Today I am so pleased to welcome Layla Reyne to Joyfully Jay. Layla has come with an exclusive first look teaser of  her upcoming release, Relay (Changing Lanes #1). Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

 

Excerpt

Dane was sitting by himself on the bottom bleacher, arms hanging like limp noodles between his legs, goggles and cap dangling from his pruned fingertips. He’d swum and trained with the best, SwimMAC was at the top of every professional club list, and he was the fastest in the world.

None of that had prepared him for the past three days.

Mo had warned him that Olympic training was hell. First, there was the altitude to contend with. While his stomach had finally stopped rejecting food, there was no help for the thinner air. He felt the reduced oxygen in his muscles, legs, and head. Everything hurt and burned, forced to work twice as hard with half as much. Taxing his body further, Coach rode them hard, three times a day. He blew his shiny whistle every time someone missed a start or switch, ordered extra laps if anyone dared make a whale turn, and if a swimmer’s eyes drooped during tape review, he assigned the entire team more tape duty.

And then there was the biggest challenge of all—Alejandro Cantu.

Head bowed, Dane watched through his lashes as Alex’s arms cut through the air, a perfect arc of droplets following each trailing limb, splattering his broad chest breaking the water’s surface. Coach and Ryan shuffled down the deck alongside him, the former timing the run with a stopwatch, the latter shouting and clapping. When Alex tapped the wall, Ryan slapped the starting block and reached out for a high five.

“You just broke your own record, Cap!”

Coach went to mark down the time in his books as hoots went up from the rest of the team gathered around the pool. Victorious, Alex yanked off his cap and goggles, smiling wide. The late-day sun streamed in through the overhead glass, reflecting off the water and warming his deep brown eyes.

Dane’s body tightened, tension rippling out from his chest to his fingers and toes. He still wanted Alex as much as he had the first time he’d laid eyes on him. Only then, a decade ago, neither of them had had their names splashed across the headlines. They’d been tucked away at an obscure little college in an obscure little town, with no prying eyes except their fellow trainees’, most of whom were too wrapped up in their own dramas to notice the quiet roommates who’d become fast friends. And inside their dorm room, more.


Blurb

Relay_1200x1800HRAbout the CHANGING LANES series (http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/universe/changing-lanes):

A chance at gold or a chance at love? Members of the US Men’s Swim Team fight for both in this sports romance duology following two couples on one medley relay team as they train and compete in the world’s biggest sporting event: the Olympics. To reach the top of the podium, they’ll need to depend on one another and be willing to change lanes—in their lives and hearts, and in the biggest race of their athletic careers.

 

About RELAY (http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/relay):

Captain is not a title Alejandro “Alex” Cantu takes lightly. Elected by his teammates to helm the US Men’s Swim Team, he proudly accepts the role, despite juggling endless training, team administrative work, and helping out on the family farm. And despite his ex-lover, Dane Ellis—swimming’s biggest star—also making the Olympic Team.

Dane has been a pawn in his celebrity parents’ empire from crib to pool, flashing his camera-ready smile on demand and staying deeply in the closet. Only once did he drop the act—the summer he fell in love with Alex. Ten years later, Dane longs to cut his parents’ strings, drop his too-bright smile, and beg Alex for another chance.

Alex, though, isn’t ready to forgive and forget, and Dane is a distraction he doesn’t need on his team, until an injury forces Alex to accept Dane as his medley relay anchor. Working together, their passion reignites. When Dane’s parents threaten reprisal and Alex is accused of doping, the two must risk everything to prove Alex’s innocence, to love one another, and to win back their spots on the team, together.


Bio

Layla-Reyne-PhotoAuthor Layla Reyne was raised in North Carolina and now calls San Francisco home. She enjoys weaving her bi-coastal experiences into her stories, along with adrenaline-fueled suspense and heart pounding romance. When she’s not writing stories to excite her readers, she downloads too many books, watches too much television, and cooks too much food with her scientist husband, much to the delight of their smushed-face, leftover-loving dogs.


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