The Thunderbolt Read online

  “No kidding?”

  He turned his face to the sky, then grinned and shouted. “Hear me world, I love Lacy.”

  Her pulse slipped through her veins. Everything she’d ever dreamed of had come true. She’d found her soul mate.

  Only one more thing would make her world complete, and that would be for CeeCee and Janet to find the same kind of love she’d found in Bennett’s arms. She sent a silent prayer to the heavens, beseeching the thunderbolt to strike in their lives.

  But in the meantime, she had her own romance to kindle. Standing on tiptoes, she whispered in his ear.

  “Last one to the hayloft is a rotten egg.”

  Dear Reader,

  Readers are an author’s life blood and the stories couldn’t happen without you. Thank you so much for reading. I do appreciate more than you could ever know!

  As a nurse for twenty-two years, I brought my medical knowledge to this series and it was such fun using my background in the telling of these stories.

  If you enjoyed The Thunderbolt, I would so appreciate a review. You have no idea how much it means to authors.

  You can check out all the books in the Heartthrob Hospital series here.

  Don’t miss the second book in the series, The Jinx, where CeeCee falls in love with her best friend.

  If you’d like to keep up with my latest releases, you can sign up for my newsletter @ https://loriwilde.com/subscribe/

  To check out my other books, you can visit me on the web @ www.loriwilde.com.

  Much love and light!

  —Lori

  Excerpt from The Jinx

  CeeCee Adams was cursed.

  Hexed.

  Jinxed.

  Doomed.

  Forever unlucky in love and destined to traipse the earth as a single woman, compliments of the Jessup family whammy.

  How else to explain the numerous failed marriages and hapless love affairs among the women in her family? And how else could she account for the likes of Lars Vandergrin, a six-foot-four Neanderthal who wrestled for the WWF?

  Lars had a grin to melt snow off mountain peaks, sheer blond hair cascading to his waist and hands as grabby as quadruplet two-year-olds at a shopping mall. The man also possessed the same rudimentary disregard for the word “no” as the aforementioned toddlers. For the last three hours she’d fended off his advances while sitting through the latest action-adventure flick and she was quickly running out of patience.

  Thanks a million, Grandma Addie. As if dating in this new millennium wasn’t difficult enough.

  Fifty years ago, her maternal grandmother, Addie Jessup had stolen a gypsy woman’s lover. The gypsy, a rather vengeful sort it seems, not only zapped Addie with the evil eye, but damned every Jessup female for three generations. No woman in Addie’s direct lineage stayed married. Divorce was as commonplace as swapping cars.

  Which was the very reason she never dated any guy for too long. She refused to fall into the same trap as her mother, aunts and older sister, Geena. No multiple marriages for her! No revolving charge account at Neiman-Marcus’s bridal registry. No ugly child custody battles.

  No siree. She was forever a free spirit. Single and loving it.

  Except for times like these.

  She had met Lars when he had sought treatment in her physical therapy department for a tom rotator cuff. Over the past three weeks he had pestered her to go out with him. She had finally agreed, hoping to persuade him to appear in the wrestling regalia he wore as the Missing Link for St. Madeleine Hospital’s charity bachelor auction held annually the third Friday in July. The auction raised healthcare funds for Houston’s inner-city kids.

  At the moment they were standing beneath the porch lamp on the front stoop of her apartment. Lars had her pinned against the door, his hot breath fanning the hairs along her forehead, fingers thick as kielbasa twisting the top button of her blouse. She cared deeply about the charity auction but not deeply enough to grant this slab of marble carte blanche access to her body.

  “Stop it.” She swatted his hand and her charm bracelet jangled. “I don’t appreciate being pawed.”

  “Come on bay-bee, you owe me.” He puckered his lips.

  “Owe you? How do you figure?”

  “Shrimp dinner, movie, popcorn.”

  “Hang on, I’ll give you the cash.”

  “No cash.” He shook his head and his hair swung like the artificial blond mane on the My Little Pony her first stepfather had given her for her seventh birthday. “The Missing Link wants kissy-kissy.”

