Today I am so pleased to welcome Zoe Lee to Joyfully Jay. Zoe has come to share an exclusive excerpt from her latest release, Ex-Rivals. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

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Excerpt

“It’s like they think we’re about to fight or fuck or something right here,” Julian mused.

I sputtered, the whisky burning as it got sucked halfway up my nose, then started coughing.

Jumping up, Julian rubbed between my shoulders. “Are you okay, Camdon?”

It was one of the most common things to say, but Julian had never asked me that before, and I sucked in a hard breath and my head whipped over to find him so close, our eyes locking.

His fingertips ghosted up over my collar and onto the nape of my neck, and I shivered violently, goosebumps erupting all over my torso and hardening my nipples. All I wanted was for his hand to lay against my face, for him to sink his fingertips into my hair. The need slammed into me and my breathing snagged, then resumed, sounding like pants to me. My throat worked as his eyes softened into the heavy-lidded, languid look I had been trying so hard not to remember.

But it was impossible to forget.

Fuck, I’d been so crazy about him, I hadn’t known what to do or say, and there had been so much fear because of our rivalry. For so long I’d been miserable, sure he’d figured out my burgeoning, complicated need for him and was messing with me, the inexperienced gay boy.

But the instant he’d kissed me for the first time, I’d known it was real—

Caro,” he groaned, and kissed me, a meticulous press of his lips on mine, firm and lush. His hand surged into my hair so that his fingers cupped the base of my skull, just like I’d wanted.

The same as that first kiss, I thought I would pass out. Old fears and desire and confusion and anger that he was doing this to me again all churned unpleasantly in my heart. But my body knew almost everything about his, so my lips didn’t need me to have a clear heart to remember how to kiss him back, reaching over one shoulder to firmly cover his hand in my hair with mine.

Then the tip of his tongue flicked over my bottom lip before he eased away, as though it weren’t effortless at all, and a very sweet, very wry smile flirted with his mouth.

He murmured almost inaudibly, “The pleasure was all mine, Camdon.”


Blurb

ex-rivals coverLocal Beats, Book 3

Julian Corelli
After fifteen years, I’m back in Chicago for a new job, with enough sass and charm to power the whole city. There are two million people here, and only one I never want to see again. Except who do I come face-to-face with on my very first night back? My ex-rival, my ex-classmate, my ex… nevermind.

Camdon Gaines
As if getting over a breakup isn’t bad enough, the worst person I’ve ever had the displeasure to know is at my favorite club on guys’ night, laughing with my best friends. He’s still the most infuriating man, but at least I faced him, lost my temper a little, and now it’s case closed.

Except now that we’ve crossed paths again, it’s like we’re cosmically handcuffed together. Everyone else thinks he’s the funniest, cleverest man in the city and they want to be his new bestie. But I know the real Julian and there’s no way I can ever trust him again after what he did to me—especially when he’s acting like I’m the one who ruined everything.

This is a 70k word enemies-to-lovers, second chance, slower burn romance with a guaranteed HEA. It’s the third book in the Local Beats series and can be read as a standalone, but is more fun if read in order.


Bio

Zoe lee logo

Zoe writes contemporary romances and believed everyone will get extraordinary love stories since before she ever fell in love. She lives with her family near the mountains in Colorado, where she writes while listening to music, never drinks coffee, reads books in one sitting, and watches too many movies and tv shows. She’s been writing since she was a kid, but luckily she knows how grown-ups work now. Mostly.

 

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Giveaway

To celebrate Zoe’s new release, we are giving you a chance to win your choice of any ebook from Zoe’s backlist! Three winners will be chosen!

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