I am so excited for everyone to read this book! I loved it! I think it could be my favorite K.A. Tucker book to date! There’s sexiness and romance, but delivered with an irresistible humor that draws you in immediately. In preparation for the release on June 24th, four other bloggers and I have a special excerpt each day to give you a sneak peek at what you can expect with Reese and Ben’s story! Make sure to enter the giveaway below too!
Sometimes you canโt changeโand sometimes you just donโt wantย to. Discover Benโs side of the story in this fourth novel by the beloved, top-selling indie author ofย Ten Tiny Breaths,One Tiny Lie, andย Four Secondsย toLose.
Purple-haired, sharp-tongued Reese MacKay knows all about making the wrong choice; sheโs made plenty of them in her twenty-odd-years. So when her impulsive, short-lived marriage ends in heartbreak, she decides itโs time for a change. She movesย toย Miami with the intention of hitting reset on her irresponsible life, and she does quite wellโฆaside from an epically humiliating one-night stand in Cancun with a hot blond bouncer named Ben. Thank God she can get on a plane and leaveย thatย mistake behind her.
Football scholarship and frat parties with hot chicks? Part of charmer Ben Morrisโs plan. Blown knee that kills any hope of a professional football career?ย Soย not part of the plan. Luckily Ben has brainsย toย go with his knockout looks and magnetism. After three long years of balancing law school with his job as a bouncer at Pennyโs Palace, heโs readyย toย lead a more mature lifeโuntil his first day of work, when he finds himself in the office of that crazy, hot chick he met in Cancun. The one he hasnโt stopped thinking about.
If Ben truly were a smart guy, heโd stay clear of Reese. Sheโs the bossโs stepdaughter and itโs been made very clear that office romances are grounds for dismissal. Plus, rumor has it sheโs trouble. The only problem is, he likes trouble, especially when itโs so good-lookingโฆ
I hold my breath as I watch Jackโs large form take a seat, adjusting his slightly rumpled suit jacket as he triesย toย get comfortable in the hard plastic chair.ย Itโs ironicโin this moment, he feels like both an integral part of my childhood and a complete stranger.
I canโt believe I called him.
I canโt believe he actually came.
With a heavy sigh, he finally murmurs, โReeses Pieces.โ Heโs looking down at me the sameย wayย he did when I got caught rearranging the letters of a Baptist church signย toย read something no nine-year-old girlโor twenty-year-old for that matterโshould have in her vocabulary. Despite the severe strain in our once close relationship, warmth immediately spreads through my chest. I havenโt heard that nickname in years. โSo… destruction of private property?โ
I guess the cops filled him in. โI preferย toย call it artistic expression.โ The canvas included Carolineโs prissy clothes, her pretentious throw cushions, and that damn pornographic picture of them hanging overย ourย bedย โBesides,โ I raise my hands, stained in crimson, and offer in a deadpan tone, โthey canโt prove it was me.โ When Lina found me sitting quietly in the dim light of her apartment kitchen, where Iโve been staying for the past two weeks, she let out a single yelp before realizing that I hadnโt turned into a homicidal maniac and was in fact covered in redย paint.ย I probably should have made the copsโ job harder and showered before they arrived.
A tiny sad smile creeps over his face. I wonder if my attempt at humor adequately hides the crushing heart break and rejection that Iโm drowning in after finding out my husband was having an affair with his high school sweetheart.
โI phoned Barry on myย wayย here. Sounds like youโve kept him busy these past few years.โ By his clenching jaw, I see that wasnโt an easy call for Jackย toย make, even nine years later. Not surprising.ย Friends since they could barely walk, Jack and Barry were once equity partners together in his law firm. Until Barry had an affair with Jackโs wife.
My mother.
All relationships instantly dissolved in a bath of bitterness that obviously hasnโt fully drained yet. Glancing at his hand, I canโt help but notice the absence of a wedding ring. I guess he hasnโt remarried. After what my mother put him through, I donโt blame him.
โAnd I understand why you called me now. You didnโt have a choice, did you?โ
โNot really,โ I admit, focusing on the stars and circles Iโm finger-drawing over the tableโs cold, metal surface. Barry is a high-priced, successful criminal lawyer who has gotten his unruly stepdaughter out of more than one debacle. The last incident was on my eighteenth birthday when I decided itโd be funnyย toย go retro and moon cars.
One of those cars was a police cruiser.
The cop was an uptight prick.
And I was drunk.
After helping me avoid indecent exposure and under-aged public drunkenness charges, Barry announced that my juvenile record was sealed, I was now an adult, and he was officially washing his hands of me. Three months later, when my mother left him for husband number four, itย reallyย became official.
โIโm surprised Annabelleโs new husband didnโt want this swept under the rug quickly.โ
โI didnโt phone Annabelle. I donโt want herย toย know about this.โ I stopped calling her โMomโ when I was eight. We both agreed it wasnโt fitting for a woman whose true passions lay in executive club status and dirty martinis.
Click on the cover to purchase from Amazon U.S.
Born in small-town Ontario, Kathleen published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She is a voracious reader and the farthest thing from a genre-snob, loving everything from High Fantasy to Chick Lit. Kathleen currently resides in a quaint small town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.
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