Next five pages from #OutOfLine!

If you missed the first fifteen pages, click here.

PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK SO WE CAN GET TO OUR GOAL OF 600! IF WE GET THERE, YOU GET A BONUS FINN SCENE NOT IN THE BOOK AND THIRTY PAGES TOTAL!

SPECIAL CONTEST:

I’m offering up a special contest. For every 100 adds we get on Goodreads for OUT OF LINE before the release (September 10th), I will reveal 5 pages of the book early!

If the book hits the goal of  600 adds before the release, not only will you get thirty pages of the book early–but I will release a bonus scene from Finn’s POV! I will also choose random people who use the tag‪ #‎OUTOFLINE‬ on twitter and facebook, or adds the book to their TBR list, to receive swag!

Please let people know to add the book to goodreads in order to get these excerpts released.

Add it to your Goodreads shelf here!

And now, pages 15-20–since we reached 400 adds in the second day–let’s hit our goal of 600 adds! If we reach the goal, you not only get thirty pages of OUT OF LINE early, but you’ll get a bonus Finn scene, too!

 Chapter Three-Carrie

With only ten minutes to spare, I hurriedly applied the last touches to my lip gloss, checked out my hair, and turned off the bathroom light. If I had primped right, I looked effortlessly, naturally beautiful. That’s what the website said I would look like, anyway. I had never really bothered to primp for a boy, so I’d had to rely on my best friend for help.

Google.

Was it pathetic that I had no one else to ask? Sure. But at least Google never let me down. It had also given me the talk, the same one my mother avoided until right before I left for school. And when I’d finally been given the talk, it had been with so many euphemisms even I had become confused while trying to figure out what drumsticks had to do with warm apple pie.

I smoothed my tank top over my stomach. I had paired it with some yoga pants, and I wore my red bikini underneath the simple outfit just in case Finn wanted to go out in the water afterward. Tiptoeing past a snoring Marie, I managed to make it out of the dorm without waking her up.

I probably worried for nothing. I doubted a stampede of elephants would have woken Marie up. The girl had been snoring loud enough to wake the dead. Her arms were flung out to her sides, and a huge puddle of drool gathered under her cheek. She’d probably have a hell of a hangover when she woke up, so I had set my bottle of Motrin next to her bed on my way out.

I glanced at my phone and walked faster. A quick call home would be a good idea. That way I wouldn’t have to deal with my parents while out with Finn. I quickly dialed home and leaned against the wall. They picked up on the first ring, as if they’d been hovering by the phone waiting for me to call all morning.

“Hello?” Mom said.

A line clicked as Dad picked up the phone in his office. “Carrie?”

I smiled. “Hi, guys.”

“How’s college going?” Mom asked, her voice trembling.

“Have you met anyone nice yet?” Dad asked.

“Yeah.” I pictured Finn and smiled. “A couple of people.”

“What are their names?” Dad asked. I could picture him sitting at his desk, pencil in hand, waiting to look into anyone who dared say hello to me. “I’ll do a background check.”

“Dad. No.”

“But—”

“No.”

Mom sighed. “Let her be, dear.”

“Fine.” I heard something slam down. “But if you get involved with someone, I’ll expect to get his name from you.”

“She’s not going to do that yet.” Mom paused. “Right? We had our little talk. Do we need to have another one?”

I flinched. “God, no.” I cleared my throat. “I mean, uh, no, thank you.

I’m good. And I’m not seeing anyone yet. I’ve only been here two days.” Dad laughed. “That’s my girl.”

I peeked at the time. I had less than one minute to get downstairs.

“I’m about to go out with a friend of mine, though. Shopping.”

“Oh, how delightful.” Mom, of course, perked up at the word shopping. “Where are you going? What are you shopping for?”

“Do you need more money?” Dad threw in. “I can transfer more to your account.”

“No, I’m fine. And I’m shopping for…” I pictured the dead silence that would come if I said what I was really shopping for. It would be amusing for two-point-two seconds…until all hell broke loose. “I’m just shopping for fun. Hanging out and stuff.”

