"I…I haven’t touched a man since my husband and I separated," Harriet admitted.
Jamie’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You seem too young to have been married already."
"Yes, well, it didn’t work out," Harriet said bitterly. She looked away, trying to push down the emotions that threatened to resurface—rejection, abandonment, the feeling of never being good enough. But she was good at controlling the pain by now; she’d been doing it ever since she was a child.
"I’m sorry." The fire between them was in danger of fizzling out as they stood there awkwardly, but then Jamie kissed her hand. "Anybody would be a fool to leave you."
Jamie pulled her closer and started kissing her again. He tasted of beer, and Harriet hated the taste usually, but like with everything else, he made the wrong seem so right, and she loved it.
She kissed him like she couldn’t get enough. Boldly, Harriet raised her hands up to cup his face, the beginnings of stubble feeling grainy against her palms. She was more turned on than she could remember. Harriet pulled away, suddenly nervous. It wasn’t like her to do things like this, and it scared her just how much she wanted it.
"It’s okay, we don’t have to take this any further. We don’t really know each other," Jamie said a little breathlessly.
Harriet tried to hide her disappointment, but she knew he was right, and she wasn’t the kind of girl to be this forward.
"But I’m up for it if you are." Jamie’s voice was more serious, and his words sent waves of desire through her body.
Given her tendency to overthink things into inaction, she decided to let her body take over. There were a hundred reasons why she shouldn’t do this, but she was going to go with the one reason she should—she wanted to.
Harriet initiated the next kiss in response, and this time she ran her hands through his hair, pulling him down to her, making it so that he knew exactly what she wanted. Jamie responded with passion. He pulled her against his body. Nerves and excitement were a heady mix, and before too long, Harriet was gasping for breath between kisses, wishing he would take the next step.
"Do you want to come upstairs?" Harriet asked eventually, when it was obvious he wasn’t going to push this. She felt brazen. This was so unlike her!
"Only if you want me to." Jamie was such a contradiction. He looked every inch the bad boy, and yet there he was acting almost like a gentleman, when it was obvious what he wanted.
Now Harriet had pulled away from him, she felt a little awkward. Without leading him, or so much as looking at him, she left the room and started heading up the stairs. Only at the top did she peek behind her to make sure he was following. Harriet walked into the large bedroom that she had shared with her husband. It was perfectly symmetrical, and everything was black and white, not a splash of color to decorate it.
Jamie stopped at the door. "It looks like a showroom. I don’t want to mess it up." Harriet didn’t relish the thought of it being messed up either, but with what she was anticipating, that was going to be inevitable.
Blurb:
Maybe only someone who's been behind bars can understand how to set her free.
Fresh out of jail, Jamie Pierce is desperate to change his ways and become a better person. He wants to earn enough money to get out of London for good and live a quiet life somewhere in the country. But then he meets Harriet Jones, a beautiful young fashion designer who is plagued by self-doubt, and suddenly leaving doesn't seem so simple.
Harriet has spent years trying to win her father's affection, but time and time again she's been left feeling that she just isn't good enough. When she starts to fall for her rough-around-the-edges neighbor, she knows her father would never approve.
It was only meant to be a fling, but maybe the person who seems so wrong for her could be just the kind of person she needs. Can Jamie help Harriet learn to believe in herself, or will she remain trapped in her own prison of self-doubt?
Buy Links: Beachwalk Press, Amazon US, Amazon UK
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