Worth the Fall (The McKinney Brothers, #1)(101)
To my husband, who shows me every day what it means to love
Acknowledgments
This story never would have made the trip from mind to paper if not for the support of family and friends. I owe a special thank-you to my friend Karen, who encouraged me to write that very first word and pushed me to keep going. Thank you to my girl Kristi, who listened to me ramble and brought me brownies when I was too deep in revisions to leave my closet. To my entire Critter Crew: Cristin, Hijo, Jamie, Kaci, Pamela, Racquel, Sharon, Shelly, and Victoria. Thank you doesn’t even begin to cover it. I would never have seen, much less crossed, the finish line without you guys. Thank you to my husband and three daughters. Your love, support, and understanding made this possible. A special thank-you to my agent, Emily Sylvan Kim, for your knowledge and patience. And a huge thank you to the entire Random House team, especially my editor, Sue Grimshaw. Thank you, Sue, for your guidance, support, and unwavering confidence in my story.
BY CLAUDIA CONNOR
Worth the Fall
Coming soon
Worth the Risk
PHOTO: ASHTON DRAKE
Claudia Connor lives near Memphis, Tennessee, with her husband and three daughters. She attended Auburn University, where she received her undergraduate and master’s degrees in early childhood education, completing her studies in Sawbridgeworth, England. Always a lover of happy endings, she enjoys movies, reading, and spending her days putting the stories in her head onto paper.
Claudia Connor loves hearing from readers. You can contact her at www.claudiaconnor.com where you’ll find giveaways, deleted scenes, and a sexy preview of the next book in The McKinney Brothers series, Worth the Risk, coming in January 2015.
The Editor’s Corner
September 23, 2014 is the first day of Autumn, and there is nothing like cool weather to encourage us to curl up and read a good book—that we need any additional encouragement, right? Here are some great Loveswept book ideas to help you fall into the new season.
USA Today bestselling author Mira Lyn Kelly’s new Dare to Love series debuts with Truth or Dare, a fabulous contemporary romance that fans of Jill Shalvis will adore. Laura Drewry returns this month as well with the witty and tender romance Prima Donna, featuring a sexy love-shy doctor. Debut author Claudia Connor introduces the McKinney brothers in Worth the Fall, where readers meet widowed mother Abby and Navy SEAL Matt, both seeking forgiveness and looking for a way to start over. A book I’m sure readers will devour is Control by Laura Marie Altom—runaway Ella escapes an abusive marriage, dot.com billionaire Liam is used to having control, and together they are explosive. Coinciding with the World Series, Katie Rose gives us The Boys of Summer with Bring on the Heat, introducing Chase and Darcy, (or is it Lydia?) in this mistaken identity love affair. And if the weather gets a little too cool, heat it up with Longing by Jamie K. Schmidt, a lighter take on erotic romance, but don’t be fooled, Anya and Clint are hot!
Lastly, don’t miss the newest Flirt title: Lauren Layne’s Broken. The second book in her Redemption series, tells the story of a girl with secrets, a guy with scars, and a love that could save them…or destroy them.
I hope you don’t miss these stories that will warm your heart and make you blush a little, too! And share your favorites with friends—we all need a little cuddle up time with a good book. Until next time….
~Happy Romance!
Gina Wachtel Associate Publisher
Read on for an excerpt from
Truth or Dare
A Dare to Love Novel
by Mira Lyn Kelly
Available from Loveswept
CHAPTER ONE
JUNE
In Maggie Lawson’s defense, the apartment door had been open. Wide open. And she’d tried to warn him. But with the hard rock sound of Queens of the Stone Age pounding out of the speakers within, her new upstairs neighbor hadn’t heard. So he didn’t know she was standing there when he walked by…rucking his T-shirt overhead as he stopped at a stack of cardboard packing boxes marked “Office.”
She should have said something. She started to, but whatever apology or alert she’d been poised to deliver died on her tongue as she stood transfixed by the hypnotic shift and flex of this man’s half-clad physique.
Because, wow. Just, wow. Talk about some ripped jeans, skin showing.
Okay, it wasn’t like she’d never seen a shirtless guy before. They were everywhere, littering magazines, billboards, and TV. Chicago wasn’t suffering any shortage when it came to quality hotties. But up this close, and not just one of the guys, it caught her by surprise. Enough to stall out her brain function before she’d determined whether she should bring her plate of “welcome to the building” cookies back later or try again to announce her presence behind him.
And now, all she could see was skin.
An abundance of it.
Dark and flushed from hours of exertion. Glistening with a sheen of sweat that beaded up even as she watched, until one fat drop slid over a hard cut terrain of taut flesh and banded muscle before soaking into the low slung denim at his hips.
Trim hips. On a body that was tall and broad and distracting her in a way she wasn’t accustomed to being distracted.