Penalty Kicks by D. S. Dehel

August 6, 2021
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Excerpt, Spotlight

Love is a beautiful game.

India Roberts can’t wait until her divorce is final, then she’ll be Ms. Jackson. At 40, she’s waited long enough to pursue her goal of becoming a fashion designer, and a chance encounter may just be the beginning of a new career.

What she doesn’t need is a new romance.

When soccer player Matt Bettony rescues her from a bad date and makes her rough night oh-so-much better, she discovers that she is ready for something, even if it isn’t too serious. Thirteen years her junior, he’s the perfect fit for a no-strings love affair that won’t interfere with her dream…until Matt gets other ideas.

The Game of Two Halves: Penalty Kicks

Available from Changeling Press July 30, 2021

Available from all other outlets August 6, 2021

Love is a beautiful game.

What she doesn’t need is a new romance.

Both India and Matt have goals they’re chasing and are seeing some success, but soccer is a game played in two halves, and their time is just beginning. They have to withstand the scorn of others and pressure that comes with fame to win the game called love.

Excerpt:

“Oh, okay. Thank you. So, um, Matt, how old are you?” She fiddled with the ties to the shorts.

He came around the end of the bed. “I’m twenty-six. I’ll be twenty-seven in September. Why?”

“Why?” Again, she sounded on the brink of hysteria. “Because I just turned forty in January, and I kissed you, and if you give me the chance, I’ll kiss you again, when I shouldn’t be kissing you at all.” I need to get out of here. What have I done? She brushed past him on her way to who knew where.

“Whoa. Wait.” He caught her arm. “Why can’t you kiss me? You’re divorced, right? Because I don’t condone cheating.”

“Yes, I’m divorced, but did you miss the part where I said I was forty?

“You’re forty. So what?”

“I’m…” She tried to do mental math, but her brain wouldn’t cooperate. “I could be your mother.”

“Really?” He sounded amused. “You’d have been thirteen.”

“Well, I could have been your mother. Regardless, I’m old enough to be an aunt or big sister.”

“So? I don’t care how old you are.”

“But—” He doesn’t care. She crossed her arms. “You really don’t care how old I am?”

He sighed, looked away, then looked back. “I’ll be totally honest, you are older than I thought because you don’t look a day over thirty-five, but really, what difference does it make? I want you.”

“You want me?” She couldn’t keep the disbelief out of her voice. No one had ever been so blunt with her in her entire life.

“I do.” A small smile turned his lips upward. “I thought about accidentally-on purpose forgetting to turn the dryer on so you’d have to stay longer, and that would give enough time to figure out some way to talk you into my bed.”

He wants me. And I’m an adult. He’s an adult.

BUY LINKS:

Changeling: https://www.changelingpress.com/penalty-kicks-game-of-two-halves-1-b-3217
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0994VDWRY
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1576127486
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/penalty-kicks-d-s-dehel/1139825121?ean=2940162171799
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/penalty-kicks

About D. S. Dehel

S. Dehel is a lover of literature, good food, and the Oxford comma. When she is not immersed in a book, she is mom to her kids and spoiling her rather pampered feline, Mr. Darcy or her equally pampered puppy, Jameson, and her slightly psychotic Australian Shepherd, Piper. Having finally retire, she spends her days dreaming up new plotlines. She adores literary allusions, writing sex scenes, and British men. Actually, make that hot men in general. Her devoted husband is still convinced she writes children’s books. Please don’t enlighten him.