Kindle Edition Amazon Blue Attitude Books Category:  Women Publisher: Authors Ink Books ISBN-10:  1517570085 Pages: 400 Copyright: July 2006 ISBN-13: 9781517570088 Price: $2.99 (eBook) New edition! This is my second novel. Chapter One is available as free download, and Chapter Two is posted in the Short Story section. How many of us have ever wondered what might have been? Different Roads is about first loves that get lost, hearts that call to each other, and roads that lead us to the ones for whom we are meant.       Excerpt WHOSE ASS DO WE HAVE TO KISS TO GET A SOFTBALL FIELD? Jaycee Stevens smiled at the shocked expressions her sign generated from all the baseball fans as she stepped onto the field in her softball uniform. Good, and she hoped it embarrassed the hell out of the school board officials who were there to unveil the new lights they’d bought for Randolph High School’s baseball field when the softball team had no field at all. “Hold it!” Coach Watson shouted from behind third base as Jaycee walked through the gate. “Get out of here, Stevens! I told you I wasn’t putting up with any more of your stunts!” Jaycee responded by walking to the middle of the field and sitting cross-legged on the pitching rubber, her super-short blonde hair curling wildly as if in like-minded defiance, and the six earrings curving up her right ear glittering in the brand-new $50,000 lights. Randolph’s first baseman Scott Simmons ran over to the mound. “Get off the field or I’ll throw you over my shoulder and carry you off!” The right fielder for the other team planted his six-foot-four frame between Jaycee and the other Randolph players who’d joined Scott. “Touch her and you’ll deal with me,” he said. “She’s got a right to be heard.” Scott looked at the guy’s imposing stature and apparently reconsidered his threat. “Yeah, whatever. I hope Coach calls the law on her trouble-making ass.” Jaycee swung her sign at the back of the tall young man’s legs. “Hey, mind your own damn business! I don’t need your help!” A reporter and cameraman arrived from WSFA in nearby Montgomery claiming they’d gotten an anonymous call about an expected disturbance and wanted to ask the young lady some questions. Once Jaycee had been interviewed on camera and allowed to voice her complaints, she agreed to leave so play could resume, but she accosted the right fielder in the parking lot as he walked to his car after the game. “Hey, Dudley DoRight! Who said I needed you to rescue me? If the cameras had gotten a shot of that Neanderthal trying to haul me off the field, I could’ve been the top story on the ten o’clock news.” He stopped and turned around. “The name is Cole McGee. Sorry if I screwed up your plan, but my mama raised me to help a lady when she needs it, and I always try to make Mama proud.” “Well, Mama’s Boy”—Jaycee put her hands on her hips and looked up into his blue-gray eyes—“who the hell told you I was a lady?” “Sorry. My mistake.” He resumed walking and was about to open his car door when she tapped him on the shoulder. “Gonna offer me a ride? Or didn’t your mama also teach you not to leave girls stranded in dark parking lots?” “As a matter of fact, she did. Get in and I’ll take you home.” “There you go assuming again.” Jaycee slid over to the middle of the front seat. “Who said I wanted to go home?” “Okay, then where to?” He got in and started the car. “And do you have a name, or do you just go by Trouble?” She held out her hand. “Jaycee Laine Stevens, and you can take me wherever you want as long as it’s secluded.” His eyebrows went up slightly as he shook her hand. “And why would we need to go somewhere like that?” Jaycee looked into his eyes again without a trace of facetiousness. “Because I’m gonna lose my virginity to you, Cole McGee.” She was rewarded by his shocked expression, but then he smiled. “I think I know just the place.”

Sexy, Funny, Exciting and Touching
From Laurel Johnson for Midwest Book Reviews

Jaycee Stevens is a girl who has outrageous behavior down to a fine art. At age six she lost her mother. From that point on she fended for herself, growing to adulthood with a brutal, alcoholic father. By the time she's off to college, Jaycee has learned to lock her childhood fears and subsequent nightmares behind a tough, outspoken façade. She leaves her father and old boyfriend behind, marches to her own drummer, focuses on her goal of becoming an investigative journalist, and God help anyone who gets in her way.

Enter the sexiest set of male legs on the planet, topped by a phenomenal physique and smile that would melt granite. When Bud Stanton, privileged playboy extraordinaire, and Jaycee collide, everything you can imagine and then some hits the fan. She resents Bud's wealth, his gorgeous maleness, and his lack of interest in education. Bud ignores her angry barbs and goes after the one female who could transform monogamy into a positive experience. He adores the feisty girl he nicknames Firecracker. When Jaycee finally stops fighting her sexual attraction to Bud, the results are explosive, funny, and poignant. The tough young woman who's afraid of the dark feels safe with Bud because he has childhood specters of his own to deal with. Their battles are as heated as their lovemaking. Both have found their match. But will Bud's wealthy family accept a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks? Will loving Bud ruin Jaycee's future goals and plans? And will Bud ever settle down and become anything but a spoiled rich kid with a killer smile? Believe me, the outcome of this book is worth the read.

Jaycee and Bud are strong, charismatic characters. Characters forced to circulate in their wake are interesting and well developed. I particularly liked Mack Stanton, Bud's father, and Jaycee's raunchy co-worker, Francie, but all characters enhance the story in various ways. The plot is sexy, funny, exciting, and touching. Recommended for mature readers due to strong language and sexual content.