This is an excerpt from Book 1 in the Behind the Blue Line series, The Ex File.
You can get your copy here!
It was less the walk of shame than the sprint of the scandalous. Ellie was out the
door, out of the neighborhood, and on the road southbound for ten minutes before she
allowed herself to think beyond fleeing the scene of the crime. As she hit the stoplight of her
intended exit, she ran both hands down her face and tried to think. Her mind kept on this
rollercoaster loop of last night and the phone conversation she just overheard. Not to
mention the image of him, all warm and yummy and barefoot, in a pair of low-hanging
basketball shorts as she damn near broke the sound barrier running out the door.
Ellie quickly put on her earpiece and dialed her phone as she made the turn onto
Emerson. There was one person who could set the world right for her, Josh Graham, aka her
best friend.
It rang twice before she was greeted by a distinctly unimpressed, gruff voice. “’Lo?”
Fuck. He was sleeping. She looked at the clock on the dash and winced. It was well
before a time any of her friends would find decent, but she needed backup, and she needed it
now. “Joshua,” she used his full name to convey the importance of the situation, “I need to
see you. Now.”
“Eleanor Rose. Do you have any idea what time it is?” he hissed, letting her know he
was still in bed with whatever-his-name-is-today.
“Really? Both names?” She stared at her phone even though she was on the earpiece.
The only people to call her that had been her foster parents, and even that was only when she
had been in serious trouble. “It’s nine-thirty on a Sunday morning. Look, kick whomever he
is out of bed, I’m coming over. ETA less than ten.”
“I’m on my day off and he’s a firefighter, dammit!” He sounded desperate after she
gave him the timetable. She heard shuffling and thumping in the background, as well as
muffled voices.
“One whom I’m sure you can pencil back into your busy schedule.” She loved Josh,
truly, but his was a revolving door of unbelievably pretty men. She’d be jealous if they
weren’t all gay. Some things just couldn’t be helped. “I need your help, Josh, I wouldn’t be
calling if I didn’t.”
“Fine!” In her mind, the words went with him throwing up his hands in frustration.
“I’ll see you in a few.”
Josh’s house was a cute little tan two-story on a cul-du-sac with meticulous
landscaping and a hot tub out back. It would have looked silly, sliding sideways into a
driveway in a hybrid Ford, but she was tempted, so tempted. She parked like a normal
person, however, and was out of the car and up the walkway just in time to be on the
receiving end of the hairiest of hairy eyeballs from Mr. Firefighter, quite possibly the
biggest man she’d ever seen. Short blond hair, T-shirt thrown around his neck and
emphasizing his massive shoulders, which really went with the massive and perfectly-
sculpted rest of him.
She could see why Josh wanted to keep him around for an afternoon romp. He
looked like he could carry her, her fictitious dog and three pieces of furniture out of a
burning building. At the same time. A touch of guilt flared, but she shoved it down. She
didn’t like the time either, but damn, this was an emergency. Capital E.
Josh flung open the front door for her and stood there, also shirtless, with his arms
crossed. “Oh, by all means, come on in.” If he didn’t look so pissed, she’d have admired his
well-chiseled form. The way it was, she supposed she should consider herself lucky that
he’d deigned to wear pants. “Can I get you something? A drink? A snack? A definition of
the word ‘emergency’, perhaps?”
