Unbroken: Country Fever, Book 3 (35 page)

“If not for love, then date for fun or a release from stress.” Audrey threw her hand in the air. “Why not satisfy your sexual fantasies? Anything to get you out of your shell, girlfriend.”

“One thousand dollars!” Charli shouted into the microphone. “Ladies, this is twice the spice for the money. Don’t stop now.” She nodded toward the throng. “One thousand one hundred from number forty-one.”

“A thousand dollars?” Bunny did the math in her head. “I’d have to sell a lot of roses to afford those two.”

“Raise your paddle. Remember, I’ll double whatever you can afford.”

Even as Bunny shook her head, her fingers tightened around the paddle’s wooden stick. “I can’t.”

“Yes. You can. It’s just a date,” Audrey insisted. “Think about what Cory can do with that whip. And Jack has handcuffs.”

Cory cracked the whip, and number thirty-seven raised her paddle, bumping the bid up another one hundred dollars.

Bunny’s heartbeat accelerated. She had over two grand in savings for a rainy day and maybe to pay off her ex when she got a little more saved. That money was not earmarked for a hot date with two sexy men.

It still galled her to no end that Ray got half of her business in the divorce, Texas being a community property state. Out of the “goodness of his heart” Ray had let her keep the flower shop, as long as she paid him for his half over time, as a loan. He never let her forget it either, always giving her his unwanted opinion on how to run the flower shop. Spending so much money on a date would have him questioning her ability to stay in business. He might even foreclose on his loan.

“Going once,” Charli said.

“What?” Bunny’s breath caught and she leaned so far forward on her stool she almost slid off.

“Going twice.” Charli paused. “They’re a steal at twelve hundred dollars. Come on ladies, won’t one of you bid thirteen hundred?”

Bunny’s hand shook, her grip clenching on the paddle. Before she could analyze her actions, she raised her paddle.

“Is that Bunny Leigh back there near the bar?” Charli shielded her eyes from the glare of the stage lights. “Y’all gonna let Temptation’s best florist go home with the two most drool-worthy men in the county?”

Cory and Jack stared across the room, straight at Bunny, both smiling.

Her pulse accelerated until she thought for certain her heart would jump right out of her chest. Her gaze panned the room, praying someone else would raise a paddle quickly before she bought the cowboy and the cop.

Charli grinned, and before anyone else could get a paddle above shoulder-high, she pounded her gavel on the podium and shouted, “Sold!”

Unbroken

Em Petrova

It’ll take more than rope to tie down the man they love.

Country Fever, Book 3

When Christian comes out of the bar to find a bat-wielding country girl beating the hell out of his best friend Tucker’s truck, he does the only thing he can—he flirts with her. Unfortunately, he knows her pain—he’s in love with Tucker too.

Claire plans to nurse her bruised heart alone, but inevitably Tucker draws her back in—along with Christian—and the three of them tumble headlong into delirious passion. Then she and Christian wake to find that Tucker has fled his horse ranch, leaving them to care for the animals and each other.

Still grieving the death of his fiancée, pressured to sign over mining rights to a coal company, Tucker is boots-deep in emotional turmoil. Running only sharpens his longing for what he truly wants—Christian and Claire in his bed, in the barn, and under the stars.
 

But roping themselves firmly inside the circle of love will take everything they have—bulldogged determination, flying fists and aching hearts.

Warning: Wrangle one heartsick cowboy, and the man and woman who love him. Throw in weeks of working in close quarters, bales of pent-up lust, and feel the burn of prairie-fire-hot desire. Now just try to walk away with your heart unbranded.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Unbroken

Copyright © 2013 by Em Petrova

ISBN: 978-1-61921-659-4

Edited by Christa Soule

Cover by Lou Harper

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: September 2013

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