“But what for?” Mom asked.

Geez. Enough with the details already. “I think swimsuits and beach gear.”

“Oh, how fun.”

Dad yawned. “This is my cue to say goodbye. I’ve got meetings all day long.”

“Yeah, I have to go.” I gripped the phone tight. “I love you guys.” “We love you, too,” Mom said.

Dad mumbled something that might have been I love you, but he never said it, so it was doubtful. “Bye.” “Bye, dear.”

I hung up and headed outside. I needed to get down to the meeting point before Finn did, or he would see me come out of the correct building. He didn’t need to know where I lived. Didn’t need to know anything about me…yet. If he proved trustworthy, then I would tell him more. Little by little. But for now, I was just a girl who liked sitting on benches at night.

A girl who wanted to surf.

It was probably the one place private security couldn’t follow me. It’s not like a bunch of men in suits would blend in out there in the great big sea. As I crossed the lawn, I glanced around. No one lurked in the bushes. No one suspicious followed me. I didn’t believe my father gave in to my request to go to college minus a bodyguard, but I hadn’t seen any yet.

Was it possible he had trusted me enough to be on my own? Doubtful. When I had gone abroad last year, it had been with not one, not two, but three security guards. He was ridiculous when it came to my safety. He’d probably installed a GPS tracking system under my skin when I was a kid. I wouldn’t put it past him.

I rounded the corner and saw Finn standing there, facing the other way and looking as sexy as I remembered. I had thought he was gorgeous last night. Holy freaking bananas. In the morning light, his sun-kissed skin glinted and highlighted his hard muscles. Muscles covered in tats that begged to be stroked…by my hands. With his brown hair in as much disarray as it had been last night, he quite easily emanated the surfer look he wore so well.

Oh, so well.

As I approached, he smiled at me. “You’re two minutes late, but you look pretty enough that I’ll let it slide.”

My heart sped up at his backhanded compliment, but I refused to show it. I shrugged and said, “A girl’s gotta primp. Get used to it, Marine.”

“Especially girls like you?”

I stiffened. That sounded an awful lot like an insult. And even worse, it sounded as if he knew something about me that I didn’t want him to know. Did he know who I was? “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” He straightened, looking less like a laid-back surfer and more like a man. A man I didn’t know at all. Maybe this had been a bad idea. “You just look like the type of girl who likes to spend hours getting ready before she walks outside to get the mail. I mean, you’re gorgeous. Just look at you.”

“And you look like the type of guy who makes presumptuous assumptions about other people, while keeping your own nose firmly pointed in the air.” I marched past him. “Forget it. I’ll learn how to surf with someone else.”

He grasped my elbow as I passed, his touch burning me and yet somehow sending a shiver through my veins. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice soft. “I shouldn’t make assumptions. You’re right.”

“Damn right I am.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder and glared at him. Turns out, this close, his eyes were even bluer. Really, really blue. “Now let me go.”

He dropped his hand immediately and dragged it through his curls. “Can we start over? I get cranky before my coffee and say stupid things to beautiful women I’m supposed to be flirting with.”

My lips twitched. Truth was, so did I. Well, the first part, anyway. I usually didn’t bother to hit on pretty girls since I didn’t swing that way. “Okay. Coffee, then shopping?”

“Deal.” He motioned me forward as he walked beside me. “Where will we shop?” I asked.

“At a store? I hear that’s where most people do it.”

I laughed lightly and stopped at the coffee booth. “You’re weird.” “Aren’t we all in our own way?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I nudged him with my elbow. God, he was solid. “But you’re weirder than most.”

He let me order my mocha latte before he stepped forward to order a plain black coffee. As I reached into my pocket to grab some cash for my portion of the order, he handed the barista his card. “I got you.”

_________________________________________________________________________

Want another five pages? Help get Out Of Line to 500 adds! Add it here.

Now, enter to win a SIGNED paperback advanced readers copy (ARC) of Out Of Line before anyone else can buy it! Enter below to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway