EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT FOR HEARTLAND
Releasing January 28, 2020
Releasing January 28, 2020
Humming to herself, Chastity retrieves the book and a notebook off the desk. Then she sits beside me. “Here we go. I did the first three, but I’m not sure I did them right.”
I take the notebook, scanning her work. I’m a little distracted, though, by Chastity’s proximity. Her shampoo has a fruity scent that’s familiar to me, probably from the night I pushed her up against a wall and kissed the hell out of her.
That was a stupid, stupid thing to do. Because now I’m thinking about it again. We fell into kissing the way I once fell off a dock into Lake Champlain. Suddenly and without warning. And even though I’d been skunk drunk when I’d kissed her, I can’t forget how good it was.
“Is it that bad?” she whispers.
“What?” I look up, finding her blue eyes at close range.
“The first three problems. Did I screw up?”
“Uh…” I squint at the page again and force myself to focus. “No. You’re doing fine. They’re not much different than the last two week’s work, but with more terms thrown in.” Chastity tends to panic whenever things start to look different. “Try number four, okay? Let’s see how you go about breaking it down.”
She takes the notebook back with a sigh and begins to factor the expression. The first thing she tries doesn’t pan out.
“No problem,” I coach. “Try again.”
It takes her a few minutes to warm up, but slowly we work through each new problem. And then we get to the doozy at the bottom of the page.
“Ugh, I don’t know,” she complains. “That one will take all year.”
“Just give it a shot? If you hurry, your reward will be pizza.”
She leans over the page. As I wait for her to chew through number seventeen, she taps the end of the pencil against her knee, and my eye is drawn to the hole in her vintage jeans and the smooth skin showing through. I have the unlikely urge to pass my thumb over that oval of skin and test its softness.
Okay. Fuck.
I close my eyes and take a slow breath. What is my problem today? Chastity has always been a looker, but I don’t usually do this. I don’t usually focus on the wrong things.
Opening my eyes, the first thing I see is Chastity’s cleavage. Her soft T-shirt dips into a V right where her breasts stretch the cotton fabric…
There is no safe place to rest my gaze, apparently. My brain has become confused. Confused, and also a traitor.
“Dyl?”
I snap to attention. “Sorry. What was the question?”
“Can I multiply Z like this?”
“Uh…” I take a deep breath and get another whiff of her feminine scent. I must be really hungry, because it addles my brain. “Yes. No. Jesus.”
Chastity laughs. “Which is it?”
“Yes, you can multiply both sides by Z. But don’t forget about your denominator there…”
“Oh, crap,” she says, erasing what she’d just written. “Okay, I have another idea.”
She scribbles away, while I lean back and try to think about my own homework. Tomorrow is a holiday, but I have a history paper due on Tuesday. I close my eyes and think deep thoughts about the industrial revolution.
This works fine until Chastity puts a hand on my leg. It’s just a casual touch—her palm resting over the denim of my jeans, right above my knee. But she might as well have put her hand on my cock, because I’m way too aware of her now.
“Dylan,” she says. “Tell me I’ve got it now. Look.”
I scan her work, and it’s a miracle I can concentrate on the page. But it’s true—she’s cracked it open and arrived at the right answer. “Nice! You’re done already. Now we can eat pizza and watch stupid shit on YouTube.”
She laughs, turning to me. And there it is again—that smile that flattens me sometimes. I love making Chastity smile.
But holy shit. All I can think about is kissing her again.
It hits me that Rickie was probably right. And Kaitlyn, too, unfortunately. It might be the only time they ever agreed on anything, but I am attracted to Chastity. And I don’t have the first idea what to think about that.
An emotional friends to lovers romance full of risky secrets and late-night lessons in seduction.
Dylan is my best friend, and the only person in my life who understands me. He doesn’t mind my social awkwardness or my weird history. The only glitch? He doesn’t know that I’ve been hopelessly, desperately in love with him since the first day we picked apples together in his family’s orchard.
But I know better than to confess.
Now that we’re both in college together, I’m seeing a new side of him. College Dylan drinks and has a lot of sex. None of it with me.
Until the night I foolishly ask him to tutor me in more than algebra…and he actually says yes.
But the cool morning light shows me how badly I’ve endangered our friendship. And I don’t know if anything will be the same again.
ADD TO GOODREADS
THE FULL SERIES ON AMAZON
I have enjoyed this entire series and cannot recommend it enough!! I hope you enjoyed this excerpt.
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~MEET SARINA BOWEN~
Sarina Bowen is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and New Adult fiction from the wilds of Vermont.
The Ivy Years is her college hockey series. Centered around the hockey team at an elite Connecticut college, The Year We Fell Down began breaking hearts in March, 2014. There are three novels and a novella in the series so far. See http://www.sarinabowen.com/TheIvyYears for updates.
HIM is a bestselling sexy, sporty hockey LGBT novel co-written with Elle Kennedy.
For lovers of angsty snowboarders, Sarina also writes the Gravity series, featuring snow sports heroes.
Sarina enjoys skiing, coffee products and a nice glass of wine. She lives with her family, six chickens and more ski gear and hockey equipment than seems necessary.
She would be honored to connect with you at http://www.sarinabowen.com
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