JADED HEARTS
Loaded Replay Series
By Harper Sloan
Signing with Brighthouse Records was supposed to be everything we
ever wanted—our better life. Our chance at everything we never had but
always wanted. All our dreams would finally come true and we were on top
of the world. It was our chance at the happiness we never had in life.
Our
every desire was at our fingertips and the power of that feeling was
all consuming. But then it took every dream we thought would come true
and it slapped us in the face with the cold hard reality.
Dreams
were just that…something that floated on the cusp of untouchable,
taunting you with every graze of your fingertips before slipping even
further away.
Happiness…that feeling is a joke.
In the end it became painfully obvious that each of us would always have each other, but we would forever be alone.
EXCERPT
Goddamn, that smile is dangerous.
Who am I kidding? He is dangerous.
I
do my best to ignore him, but it’s impossible. The steady brush of his
arm against where mine is resting on our shared armrest constantly
reminds me how much my body wants his touch. The scent of his delicious
cologne hits my senses, making me want to climb in his lap and rub my
face over his chest to get a potent lungful of it.
I can’t even
remember the last time I was this horny, which is pathetically sad,
since it was probably around the same time I actually got laid. Years.
I think. Close to three. Maybe that’s why I’m a hot mess lately. I
turn my head to study the side of his face and wonder if I can use this
situation to my advantage. I mean, after all, we are in a
‘relationship’ now.
He turns and gives me a questioning arch of
his dark brows, but I brush it off in favor of playing Disney Emoji
Blitz on my phone.
By the time we had hit cruising altitude, I
could hear the other men around me snoring away but not Chance. He’s
fiddling with his phone, completely ignorant of the fact I’m about to
start humping his leg.
“Excuse me,” I breathily say, unbuckling
my belt and standing to move around him. I stand there, my head bent
slightly because of the overhead, and wait. He doesn’t move, though.
Instead, he drops his phone to his lap and gives me his complete
attention; his eyes even dance a little like he’s finding this whole
damn thing funny. “Excuse me,” I repeat, no longer breathy, and seconds
away from coming.
No, that’s a lie. I’m still breathy and very much seconds away from soaking my panties even more than they already are.
His large hands grab my hips, and he guides me down on his lap with no resistance from my treacherous body.
“Not
what I meant,” I say through clenched teeth, trying to sound harsh and
offended, but I just sound dazed and turned on. I wiggle in his hold,
trying to get free, but he’s too strong for me.
He leans up in
his seat, his chest hitting my back and buries his face in my neck. I’m
sure anyone who saw us would see a loving couple who just can’t keep
their hands to themselves. He’s playing a dangerous game, though,
because the second the solid, hard length of him presses against my
backside, I forget this is
supposed to be a game and squirm a little more. His teeth nip at my shoulder at the same time his groan hits my ears.
“Stop moving, Wren,” he demands, tightening his fingers on my hips.
“You’re
the one who put me on your lap.” I curl my fingers over the empty seat
in front of me and squeeze my eyes shut when I feel him growing harder
under me.
“Yeah, because the flight attendant who just walked by
had her phone out and pointed right at us. She’s doing a shit job of
making it look like she’s doing something with her paperwork.” His hand
comes off my hip, and he cups my jaw, turning my head to the side just
when I was about to look up at where I last saw the attendant, forcing
me to shift until all it would take is me throwing one leg over his body
to be face-to-face. “Do not look at her,” he stresses; the sudden
movement of twisting my body makes me bounce slightly in his lap,
rubbing my legging-clad ass against his erection. His eyes drop to my
mouth where I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and groan.
“Give me a reason not to look,” I dare him.
“You don’t want to go down that road, Wren. I’ll protect you from the world, but you need to protect yourself from me.”
“No one is asking you to.”
Not
even knowing if we’re still being watched, I twist my torso the rest of
the way, pulling my legs up until they’re bent at his stomach between
us. Now that I’m facing him completely, I bring my hands up to curl
them both around his shoulders before dragging them up to wrap around
the corded muscles at the sides of his neck. His nostrils flare, but he
doesn’t stop me. I give him the chance, but it never comes. Dropping
my head, I press my lips to his. I explore his lips with small pecks
and little licks of my tongue, learning his mouth before pressing more
firmly. He sucks in a breath when I open my mouth and slowly drag the
tip of my tongue over his bottom lip.
And then his control snaps.
His
hands—still at my hips—lift me effortlessly until my legs are no longer
folded between us, but now digging into the hard armrests with my knees
pushing into his thighs, my back hitting the seat in front of me. His
mouth opens, and his tongue meets mine, no hesitation whatsoever, as he
deepens the kiss.
Our breathing echoes around us, making it sound
like everyone on this plane could hear us, but I know it’s just because
our faces are so close. I let out a moan, one that he swallows, that
turns into a whine when he pulls back.
“That can’t happen again,” he softly scolds, just as breathless as I am.
What
the hell? I might not have been into this whole
fake-boyfriend-slash-bodyguard thing before, but I’ll be damned if I’m
not going to take advantage of the situation. Especially now that I
know how alive he makes me feel. Three years since I had pleasure from
anything other than my own hand, and if that kiss is anything to go by,
what Chance could make me feel is ten times more powerful than anything
I’ve ever felt in my whole life.
I’m not passing that up.
Nope.
No fucking way.
“We’ll see about that.”
~Marlene's Review~
Jaded Hearts is the first book in the Loaded Replay series and a Hope Town series spin off. Chance just happens to be Cohen’s roommate back in Georgia and works for Corps Security. I love when an author ties in past characters that we have previous fell in love with while new swoon worthy heroes are being introduced!
Wrenlee is the lead singer in the highly popular band, Loaded Replay. Recent threats have placed the need for personal security at a high priority. Enter Chance Nash…
The connection and chemistry is immediate. Neither one of these characters were looking for love and neither one of them believed that they could fully trust again. Their story can very well be considered ‘insta-love’, but I didn’t feel as though their love for each other was rushed. It was just obvious that it was meant to be right from the beginning.
It’s sweet; it’s dirty, and will have you shifting in your seat!
Harper Sloan is a favorite of mine for awesome characters, great storylines, and alphas that steal my heart. I’m definitely looking forward to next installment in this series!
About the Author:
Harper is a NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL and USA TODAY
bestselling author residing in Georgia with her husband and three
daughters. She has a borderline unhealthy obsession with books, hibachi,
tattoos and Game ofThrones. When she isn't writing you can almost always find her with a book in hand.
