Red Zone by Sherri Hayes

Red Zone by Sherri Hayes

After a case ended badly for Rebecca Carson, she’s losing her mind sitting around her apartment waiting on her superiors to allow her to return to work. Since she was a teenager, the only thing she’d ever wanted was to join the FBI. Now that dream was in danger. 

Gage Daniels has made a pretty good life for himself. A nice house. A career he loves. As a professional football player, he’s used to getting almost everything he’d ever want with just the snap of his fingers. This includes women. A well-timed smile is usually all it takes to attract the opposite sex, especially in Nashville. 

When a stalker threatens Gage, the team owner calls an old friend, Rebecca’s ex-partner Travis Hansen, to help protect his star quarterback and find the person responsible. Hansen offers Rebecca the job, and she jumps at the chance. It’s work, and it will get her out of her apartment. How bad can it be?

Posing as Gage’s girlfriend, however, isn’t as easy as it seems. The man is relentless. Rebecca must work to protect Gage while staving off his advances. She’s there to do a job, nothing more. The last thing she wants is to be another notch on a hotshot athlete’s belt.

As the stalker continues to up the ante, Rebecca finds it harder and harder to keep her distance from Nashville’s star quarterback. He isn’t what she expected in one of the city’s most notorious playboys. Now all she has to do is keep him safe until they can find his stalker, and hope she doesn’t lose her heart in the process.

Jen's Review 

Way cute story! I really loved this! It was more of a thriller/romance than sports, but we got to see Gage play a couple of times :) 

Gage is being stalked. Someone is taking pictures of Gage in his personal life, and it's starting to get old. 
What Gage doesn't know, is that Tim, the manager of his team has seen explosives in his car! All of a sudden, a stalker isn't just some harmless fan anymore. 

Tim calls in a favor to his retired FBI friend. Hansen's old partner Rebecca Carson was the perfect candidate to pose as Gage's girlfriend. Or at least the only candidate they had available. 

Rebecca was bored. She's an FBI agent. Sitting in her apartment waiting for clearance to go back to work just wasn't her thing. So when Hansen called Rebecca and offered her a bodyguard job, she jumped at the chance before getting all the details. 

When Gage first saw Rebecca, he thought there was no way she'd be able to pass as his girlfriend. She was too uptight, too stiff, too proper. 
But when Gage got his personal stylist involved, he was looking at her in a different light. 

Gage could sense Rebecca wasn't up for the girlfriend part, but he knew he'd have to get her to relax if anyone was going to believe she was really his girlfriend. And he had a little too much fun with her when they were out. because he knew he could get away with it. 

But when they were in his house, she kept pulling back and retreating back to her room. Gage was getting frustrated. 

The chemistry between these two was something that neither of them had expected when Rebecca took on this job. Gage hadn't had a steady girlfriend since his high school days, and Rebecca didn't trust anyone with her heart. 

Cute story - it was fun to see what was going to happen next :)

 

Juls Review

Gage a hot football star has a stalker. The solution? Hire a equally hot young FBI agent to pose as his girlfriend. What starts out fake turns into way more than either of them expected.

Rebecca would have never accepted this new assignment except her retired partner asked her as a favor to his friend.

Gage is not boyfriend material and the last thing he needs is to have a live in “girlfriend”. He just wants this psycho stalker to leave him alone so he can focus on the game. But now he’s got another distraction, Rebecca. She’s not what he expected. She’s sensual and all woman and he cant help but be drawn to her.

Rebecca takes her job seriously but the more Gage plays boyfriend the more her resolve to stay professional shatters until nothing can put it back to right.

With this stalker one step ahead of them their time together may come to an end. Can they find this person to put a stop to the letters , photos, and the death attempts to rest?

I have to say I kinda knew who it was from the beginning but regardless this was a great who done it book.

   
 
                                                           

               

Here are a few easy game day snacks

Football Deviled Eggs

These cute football deviled eggs are basically deviled eggs with thinly sliced fresh chives arranged to look like laces on a football. They really couldn't be easier to make!

  

Tortilla Roast Beef Roll-Up Sandwich

Ingredients

• 16 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup(s) salsa
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 8 large (12-inch) flour tortillas
• 1 lb. Castle Wood Reserve® Angus Roast Beef
• 2 cup(s) guacamole (or avocado mashed with lemon juice and salt)
• 8 oz. shredded jack cheese

Cooking Directions

1. Beat the cream cheese, salsa, cayenne pepper and garlic powder together in a bowl until well blended.
2. On the counter, overlap 2 tortillas at a time to create 4 large wrappers. Spread a thin layer of the cream-cheese mixture over each tortilla base. Place 4 slices of roast evenly over the cream cheese.
3. Next, spread 1/4 of the guacamole on the beef and divide the grated cheese evenly between the tortillas.
4. Starting on one side, gently but firmly press and roll each tortilla into a tight tube. Wrap with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
5. To serve, unwrap and slice each rollup into 3 or 4 generous wedges.

 

Spectacular Spinach Dip

If you like spinach, you'll love this recipe.

It's not the normal, everyday recipe. It's got more goodies packed into it and is a heartier version than the one you are probably used to.

What you'll need:
- 1 package of vegetable soup mix (dry)
- 1 container of sour cream (large)
- 1 cup of mayonnaise
- 1 box of frozen spinach (chopped, thawed and drained)
- 1 small can of tiny shrimp
- 1 small can of crabmeat
- green onions (chopped)*
- cheddar cheese (shredded)*
- 1 round bread loaf (large)

Except for the bread, add and mix all the above ingredients together in a large bowl.  Next, cut off the top of the bread and hollow out the inside of the bread to make the shape of a bowl.  reserve the hollowed out bread and cut into chucks.  You can used the chucks as dippers once you serve the dip.

Pour mix into bread bowl and serve.  

Watching your weight, use veggies.  Enjoy!!