russian
mob—wants him to help the family business. He can use Sergei as an easy way to
launder money, or to smuggle drugs on the Eagles team plane. And if Sergei
doesn’t agree, he can kiss his skating career goodbye.
The FBI’s been watching
Sergei. When they learn about Jael’s fling, they want her to persuade him to
inform on his brother. But the more Jael sees the real Sergei, beyond the role
he plays on the ice and in front of the cameras, the more she wants him in her
life. How can she win his trust, though, when she’s playing a role of her own?
And how can she protect him from his mobster brother when she can’t even
protect her own heart?
Body Checked is a standalone
HEA sports romance (m/f) in the Center Ice series of interconnected hockey
athlete stories. It contains explicit language and sexual content between
consenting adults.
Purchase:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1HDW8Xs
AUTHOR
BIO:
Katherine
Stark is the pseudonym for an author of novels in a variety of genres for
children and adults. She can nearly always be found buried underneath
a pile of story notes. If she isn't writing, she's probably reading,
playing video games with her husband, watching hockey, or eating her way across
the East Coast.
Author links:
Author links:
Newsletter
(sends out whenever there's a new Katherine Stark release): http://eepurl.com/buzIf9
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