Chaps and Chance

Lonesome Point, TX Series, Book 5

Jessie Evans

Release Date : March 17, 2015

 

Synopsis

A steamy, suspenseful, stand alone romance from New York Times Bestselling author Jessie Evans

How far will they go for a second chance…

Years ago, Layla Parker’s romantic dreams came true. She married her high school sweetheart and settled into a house on his family’s ranch to live happily ever after. But sometimes dreams turn into nightmares and when Layla’s husband became abusive, she felt there was no way out. Her big brother was serving overseas, her friends were away at college, and her single father insisted she’d made her bed and now she had to lie in it. It isn’t until her father’s death over a decade later that Layla gains the courage to leave her marriage. She hopes to find peace living alone, but her dreams of happily ever after died a long time ago.

Cole Lawson has spent years secretly pining for his former best friend. Layla Parker captured his heart sophomore year of high school, but she was already taken. When she married her boyfriend two years later, she and Cole grew apart and have rarely seen each other since. Cole’s been a lady killer since the day he realized that his dimpled smile made all the cowgirls swoon, but when he discovers Layla is newly single he’s ready to put an end to his womanizing ways and make a serious play for the one who got away.

When tragedy strikes the Lawson family, Cole and Layla’s rekindled friendship grows into something more, but soon a dark secret from Layla’s past threatens to destroy their shot at forever. Now Cole will have to decide–listen to his heart or to the people warning him that Layla might not be as innocent as she seems.

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Excerpt

Quiet. Calm. Don’t breathe. Don’t think. Don’t move. Play dead, Layla. You can do that.

You’ve been half-dead for years.

Layla squeezed her eyes shut and curled into a tighter ball inside the absolute blackness of the storage ottoman in the corner of Grayson and Reece’s bedroom. She’d dismissed the closet and underneath the bed as too predictable to be good hiding places. At the last moment, just as footsteps plodded slowly up the stairs, she’d lowered herself into the hollow ottoman and pulled the heavy leather lid on top.

Now, there was nothing but to keep quiet and pray.

Pray that it wasn’t Wayne’s boots thumping on the wooden floor in the hall, pray that this was a thief who would take her valuables and go away, and pray that Cole didn’t get hurt when he came rushing to her rescue.

She should never have called him. She shouldn’t have put him in danger, no matter how terrified she was.

Please, God, please let Cole be okay. Please let this be anyone other than Wayne.

A moment later, her husband’s deep voice shattered the middle-of-the-night silence, proving no one was listening to her prayers. “I know you’re here, Layla. And I know your brother isn’t. So why don’t you come out and talk to me, baby girl. I think we’ve got a lot to go over, don’t you?”

Layla bit down hard on her bottom lip, concentrating on the pain, fighting the tremor that rocked through her body in response to hearing her husband’s voice for the first time in months. She’d started to forget how easily he could frighten her, the way all it took was a few words and a certain tone of voice to let her know she was in trouble.

That tone thickened his words as he spoke again, making it clear how much he itched to get his hands on her, his fists into her, his rage washing over her like a flood of poison she couldn’t escape.

“I know what you did, baby.” Wayne’s words were followed by a low laugh that transformed into a prolonged, racking cough.

 

Tracey’s Review

Jessie’s Lonesome Point, TX, series just keeps getting better and better. I know, I say it after each book, but it is absolutely true. When each new installment in the series releases, I know that it’s going to have me riveted from the first page, unwilling to do anything but read, and Chaps and Chance delivers in the most wonderful way.

Once I met Cole Lawson, there was no way that I was willing or able to do anything but fly through this book as fast as I could. All of the Lawson brothers are yummy, but Cole, mmmmm, Cole. Hot as heck, sexy as sin, and steadfast to the end, he is the stuff that book boyfriends are made of. He’s loved Layla Parker since they were kids, and wants nothing more than to put the smile back on her face that years of living with her abusive husband Wayne took away. He knows that it’s not often that a second chance at love comes along, and will do whatever it takes to have the happy ending that they missed out on when they were younger.

Layla is one strong woman. Having survived ten long years of hell at Wayne’s hands, she’s emerged smarter and tougher. Left with a heart as battered as her body had been, Layla isn’t expecting to find love again, but Cole shows her that sometimes the best things are worth waiting – and fighting – for.

“They stared at each other, into each other, until the years and the awkwardness fell away, and for a moment, it was the way it used to be, back when they’d spent hours together, talking and laughing, with only comfortable silences falling between them.”

Jessie Evans is one of my go-to authors. She delivers angst, passion, sadness, and joy in equal measure with every book, and I look forward to each one with anticipation. I cannot wait to read Ropes and Revenge, John Lawson’s book, and to continue my love affair with Lonesome Point. 5+ ‘I love a cowboy’ stars for Jessie and this gem of a book.

Lonesome Point, Texas SeriesLeather and Lace

Amazon / B &N / ITunes / Kobo / Google Play

Saddlles and Sin

Amazon / B & N / ITunes / Kobo / Google Play

Diamonds and Dust

Amazon / B & N / ITunes / Kobo

12 Dates of Christmas

Amazon / B & N / ITunes/ Google Play

Glitter and Grit

Amazon / B & N / ITunes / Google Play

Sunny with a Chance of True Love: The Ballad of Ugly Ross

Amazon / B & N / ITunes / Kobo

Chaps and Chance

Amazon/ B & N / ITunes / Kobo / Google Play

Ropes and Revenge

Release Date: April 14, 2015

Pre Order: Amazon

 
About Jessie Evans

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessie Evans, gave up a career as an international woman of mystery to write the sexy, contemporary Southern romances she loves to read.

She’s married to the man of her dreams, and together they’re raising a few adorable, mischievous children in a cottage in the jungle. She grew up in rural Arkansas, spending summers running wild, being chewed by chiggers, and now appreciates her home in a chigger-free part of the world even more.

When she’s not writing, Jessie enjoys playing her dulcimer (badly), sewing the worlds ugliest quilts to give to her friends, going for bike rides with her house full of boys, and drifting in and out on the waves, feeling thankful for sun, surf, and lovely people to share them with.

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