Losing an Edge (Portland Storm Book 13)
Read Losing an Edge (Portland Storm Book 13) Online
Authors: Catherine Gayle
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the work of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Losing an Edge
Copyright © 2016 by Catherine Gayle
Cover Design by Kim Killion, The Killion Group
Published by Night Shift Publishing at Smashwords
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any electronic or mechanical means—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without written permission.
For more information:
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This one’s for all my readers who’ve been wanting more of those Babcock boys. I hope Levi fits the bill.
There comes a point in the middle of writing each book when I wonder if I will ever find a way to pull it off, because nothing is working out the way I expected it to. I start to feel as if I’ve lost the touch, that it’s all gone and will never come back. That voice was magnified in the writing of this book due to my writing time being chopped to bits and slashed right down the middle, thanks to having a couple of surgeries to close out 2015. Thank goodness I have critique partners, beta readers, and close writing friends who help me to see I can still make it all work out. This book might not have been finished on time, if not for them.
Tired of being the second-best Babcock, Levi “501” Babcock is ready to outshine his older brother. Outranking his brother proves harder than he imagined—until he meets a sinfully sexy gold-medal-winning figure skater. She might be the prize he’s been searching for all along.
Bubbly and spirited Cadence Johnson is determined to escape the shackles of her former partner. Moving to Portland gives her the fresh start she’s craved, but the last thing she can afford is a distraction like Levi Babcock.
When Cadence’s past comes back to threaten her and her life is on the line, Levi might be the safety net she never realized she needed. But will Levi still care about Losing an Edge to his biggest rival, or can he finally step out of his brother’s shadow to become the hero in his own game?
LOSING AN EDGE is Book 8 in the
Portland Storm
hockey romance series written by
USA Today
bestselling author Catherine Gayle. If you enjoy it, look for the other books in the series.
There are also currently two boxed sets of books within the series, if you would prefer to purchase them in that way.
PORTLAND STORM: THE FIRST PERIOD
(Contains Breakaway, On the Fly, Taking a Shot, and Light the Lamp)
PORTLAND STORM: THE SECOND PERIOD
(Contains Delay of Game, Double Major, In the Zone, Holiday Hat Trick, and Comeback)
GAME BREAKER
will release on August 11, 2016.
DEFENSIVE ZONE
will release on February 9, 2017. Also, join Catherine’s
mailing list
to receive
ICE BREAKER
, a
Portland Storm
short story prequel that you can’t get anywhere else.
Want to join in the
Portland Storm
discussion? Join the
Facebook reader group
.
If you enjoy this book and want to try more of the same, be sure to look for the spinoff series, the
Tulsa Thunderbirds
. Book 1,
BURY THE HATCHET
, and Book 2,
SMOKE SIGNALS
, are out now. Book 3,
GHOST DANCE
, will release on May 19, 2016. Book 4,
RITES OF PASSAGE
will release on November 10, 2016. The T-Birds also have a
reader group on Facebook
.
Interested in buying your own customizable Portland Storm and Tulsa Thunderbirds jerseys, T-shirts, and more?
Find out how here
.
MY OLDER BROTHER,
Jamie Babcock, had the puck on his stick, racing toward the Team Sweden goal and our Portland Storm teammate, goaltender Nicky Ericsson. Jamie had a clear breakaway, and the only chance Swedish defenseman Peter Nylund—a former teammate—had to stop him was to trip him.
Which was exactly what Ny did. The ref’s arm went up for a penalty shot. Not something you normally expected to see in the Winter Games.
But Jamie—being the impossibly perfect guy he’d always been—somehow got off a backhand shot while his feet flew through the air. Nicky grabbed a piece of the rubber with his glove, but not enough. The puck bounced off his glove, then the crossbar, and then it went in. The goal negated the penalty shot and put Team Canada up three goals to one late in the third period.
This was the final game of round robin play. The quarterfinals were up next. Talking to Jamie and the other guys, it was obvious Team Canada could practically taste them already.
There was nothing I wanted more than to be out on the ice with my brother for a moment like this. For the majority of my life, I’d dreamed of being at the Winter Games. Those dreams had always included me
participating
in them, though, not being forced to watch from the stands as my brother and several of our friends and teammates represented their home countries out on the ice.