Ava James ~ Romance To Last A Lifetime

Warrior’s Rise Blurb:

Logan Savage is a man’s man. His idea of a good time has never included watching over and entertaining a bunch of kids at a summer camp. Especially when that camp happens to be full of kids with a love for mythology and medieval fantasy. In other words—a bunch of geeks. Unfortunately, in order to avoid a jail sentence for assaulting a cop, that’s exactly what he has to do. Head counselor and owner of the camp, Willow Avaris, is a nice surprise. Beautiful, fiery and sexy… Too bad she loathes his very existence. Plus, the kids are making his life a living nightmare. Could the summer get any worse?
Bravery and strength were things Logan always thought he had in spades, but as the summer goes on, and strange, surreal events take place around the camp, Logan is forced to look within himself and figure out what’s important to him. It’s safe to remain the self absorbed, shallow man he’s always been, but can he find the courage to reach inside and embrace the true warrior he was destined to become?

Warrior’s Rise Excerpt:

The bailiff was a definite hottie. Blonde, petite, slender waist, nice rack. He could tell she had a killer body even in that unflattering uniform. His fingers itched to peel her out of it. He caught her eye across the court room as the judge began to pass the sentence. He gave her a boyish smile and a flirty wink. That always did the trick. This time was no exception. She smirked and averted her eyes, obviously trying not to attract attention, but she slid her gaze back up to his and chewed on her bottom lip.
Logan heard the judge sentence him to so many hours of community service and he suppressed a gloating chuckle. That’s right. No jail time for Logan Savage. He stole a sidelong glance at the tall brunette representing him. His sister was one fine attorney. He could murder someone and she’d be able to get him a lesser sentence, if not get him off completely.
It was nice to have connections.
Court adjourned and he turned to his sister with a grin. “You’re the best, Iz.”
She rolled her eyes and shoved various papers in her briefcase. “Whatever, Logan. You owe me several grand.”
He frowned. “Excuse me? I’m your brother!” he protested.
“You’re an idiot,” she stated. “That’s what you are.” She snapped her briefcase shut and started to stride out of the courtroom.
Logan threw a momentary glance back at the cute bailiff, but followed after his sister. “Isabelle, what the crap did I ever do to you? Name calling? That’s not very professional. You do that to all of your clients?”
“Only the really clueless ones.” She sneered. She shook her head. “I swear, Logan, when are you going to grow up?”
He blinked and grabbed her elbow, stopping her and turning her to face him. “What are you talking about? It’s not like I’m living in Mom’s basement. I have my own apartment. I have a good job.”
Isabelle heaved a sigh. “Logan, you’re twenty-nine years old and you’re still getting into bar brawls. You beat a guy within inches of his life. You think you’re sooo cool, but you’re really just making a fool out of yourself.” She shook her head and handed him a manila envelope full of papers. “I’m not bailing you out again. The next time you decide to pull your macho crap and deck an officer of the law, figure it out yourself. I’ve been fixing your mistakes my entire life and I’m not going to do it anymore.”
She shook the envelope at him until he took it. He frowned. “What’s this?”
“The information on the summer camp you’ll be working at.”
His frown deepened. “Summer camp?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. If you’d been paying attention to the judge instead of trying to undress the bailiff with your eyes, you would have heard him say that. You’re to serve out your sentence working as a volunteer counselor at a kids’ summer camp.”
His first reaction was repulsion. Just what he needed was to be stuck hanging around a bunch of stupid nose-pickers all summer long, but his second thought was that it might not be so bad. Summer camp was full of outdoor activity. He could teach the ankle biters how to hunt and fish, be men’s men. He could see the reverent looks on their faces now. “Cool. Thanks, Izzie.”
“Don’t thank me. Just quit being stupid. I’m sick of having the delinquent brother who never grew out of his teenage years. Get over yourself and get a life.”
She turned her back on him again and he let her go this time. No point in following after her if she was only going to verbally bash him. Whatever. Isabelle had no idea who he was or what he did with his life. Get over himself? He snorted. He wasn’t stuck on himself. It wasn’t his fault that every woman he met wanted to do wicked things to him… And it wasn’t his fault if the men that were with those women felt really inadequate, thus resulting in bar brawls that got him arrested. Besides, how was he supposed to know that the man he’d shown what-for was a cop?
Not like he asked for a resume before he handed someone their butt on a plate.
Besides, Isabelle was probably just jealous. She was stuck in a tedious routine living in suburban, 2.5 kid land. That kind of torturous existence would make anyone look at someone free and rootless like him in envy.
Dismissing his sister’s words, he opened up the envelope and looked at the information packet he’d been given. Rogue River Fantasy Camp. He frowned. Fantasy Camp? What in the world did that mean? His interest piqued. Maybe there were strippers involved. That would definitely be a fantasy. Somebody in a Catholic school girl outfit maybe…
He smirked and shoved the papers back into the envelope. No biggee. It was somewhere in between Gold Hill and Shady Cove. He’d find it easy enough. He’d camped and hunted most of the forests in his area of Oregon. Shouldn’t be too hard. All he had to do was find the camp and show up on the scheduled date. No use in reading a bunch of papers that would just bore him to death. He had better things to do with his time.
He glanced at his watch and smiled, then smoothed his sandy brown hair. Perfect. It was happy hour and he was still in his suit. That would definitely attract some attention. He’d get his game on tonight. He was feeling particularly lucky.
Squaring his shoulders, he folded the papers in half and shoved them in his back pocket, then made his way out of the courthouse.