Today I am so pleased to welcome Garrett Leigh to Joyfully Jay. Garrett has come to talk to share an exclusive excerpt from her latest release, Rented Heart. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving Garrett a big welcome!

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Excerpt

“. . . there’s not much I wouldn’t pay for the privilege of spending a few hours with you.”

Zac almost pinched himself to check he was really awake, before the inevitable cynicism set in. Why on earth would Liam want to spend time with Zac? With his luxury flat and übercool camper van, it was clear he had the whole world at his feet. Nah, this was about the sex. It had to be.

Liam had fallen silent again, his eyes on the road. Zac pocketed the cash he’d been paid and settled back in his seat, slumping down on the pillows Liam had tossed to him. The duvet called his name, but he didn’t dare retreat beneath it. Warm and comfy was one thing, sleeping all the way to wherever they were going was something else altogether.

He let you sleep last time. Zac couldn’t deny that, but Liam seemed different today, more intense—if that were possible—and every glance he sent Zac pierced his soul. “Where are we going?”

“Sheffield.”

“I know that,” Zac said. “And I know you’re taking the van—Hettie—to the garage. What else is in Sheffield for you?”

“Work. My company has a factory there. I’ve not been up in a long while, so it’s time I showed my face.”

Zac couldn’t think why Liam would need a hooker with him for that, but he wasn’t about to question it. Perhaps he had an office he wanted to get naughty in, a desk to bend him over, a filing cabinet to push him against and fuck his brains out. Liam wouldn’t be the first john to pay him to perform a long-held fantasy. “What does your company make in the factory?”

“Clothes, mainly, and a few accessories. We make the boards in Newquay.”

“Boards . . . you mean surfboards?”

“Yep.”

Liam kept his eyes trained on the road, but something in his tone made Zac sit up and take in the tightness around his eyes and his white knuckles around Hettie’s steering wheel. “Why don’t you like Newquay?”

“What makes you think I don’t like Newquay?”

“Okay,” Zac countered. “Why don’t you like talking about Newquay?”

Liam sucked in a deep breath and let it go slowly without meeting Zac’s gaze. “It’s not Newquay I don’t like, it’s everything it represents. Me and Cory—my partner—we lived there before he died, and we were happy, you know? It never occurred to me that there was anything else.”

“Happy?” Zac stretched his legs out and dumped his feet on the dashboard. “You’ll have to tell me what that’s like.”

“Are you not happy, Zac?”

“Wouldn’t know.”

“Oh, I think you would. I reckon you’ve seen the dark side, mate, and you can’t see light without the dark.” Liam grinned in a slightly manic way. “Got that nugget in a Christmas cracker. Good, eh?”

“If you say so.”

Liam snorted. “I do today. But I should warn you, I haven’t been up there since Cory died either, so people might be surprised to see us.”

“Is that why you needed company? To distract them?”

“More to distract me, actually. I’d have fucked off home by now if you weren’t here.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

Zac sat up a little more. “Why me? Don’t you have anyone else who could’ve come with you?”

Liam appeared to consider the question, then he shook his head. “Plenty of people would’ve come with me if I’d asked them, but the only folk I can handle most days are my dogs, and they’re not allowed in the factory.”

Fair enough. Zac let it go and settled back into his nest of pillows. He watched the road whizz by and fought the heaviness in his eyelids, but after a while, when Liam flicked a switch that blew wonderfully warm air across his face, the hypnotic rumble of the van—Hettie—overtook him and he fell asleep.


Blurb

Rented HeartEx-surfer-turned-businessman Liam Mallaney moved back to Holkham, Norfolk, to mourn the loss of his husband. Grief and loneliness keep him a solitary figure, and he likes it that way. There’s no room in his broken heart for anything else.

Rentboy Zac Payne left London and most of his demons behind, but he still only knows one way to make a living. When he spots Liam in a club one night, it seems he’s found his mark. But Liam proves nicer—and their connection far deeper—than he’d bargained for.

Their arrangement quickly becomes too complicated for Zac, who has other things on his mind: namely his BFF and wayward flatmate, Jamie. Zac owes Jamie the world, and even as Jamie’s drug addiction destroys all they have, Zac won’t leave him behind.

Besides, Liam knows nothing of Zac’s home life, too caught up in his own head to think much beyond the crazy heat he and Zac share. But when trouble comes to Zac’s door, putting his life in danger, Liam must set his grief and anger aside to pick up the pieces of Zac’s shattered heart and his own.


Bio

Garrett Leigh is a British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Black Jazz Press. Her protagonists will always always be tortured, crippled, broken, and deeply flawed. Throw in a tale of enduring true love, some stubbly facial hair, and a bunch of tattoos, and you’ve got yourself a Garrett special.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible. That, and dreaming up new ways to torture her characters. Garrett believes in happy endings; she just likes to make her boys work for it.

Garrett also works as a freelance cover artist for various publishing houses and independent authors under the pseudonym G.D. Leigh. For cover art info, please visit blackjazzpress.com.

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Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Rented Heart, one lucky winner will receive $25 in Riptide Publishing credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on September 17, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

  • By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • Winners will be selected by random number. No purchase necessary to win.  The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
  • If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner may be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay.
  • Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
  • Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
  • All book prizes are in electronic format unless otherwise specified.
  • By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
  • Readers may only enter once for each contest.  Duplicate entries for the same giveaway will be ignored. In the event of technical problems with the blog during the contest, every effort will be made to extend the contest deadline to allow for additional entries.
  • Void where prohibited by law.
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