Today I am so pleased to welcome A.M. Arthur to Joyfully Jay. A.M. has come to share an exclusive excerpt from her latest release, Right Move. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Excerpt

RIGHT MOVE (Clean Slate Ranch #6) is a slow-burn, friends to lovers romance between shy, shut-in George, who’s agreed to attend a huge Thanksgiving dinner with his twin brother Orry. After a minor panic attack, George had a pleasant run-in with sexy trick rider Levi.

George closed his eyes and allowed the sun to warm his face for a little while as he worked up the courage to go back in. His attacks embarrassed the hell out of him when he had them in front of other people. But unless Orry told everyone that’s what had happened to him, folks could simply assume he left something in the car.

Except for the handful of folks on the porch who could probably see him standing here like a fool. Oh well, it couldn’t be helped. As his adrenaline waned and his fingertips stopped twitching, he caught the sound of rough scuffling nearby. George opened his eyes to an unexpected sight: Levi the trick rider.

He blinked hard, sure he was imagining him because of the sun glaring against his eyelids, but no. Levi stood a few feet away with a bottle of water in one hand and a small, almost shy smile on his face. “Hey,” Levi said. He held out the bottle. “Thought maybe you could use this.”

“I…thank you.” George was crazy thirsty now, and Levi surprised the hell out of him by cracking the top before handing it over. George gulped the cold water, thankful for the man’s unexpected kindness. “I mean it, thank you.”

“Happy to.” He tucked both hands in the pockets of his low-slung jeans. In a long-sleeve blue cotton T-shirt and sneakers, Levi seemed different from the cowboy George remembered. More peaceful. And the man was good looking in a way that made George feel very plain.

“It’s a nice day.” Stupid small talk was stupid but George still wasn’t good at handling conversations with near-strangers.

Levi’s smile broadened. “It is. We’ve had a string of really nice weather up here this week. Glad it held up because I think Wes invited the whole county to this shindig. Some folks might have to eat outside.”

“Probably me.”

“Not used to big crowds of people, huh?”

“No.” Words were coming more easily now, and it had everything to do with his conversation partner. Something about Levi simply…put him at ease. “No, I haven’t been around a group like this in years. But Orry really wanted to come today, and I knew he wouldn’t if I stayed at home.”

“That’s a brave thing to do, George. Step outside your comfort zones for your brother.”

“He’s taken care of me for a long time. It’s my turn to do something for him.” Determination straightened George’s spine. “I can do this.”

“Sure you can. Take it in baby steps. Instead of looking at all the faces, focus on the ones nearest you. The ones you’re talkin’ to. Then look at some new ones if you want but don’t push yourself.”

George studied Levi’s serene expression. “Are you, like, a life coach or something in your spare time?”

Levi laughed and it rippled over George’s skin in a pleasant, unexpected way. “No, but I spent a lot of time studying philosophy and various religions when I got out of rehab. I learned a lot of coping mechanisms.”

The blunt way Levi admitted to having been in rehab startled George into momentary silence. Who said that to a total stranger? Levi, obviously, and he didn’t seem embarrassed at all. His expression hadn’t changed. And as curious as he was about why Levi was in rehab—drugs or alcohol addiction, duh—he didn’t want to ruin this pleasant conversation by being nosy. He liked talking to Levi and wanted to keep doing it for as long as possible.

Blurb

Opposites attract in this sexy, slow-burn romance, the next installment in A.M. Arthur’s fan-favorite Clean Slate Ranch series.

Levi Peletier is settled—for now. With his life on the rodeo circuit reined in, he’s content doing trick riding demos for tourists at Clean Slate Ranch and spending his off-hours with three finicky felines. It’s a life he’s grateful for, one that keeps his heart safe.

George Thompson couldn’t be less like the ruggedly sexy Levi. A onetime figure skating star, he’s hung up his skates to live in introverted anonymity in San Francisco. An effort to shake up his regular routine finds him at Thanksgiving dinner, dude ranch style, and he immediately falls in love with the gorgeous view—the wide-open spaces and big blue sky aren’t bad, either.

The country cowboy and the stay-put city boy strike up an unlikely friendship that blossoms into something more. But getting attached is a bad idea. Because the open road is calling to Levi, and it’s a call George can’t imagine answering. When the past catches up to them, this odd couple will have to decide if a future together is worth fighting for.

Buy Link: Amazon

Clean Slate Ranch

• Book 1: Wild Trail
• Book 2: Roped In
• Book 3: Saddle Up
• Book 4: Lucky Break
• Book 5: Hard Ride
• Book 6: Right Move

Bio

A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone’s throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland.  She’s been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop.  She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn’t been coined yet back then) with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories. A.M. Arthur’s work is available from Carina Press, SMP Swerve, and Briggs-King Books.

When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder.  She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she’s an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments.

Contact her at am_arthur@yahoo.com with your cooking tips (or book comments). You can also find her online (http://amarthur.blogspot.com/), as well as on Twitter (http://twitter.com/am_arthur), Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/blog/am-arthur), and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/A.M.Arthur.M.A ).

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