Valentine's Day Freebies!

Kindle edition is free today!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Because I love my readers, I've got two freebies today. The first is Marita's take on the night she met Jim. The second is a free book: in honor of Valentine's Day, Chasing a Second Chance is free on  Kindle today.

Want some more outtakes and insights? Check out the night that Angel met Jim and Angel hugs her sweetheart. Or, take a quick quiz to see which Casting the First Stone/Chasing a Second Chance character you are.

Now, here's Marita. Happy Valentine's Day from me, Marita and the rest of the gang!

The night I met Jim started out like any other adventure with Bets. The two of us were experts at going where the boys were, but that night was first time Bets suggested that we go somewhere different -- somewhere with college boys. I was nervous, but excited. Honestly, I was just as bored with high school boys as Bets was but, without her, I wouldn't have had the nerve to go to that party.

We got there pretty early -- rookie mistake -- and I picked Jim out right away. He looked like a model out of those preppy catalogs some of my classmates liked and to say he was tall, dark and handsome was not an overstatement. I don't think of him that way now -- his personality has done more to decrease his attractiveness in my eyes than age ever could. If I'm honest, his looks get better with age, but I will forever see him through the gray-tinted lens of disillusionment. Even back then, I never saw him the way I suspect Angel does. He was cute and all, but he was never my knight in shining armor. He was just a guy.

He noticed us right away -- it was pretty hard not to notice two high school girls in a half-empty frat house. He got us drinks and introduced us to his roommate who, as it turned out, could match Bets smart comment for smart comment. When they went downstairs to play pool, Jim and I went to his room. Bets won $50 playing pool and made out with the fraternity president. Jim and I hung out in his room all night and I got pregnant with Charli.

By the time Bets and I left, the guys were playing beer pong and were pretty uninterested in us. On the way home, Bets and I talked about the night -- about how we'd expected it to be different from the usual high school parties, only it wasn't. We figured we'd never see those guys again, and neither of us was disappointed about that.

If only.