Out of Bounds - Ellen Hartman (HS #1801 - Sept 2012)

Former basketball star Wes Fallon owes his brother everything. So when Deacon asks him to track down some missing charitable donations, Wes is on it. For the first time, the accident that ended his career looks like a godsend…until Wes encounters Posy Jones.

Posy is unlike any woman he's ever met. She's beautiful, intelligent and can hold her own on the court. But she's clearly keeping something from him. As he digs deeper into the missing funds, his gut tells him what she's hiding is tied to it. Will he be forced to choose between the woman he's falling in love with and the brother he would risk anything for? Hopefully not…because his choice might surprise them all. 

Good book.  Wes Fallon, the younger brother of Deacon (The Long Shot) is all grown up now.  His basketball career has come to an end because of a shoulder injury and he is at loose ends.  Because Deacon rescued him from foster care as soon as Deacon was old enough, Wes has always felt an obligation to help Deacon if ever he asked.  Wes is being sent to Kirkland for two reasons: first, to help pave the way for a new Fallon Center in town, and second, to track down the money from a fundraiser that a local woman ran to raise money for the program.  Wes doesn't really fell qualified, but he can't say no, so off he goes.  When he arrives, the woman is out of town, but her daughter is there and says she'll be able to get the check to him.  Wes gets the feeling that there is something going on, but he's really interested in Posy, so he lets it go.  The more time he spends with her, the more he likes her.  She also has made him think about what he wants to do now that he's done with basketball.  He has never thought that far ahead.  When he found out what Posy's mom had done, and how Posy had covered it up until she could get the replacement money he was furious.  Her actions pushed all his buttons - his feelings about his family and how this could impact them, his feelings of inadequacy about the job he had to do, and the way he was feeling about Posy. He had started to care and now his anger had chased her away.  So many people had left his life that she was just one more.  I didn't like the way that he was so blind with his anger that he didn't think about the effects on Posy until Deacon and Julia asked.  Even then he was still so angry that he didn't even want to see her.  Posy had left Kirkland as soon as she was able to.  She is a tall, athletic woman who had never felt like she fit in anywhere in her hometown.  Her mother was always trying to turn her into a girly girl and constantly had little negative digs at her.  This did a number on Posy's self esteem, but she still loved her mom.  Her mom was a ditz who was constantly getting into messes that Posy then ended up cleaning up.  This fundraiser was the latest and worst.  Not only did mom lose the money, she then went into hiding leaving Posy holding the bag.  Posy was able to get the money and pay the foundation, but she didn't think about the effects of the original loss of the money just that everything would be fine if they had the funds.  She had fallen for Wes and was devastated by his attitude toward her when she finally told him what had happened.  She didn't just take his anger laying down, she did tell Wes a few things about himself that eventually made him think about his future. I liked the way that when they finally made up they still took things slowly.  The conclusion was good.  I liked that Posy's mom still had to pay for what she did.