Just for You (18 page)

rugby:
Rough contact sport with no padding, and “New Zealand’s national religion”

second-five, second five-eighth:
rugby position (back). The player who does the most distributing of the ball—from the scrum and from the breakdown. A key strategic position.

Sevens:
a speeded-up form of Rugby Union; played internationally

shag:
have sex with

spew:
vomit

sportsman:
athlete

stonkered:
drunk

Super 15, Super rugby:
high-level rugby competition. Five teams from NZ, five from Australia, five from South Africa.

sweet as:
great; nice. (Kiwis use “as” to mean “extremely”)

tea:
informal dinner

ticker:
heart. “Heaps of ticker”: lots of heart (courage).

togs:
swimsuit (men or women)

touchline:
sideline

try:
a goal, in rugby; worth five points.

tryline:
the goal line. The player has to touch the ball to the ground across the line to score a try.

try it on:
flirt seriously, make a move on somebody

Under-19s:
important international rugby competition for 18-year-olds

whanau:
family; central Maori concept. Big whanau: extended family

wharekai:
the dining room, more informal building at a marae

wharenui:
the main ceremonial building at a marae

whinge:
whine, complain. An unpopular thing to do in New Zealand. Harden up!

wing:
rugby position (back). This is the one back position that is usually held by a big, tall guy. (There are two wings—left and right.) They tend to be the big power runners who can break tackles.

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T
HE
E
SCAPE TO
N
EW
Z
EALAND
SERIES

Reka and Hemi’s story:
Just for You
(Novella)

Hannah and Drew's story:
Just This Once

Kate and Koti's story:
Just Good Friends

Jenna and Finn's story:
Just for Now

Books 1-3 Value Price Boxed Set:
Just This Once, Just Good Friends, Just For Now

Emma and Nic's story:
Just for Fun

Ally and Nate's/Kristen and Liam's stories:
Just My Luck

Josie and Hugh's story:
Just Not Mine

Hannah and Drew's story again/Reunion:
Just Once More

Faith and Will's story:
Just In Time
(In Brenda Novak's SWEET TALK boxed set;

May 1, 2015 - available for preorder now!)

Chloe and Kevin's story:
Just Say Yes
(Spring/Summer 2015)

T
HE
K
INCAIDS
S
ERIES

Mira and Gabe's story:
Welcome to Paradise

Desiree and Alec's story:
Nothing Personal

Alyssa and Joe's story:
Asking for Trouble

T
HE
P
ARADISE,
I
DAHO
S
ERIES (
M
ONTLAKE
R
OMANCE)

Zoe and Cal's story:
Carry Me Home
(June 2015)

Book Two:
Take Me On
 (December 2015)

Book Three:
Turn Me Loose
 (2016)

Cover design by Robin Ludwig Design Inc.,

http://www.gobookcoverdesign.com/

Read on for an excerpt from

JUST THIS ONCE

Available now.

“W
ow. Welcome to New Zealand.”

Hannah said the words aloud. There was nobody around to hear her, after all. Despite the chill lingering in the morning air, she stood where she was for a few seconds more. The turquoise sea beckoned, its border of golden sand strewn with pale scallop shells left behind by the receding tide. It was exactly where she’d longed to be, these past weeks. And it was everything she’d hoped.

She dropped her towel and sandals and stepped into the cool water. Aiming towards the point at the far end of the bay, she delighted in her steady progress. Her mind settled down into the familiar rhythm, focused only on her strokes and her breath as the minutes went by.

Looking up at last to check her position, she felt a twinge of alarm. Had she not been swimming straight? The point was in the wrong place, wasn’t it? She treaded water, turned in a circle. Realized with shock that she’d come much farther than she’d expected. What had felt like her own fast pace had in fact been a powerful current in the outgoing tide. One that was doing its best now to pull her out to sea.

No need to panic, she told herself firmly. All right, she was in some kind of rip tide. Now that she had stopped swimming, she could feel its strength. But she knew what to do, didn’t she? She had to swim across it, that was all. This happened to people all the time. She would aim for a course parallel to the shore rather than trying to force her way directly back against the current’s full power. Once she escaped the band of rip, she could turn back toward shore again. Back to safety.

She changed directions deliberately, swam strongly and steadily, working on maintaining her parallel course. Her progress, though, seemed discouragingly slow. The rip was wider than she had anticipated. It might even have shifted, a nervous little voice whispered in the back of her mind. She had heard that could happen.

She forced that treacherous voice back with an effort. She couldn’t do anything about it now, other than what she was already doing. Keep swimming parallel, she told herself fiercely. She could swim for an hour without stopping, she knew. That meant she could swim even longer if she had to. Eventually, she would get out of this. Willing herself to stay calm, counting her strokes, she made it to one hundred, then two hundred.

And felt the change as she was caught by another, stronger rip. She had swum straight into it, and was once again being pulled out inexorably with the current.

The first stirrings of real panic shortened her breath. She forced the fear back, focused on breathing with her strokes, and began to count again. One hundred strokes, she told herself. Count. Breathe. But as she counted off sixty, then seventy, she could feel herself tiring, and knew she was losing the battle.

Where were the people? She hadn’t seen a soul when she entered the water. Nobody knew where she was, and there was nobody to see her struggling. Nobody to help her. Nobody to save her.

How could this be happening?

All she had wanted was a vacation.

Just This Once: Escape to New Zealand, Book One

Available now.