  “If you don’t remove your hands from my body this instant, you’ll be singing the John Wayne Bobbitt blues.”

  He giggled and ground his hips against her. “You’re feisty. Lars like that.”

  “You haven’t seen feisty, buster. Hands off.” She didn’t intimidate easily, but a small splash of fear rippled through her. Lars was a very large man.

  Immediately she thought of her good friend and next door neighbor, Dr. Jack Travis. Was Jack home?

  She dodged Lars’s attempt to kiss her, and shot a glance through the sweltering June darkness to the ground floor apartment across the courtyard. Light slanted through the blinds.

  At that moment she would have given anything to be with good old dependable Jack, listening to jazz music, sharing a laugh. Jack had such a great laugh. A resonant sound that made her feel safe, secure and cared for. She valued their platonic relationship far more than he would ever know.

  If things got really nasty, she would scream for Jack, but she wouldn’t call unless she had no choice. She proudly fought her own battles. Besides, thanks to the curse, she’d had more than her share of run- ins with guys like Lars. Still, it was nice knowing she had Jack as backup.

  “Come on, bay-bee.” Lars cupped his palm against her nape. “Let’s go inside.”

  Over my dead body!

  “Listen here, Vandergrin.” She splayed a palm across his chest and cocked her knee, ready to use it if necessary. “Things are moving too fast between us.”

  “You want me in your bachelor auction? I do a favor for you. You do a favor for me.”

  Blackmailer.

  This time she wasn’t quick enough. Lars captured her mouth and gave her a hard, insistent kiss. She was in trouble deep. Forget subtlety. No more Ms. Nice Girl. As for the charity auction, she’d just have to find another celebrity.

  “Shove off!” CeeCee jerked her mouth away at the same moment Lars thrust out his tongue. Her forehead accidentally whacked into his chin.

  “Yeow” he screamed, and pressed a hand to his mouth. “You made me bwite my tonwue!”

  About the Author

  Lori Wilde is the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers’ Weekly bestselling author of 91 works of romantic fiction. She’s a three time Romance Writers’ of America RITA finalist and has four times been nominated for Romantic Times Readers’ Choice Award. She has won numerous other awards as well.

  Her books have been translated into 26 languages, with more than four million copies of her books sold worldwide.

  Her breakout novel, The First Love Cookie Club, has been optioned for a TV movie as has her Wedding Veil Wishes series.

  Lori is a registered nurse with a BSN from Texas Christian University. She holds a certificate in forensics, and is also a certified yoga instructor.

  A fifth generation Texan, Lori lives with her husband, Bill, in the Cutting Horse Capital of the World; where they run Epiphany Orchards, a writing/creativity retreat for the care and enrichment of the artistic soul.

  Also by Lori Wilde

  HEARTTHROB HOSPITAL

  The Thunderbolt

  The Jinx

  The Hotshot

  * * *

  KRINGLE, TEXAS

  The Perfect Christmas Gift

  The Perfect Christmas Wish

  The Perfect Christmas Surprise

  * * *

  TEXAS RASCALS

  Keegan

  Matt

  Nick
r />   Kurt

  Tucker

  Kael

  Truman

  Dan

  Rex

  Clay

  Jonah

  Copyright © 2020 by Lori Wilde

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Did you love The Thunderbolt? Then you should read A Perfect Christmas Surprise by Lori Wilde!

  After a nomadic childhood, dependable rancher, Caleb Sutton, loves his quiet, simple life in Kringle, Texas. That is until his footloose ex-fiancée, the only woman he's ever loved blows back into town. Globe-trotting, freelance photographer, Ava Miller has come home for the holidays to help her parents with their animals rescue, but she's not about to stay in Kringle, no matter how hot the old embers for salt-of-the-earth Caleb still burn. The town is simply too staid for her restless ways and nothing exciting ever happens here.Nothing that is, except spending time with Caleb. And when they share one special Christmas night together, Ava gets the biggest surprise of her life…

  Read more at Lori Wilde’s site.