Ugly Ducklings Finish First

by Stacy Gail

Overview

Metal Mouth. Queen Geek. Dr. Payton Pruitt heard it all growing up. But she's over it, and attending her ten-year high school reunion is the perfect way to prove it to herself. Even if there's only one person she's interested in seeing in Bitterthorn, Texas: Wiley Sharpe.

Now a respected lawyer, Wiley didn't live down to the label Most Likely to Be Slapped with a Paternity Suit. But recent acts of vandalism suggest someone still sees him as a heartbreaker, and the reunion seems a likely place to find the culprit. Instead, Wiley comes face-to-face with his old pal Payton—and is wowed not only by her transformation into a ravishing swan, but by the connection they still share.

Payton is pleased the playboy she used to tutor has grown into an honorable man, but she's too smart to fall for a guy with roots in a place she couldn't wait to leave. But while Payton is an academic genius, Wiley is the one with the PhD in pleasure, and he intends to use it to convince her to stay…

63,000 words

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426895890
Publisher:	Carina Press
Publication date:	08/05/2013
Series:	Bitterthorn, Texas , #1
Sold by:	HARLEQUIN
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	547,767
File size:	314 KB

About the Author

A competitive figure skater from the age of eight, Stacy Gail began writing stories in between events to pass the time. By the age of fourteen, she told her parents she was either going to be a figure skating coach who was also a published romance writer, or a romance writer who was also a skating pro. Now with a day job of playing on the ice with her students, and writing everything from steampunk to cyberpunk, contemporary to paranormal at night, both dreams have come true.

Read an Excerpt

The heavy pulse of music echoed off Bitterthorn High School's locker-lined walls. A scattering of people dressed in suits and cocktail dresses milled outside the gymnasium, but the main action was through the double doors at the end of the hall. Straightening his tie one last time, Wiley Sharpe pushed through those doors and into his ten-year high school reunion, his attention razor sharp as it slashed over every face in the crowd.

Ready or not, here I come.

"Wiley! Hey, if it isn't the Coyote!"

On the alert, Wiley turned just as a hand slapped against his shoulder and propelled him deeper into the noisy, dimly lit gymnasium.

"Holy cow, isn't this amazing? A real blast from the past. How ya doin', buddy?"

He turned to regard the smallish man with a weak chin and generous spare tire with zero recognition. His gaze flicked to the sticker slapped off-center on the man's tweed jacket and read, Hi! My Name Is... "Tom Pattison." Relaxing enough to smile, Wiley shook Tom's hand and struggled to relate the pudgy, balding man with the memory of the scrawny kid he'd known a decade ago. "Wow. What a surprise."

"You can say that again! Boy, I recognized you from the moment you walked through the door."

"Really?" That made one of them.

"What have you been doing, sleeping in a time capsule?"

"Good guess."

"Listen, I want you to meet the wife." He wrapped an arm around the shoulders of a red-haired woman who so perfectly matched him in overall size and coloring Wiley couldn't help but think of bookends. "Liz, this is Wiley Sharpe, former BMOC and all-around head jock of our little campus."

Wiley offered a polite smile. "How do you—"

"You had your best game right here on this court, didn't you?" Clearly lost in a glory-days fog, Tom scanned the crowded gymnasium. "Thirty points and some god-awful amount of rebounds, am I right?"

It was thirty-three points, ten assists and twelve rebounds, but Wiley merely shrugged. "It was a long time ago."

"Hell, I remember it like it was yesterday." Tom turned to his wife with a grin. "Honey, this is the guy I told you about. You know, the one who was voted most likely to get slapped with a paternity suit?"

"Oh, that's right." Liz smiled at Wiley with the renewed interest of a hungry woman sizing up a fresh piece of center-cut meat. "Has that happened yet?"

The loud blaring of music covered Wiley's sigh. It was probably ridiculous to hope everyone had forgotten about that. "I'm happy to report it hasn't."

"Luckiest guy I've ever seen, if you know what I mean." Tom guffawed, slapping Wiley on the back once more.

Smile screwed firmly in place, Wiley searched the room for an escape route.

"So, Coyote. What are you doing these days?"

Getting threatening emails, being harassed by crank calls, having my house covered with spray-paint. You know, the usual. "I'm a practicing family lawyer here in Bitterthorn, but I also teach part-time at UTSA." He spotted a deputy placed discreetly near the entrance, no doubt Sheriff Berry's ham-handed idea of staying on top of Wiley's harassment case, and decided now was as good a time as any to make a break for it. "If you'll excuse—"

"A lawyer? Did you say lawyer?" Tom's face turned stoplight-red as he laughed hard enough to bring up a lung. "You? No way, you've gotta be kidding!"

Wiley's smile vanished. Maybe trawling his high school reunion for crazy-ass stalkers was a bad idea, after all. "No, I'm not kidding."

Editorial Reviews

10/15/2013
Payton "Metal Mouth" Pruitt has left behind in Bitterthorn, TX, the demise of her parents' marriage, the relentless push of her mother to succeed at all costs, and the taunts of her school peers. Now she's a successful, big-city doctor returning to Bitterthorn for her ten-year high school reunion. But as she steps into the school gym, her pride falters under the weight of too many horrid juvenile memories, the worst of which includes Wiley "Coyote" Sharpe, the young stud she had to tutor in high school. VERDICT Readers who love stories of going back to a high school reunion and finding first love again will enjoy this one. [LJ Xpress Reviews, 9/6/13.]—Christyna Hunter, Loudoun Cty. P.L., Lovettsville, VA

Library Journal