Temptress by Jessica Prince

 

 

Title: Temptress
Series: Whiskey Dolls
Author: Jessica Prince

Contemporary Romance; Small Town Romance
single dad, tattooed hero, grumpy/sunshine, neighbors to lovers, spicy

Who knew the grumpy single dad next door would turn out to be The One?

As Sloane Chambers stood at her window and creeped on the new guy moving in next door, she was immediately drawn to the tattoos, muscles, and the way his jeans hugged his perfect . . . frame. But when she caught him hacking up her rose bushes with a chain saw, the battle was on.

For Silas Bridger, moving to a new town and starting a new job was his chance for a fresh start. He’d already failed at being a husband, but he was determined to make things right with his teenage daughter and be the father she deserved. Which meant there was no room in his life for complications. Especially in the form of his gorgeous, sassy next-door neighbor. 

When the attraction to Sloane becomes too intense to ignore, that line he kept firmly drawn is crossed. But there is no way he’ll let a handful of passionate, earth-shaking encounters turn into something more. He’s done with the dreaded L-O-V-E, or at least that’s what he tells himself. Because Sloane is quickly becoming the kind of complication he may not survive.

**Whiskey Dolls is a series of interconnected, standalone, small town romances.**

Read for FREE with KindleUnlimited

Temptress

I was elbow deep in soil, working in the flowerbeds in my backyard, when the sound of the neighbor’s back door opening and slamming shut drew my attention from the weeds I’d been pulling.

Over the past few days, I’d caught sight of my sexy new neighbor as he came and went a couple of times, but there had been no more attempts at conversation since my efforts to welcome them to the neighborhood had been so rudely rebuffed. 

I didn’t know what the hell the guy’s problem was, but he’d been a total asshole. I told myself to ignore him; pretend he didn’t exist. 

Only curiosity had me creeping over toward our shared fence, dusting the dirt from my gardening gloves as I leaned forward to peek through the knot hole in one of the boards. Almost every inch of him was covered in white paint, but that did nothing to hide the sadness and defeat etched into his features and the way he held his big, strong body. I would have been lying if I said it didn’t tug at my heart a little as I watched him brace his hands on his hips and tilt his head back toward the sky, or when he heaved out a sigh and dropped it forward, giving it a disheartened shake. 

I didn’t know what he was struggling with, but it was clear that whatever it was, it weighed heavily on him.

He moved to the hose coiled on the holder and pulled a few loops free before twisting the handle until water poured from the nozzle. I blinked out of my stupor when he stripped out of his shirt and began to soak himself down, washing the paint off his chest, face, and head in the middle of his backyard. 

My mouth went dry as the Sahara at the sight of all those rippling muscles and the tattoos that were drawn into golden tanned skin. If I thought he was a sight with his shirt on, it was nothing compared to what he looked like without it.

Most of the paint was gone thanks to his backyard rinse, but there were still flecks of it here and there he’d have to scrub away. And on that thought, my mind went straight into the gutter. I pictured the man standing naked under the shower spray, working soap across his skin. He was a man’s man, meaning he’d probably used his hands to work up a lather, nothing as froufrou as a shower puff or even as functional as a washcloth. I bet if I were to run my hands across his body to scrub him clean, all those muscles would feel like rocks beneath my palms. I could imagine rubbing across his chiseled stomach like a washboard.

God, he really was gorgeous. It was such a shame he was a world-class jerk.

Meet the Whiskey Dolls
a series of interconnected, standalone, small town romances

Read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited
Amazon US | Amazon Worldwide

Read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited
Amazon US | Amazon Worldwide

Read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited
Amazon US | Amazon Worldwide

Read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited
Amazon US | Amazon Worldwide

 

Born and raised around Houston Texas, Jessica spent most of her life complaining about the heat, humidity, and all around pain in the ass weather. It was only as an adult that she quickly realized the cost of living in Houston made up for not being able to breathe when she stepped outside. That’s why God created central air, after all.

Jessica is the mother of a perfect little boy–she refuses to accept that he inherited her attitude and sarcastic nature no matter what her husband says.

In addition to being a wife and mom, she’s also a wino, a coffee addict, and an avid lover of all types of books–romances still being her all time favs. Her husband likes to claim that reading is her obsession but she just says it’s a passion…there’s a difference. Not that she’d expect a boy to understand.

Jessica has been writing since she was a little girl, but thankfully grew out of drawing her own pictures for her stories before ever publishing her first book. Because an artist she is not.

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