Night Games Blog Tour: Excerpt + Giveaway

The moment Grey Kelleher locks eyes with All-Star shortstop Chase Whitfield, she's a goner. For years, she's watched him play on TV, and now she's gazing at his hard, lean body across a bar in her hometown.

Grey's crush on Chase goes all the way back to his rookie season. So when she approaches him for an autograph, she's startled by what a jerk he can be.

Chase is no mood to humor his fans, even one as alluring as Grey. He's in the last year of his contract and stuck having to prove himself on a minor league team. He's only there to rehab an injury, nothing more.

But when Grey tells him off, Chase realizes her fiery spirit may be just the distraction he needs to take his mind off not being in the majors. His heart is safe. No one's going to break his streak as baseball's most eligible bachelor. Not even someone as irresistible as Grey.

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Author Bio:

Collette West grew up as somewhat of a jock-nerd hybrid. Entering the world three weeks premature, her dad nearly missed her birth because he had seats behind the dugout for a sold-out, highly-anticipated match-up between two of baseball's biggest rivals. Not to be outdone, her book-loving mom taught her how to read by the time she was three. A love of the game coupled with an appreciation for the written word were instilled in Collette's impressionable brain from a young age. No wonder her characters believe in the philosophy: sports + romance = a little slice of heaven.

Splitting her time between the Pocono Mountains and Manhattan, Collette indulges her inner fangirl by going to as many games as she can from hockey to baseball and downloading every sports romance novel in existence onto her iPad. When she's not clicking away on her laptop, she enjoys walking her dog in Central Park, satisfying her caffeine craving at the Starbucks on Broadway and keeping an eye out for Mr. Right. But above all, she loves dishing with her readers. Email her at collette_west@yahoo.com.
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Excerpt:

Only a black swinging door stands in the way of further infamy. Erin starts to hyperventilate, breathing loudly through her mouth. It’s all sinking in now. It’s finally hitting home for her. He’s not going to be the hot baseball player on TV anymore. He’s going to be right in front of her in the flesh.

I take her hand in mine and give it a reassuring squeeze. “You can do this.”

“I know, but you go first.”

A grin tugs at my lips, even though I’m just as scared as she is, if not more so. Gathering whatever courage I have left, I press my palm against the door and…

There he is, sitting directly on the other side of it.

I’m frozen in place as his eyes rake over me. For some reason, he seems just as shocked to see me as I am to see him, even though technically I knew he might be in here. He saw me now, so there’s no turning back and slinking out the door. That flame of indignation flares up in me again as he starts to shake his head in…bewilderment? Disgust? What did I do now? I know he said to stay away, but he only mentioned Beaver Field. He didn’t say anything about Buster’s Crab Shack.

“Oh my God, it’s him!” Erin cries, quickly leading me over to the only empty table left in the room.

I deliberately choose the seat where my back is facing him. My face feels like it’s on fire and my heart is drumming in my chest. I actually feel lightheaded as I try to get my bearings.

He’s at a table with two other guys and they’re laughing loudly at whatever he just said. It’s strange being in the same room and hearing his voice in person. It’s not coming through a television or the radio in my truck. It’s deep and rich, his familiar intonation and inflections filling my ears. It’s unreal that I’m actually listening to him talk. And for the first time tonight, I feel myself relax. I’m going to enjoy this moment, for whatever it’s worth.

But just being here isn’t enough for Erin. “People are going to flip when they see this.” The glimmer of her pink-jeweled phone case catches my eye. She has it raised in the air, her finger hovering over the screen. Before I have a chance to say anything, she hits the camera button sending, a flash of light in his direction.

“Didn’t take you long, did it?”

Oh God, he did not just say that. Erin looks like she wants to crawl under the table as Chase’s irate voice silences the whole room. Every person in the bar stops talking and looks in our direction. My spine stiffens, but I’m not ready to face him—yet. How dare he embarrass my sister by yelling at her in front of everybody. Where does he get off? What the hell is his problem?

Chase starts complaining about us to the guys he’s with and they snigger at whatever he’s saying. I can’t make out all of the words. I only catch bits and pieces like “called security” and “wouldn’t shut up.” The people around us resume talking, but the damage is done. We’ve been officially exiled to outcast territory by the king of New York.

“Oh my God,” Erin moans, shoving her phone in her purse. “I thought I turned the flash off. The picture didn’t even come out.”

I try to focus on the generic steel drum island music that’s playing overhead. She has no idea how bad this really is. Chase is sitting between us and the door. There’s no way we can make a hasty getaway without him seeing us. We’re essentially trapped between a rock and a hard place. We’re going to have to sit here a while and let

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