Today is my stop during the blog tour for Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan. Queen Move is a friend to lovers romance from RITAยฎ Award-winning and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Kennedy Ryan.
**QUEEN MOVE will have the special release week price of $3.99. After that, the price will increase.**
Title: Queen Move
Author: Kennedy Ryan
Series: standalone
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Links:
Blurb:
The boy who always felt like mine is now the man I can’t haveโฆDig a little and you’ll find photos of me in the bathtub with Ezra Stern.
Get your mind out of the gutter. We were six months old.
Pry and one of us might confess we saved our first kiss for each other.
The most clumsy, wet, sloppy . . . spectacular thirty seconds of my adolescence.
Get into our business and you’ll see two families, closer than blood, torn apart in an instant.
Twenty years later, my “awkward duckling” best friend from childhood,
the boy no one noticed, is a man no one can ignore.Finer. Fiercer. Smarter.
Taken.Tell me it’s wrong.
Tell me the boy who always felt like mine is now the man I canโt have.
When we find each other again, everything stands in our way–secrets, lies, promises.
But we didn’t come this far to give up now.
And I know just the move to make if I want to make him mine.
Excerpt:
โYouโre fucking brilliant.โ
โHuh?โ Ezra asks absentmindedly, paying more attention to the flame under his pan than to my compliment. โWhatโd you say?โ
โI said youโre brilliant.โ I hold up the iPad Iโm using to read his manuscript. โYour book, the YLA story, is incredible, Ez.โ
โOh. Thanks.โ He flashes me a smile and then goes back to his French toast. โThe key to getting this right is the milk-to-bread ratio.โ
I hop off the counter and walk over to stand beside him at the stove. โWould you forget about your French toast for a minute and listen to me?โ
โBut itโs stuffed French toast.โ He takes the pan off the burner and pulls me into his arms. โAnd I could listen to you all day. What were you saying? Something about me being a handsome, sexy genius?โ
โUmโฆthose werenโt my exact words.โ I laugh up at him.
โI could have sworn thatโs what you said, and Iโm never wrong.โ He slides his hands over my ass in a pair of his boxer shorts. โSome even say Iโm fucking brilliant.โ
โThey probably just like your big dick,โ I whisper and blink up at him as innocently as I can manage.
โI get that a lot.โ He drops a kiss on my head and turns back to his French toast. I lean down to rest an elbow on the counter and watch him work.
โA lot?โ I ask teasingly. โHave there been a lot?โ
He pauses mid-toast-flip and slants me a glance. โAre you asking how many people Iโve had sex with?โ
โI mean, itโs none of my business. If you donโt want toโโ
โEight.โ
Eight?
Lord above, only eight?!
โOh.โ I straighten and rest my hip against the counter. โWhat a, um, single-digit number that is.โ
โWhat about you?โ
What about me? Iโm tabulating years of hook-ups, one-night stands, fuck bois and carrying the one.
โIf you donโt want to,โ he says, cracking an egg into a bowl, โitโs fine. I donโt care how many peopleโโ
โI donโt know.โ
He glances up from whisking eggs, a small frown puckering his dark brows. โYou donโt know what?โ
โMy number. I donโt know how many people Iโve been with.โ
He resumes whisking, his frown clearing. โOh.โ
The whisking eggs and whirring refrigerator are the only sounds in the kitchen. Iโve never been embarrassed by my choices. I enjoy sex. Iโve had it with a lot of people. People I really likedโฆor toleratedโฆbut didnโt want to commit to. Iโve always been safe and never mean about it. I was upfront, and when someone wanted more, I let them know โmoreโ wasnโt an option.
โI just neverโฆโ I cross my arms over my stomach, fold one bare foot over the other. โI havenโt been interested in committed relationships. There hasnโt been anyone I wanted that with.โ
โTru.โ He stops whisking and gives me the full impact of his undivided attention. His eyes are placid blue. No shadows or undercurrents. โI donโt care.โ Ezra pushes the bowl aside and faces me. โBut there is something I feel like we should be clear on regarding how youโve handled sex in the past.โ
Here we go.
โYouโve never wanted to commit before,โ he says.
โRight. Iโve never wanted any strings attached.โ
โI know I said we could be just sex, no emotional attachments.โ He shoves his hands in his pockets. โBut I feel like I have to be honest with you. Having you back in my life has beenโฆitโs been exactly what I need, and what I felt last nightโฆ Iโve never felt that way before.โ
Iโm not even sure my heart is beating, but it also feels like thereโs a tumult in my chest. โWhat are you saying, Ez?โ
His mouth flattens into a hard line and his jaw hardens to stone. โI want strings.โ
โY-you do?โ
โI want strings.โ He links our fingers, strokes his thumb across my palm. โRopes, if necessary. I want anything that keeps you with me and me with you and tells everyone else donโt even think about it.โ
Iโm stunned and incredibly turned on, but that doesnโt take much where Ezraโs concerned.
โYouโฆyou do?โ I ask faintlyโฆagain.
โI wouldnโt do well sharing you.โ
About the Author:
Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller and RITAยฎ Award Winning author, Kennedy Ryan, writes about women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the center of each story and in charge of their own destinies. Her heroes respect, cherish and lose their minds for the women who capture their hearts.
She is a wife to her lifetime lover and mother to an extraordinary son. She has always worked with charity and non-profit organizations, but enjoys raising Autism awareness most. A contributor for Modern Mom Magazine and Frolic, Kennedyโs writings have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, USA Today and many others. The founder and executive director of a foundation serving Atlanta Autism families, she has appeared on Headline News, Montel Williams, NPR and other media outlets as an advocate for families living with autism.
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