Title: Homebound
Author: Kata Ĉuić
Author: Kata Ĉuić
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: September 9, 2020
Blurb
A second-chance romance set in the heart of Appalachia
that will make you root for first love, forgiveness, and family.
Lenore Wheeler knows what a hard life, heartbreak, and
failure tastes like. Heading home to the backwoods Appalachian town she swore
she’d never return to with her young daughter in tow, she can’t imagine her
future getting much bleaker.
That is until she comes face-to-face with the one man she
never expected to see again.
Jesse Yates was supposed to escape the mountains, make
something of himself, and attain every dream Lenore destroyed. He’s determined
to wear down her resolve and win her back, but she’s got a secret to keep and
reasons to keep her old flame at arm’s length.
Lenore already broke her own heart to save Jesse, but she’ll
do anything to protect her daughter from the same fate.
Except fate has a funny way of working out, especially when
all roads lead to home.
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Excerpt
A sharp rap on my open classroom door precedes the entrance
of my new boss into my professional sanctuary. I can’t fault him for his
dominance here and now. This is his building. I’m his employee who he’s
contractually bound to supervise.
I still haven’t come up with a new plan to circumvent that
twist of fate. Mostly because my wildest dreams have no place in my current
reality.
Jesse perches on the edge of the student desk closest to
mine, his forest-green eyes boring into me. That’s ironic, considering he
couldn’t be bothered to make direct eye contact for the duration of our faculty
meeting. He’s sure making up for it now. His gaze sweeps me from head to toe
quickly, then he starts over again much, much slower.
I let him drink his fill because I’m hungry to do the same.
The past five years have been so good to him. He’s removed his jacket and vest,
leaving me to feast on a white dress shirt and red tie that look like they cost
a pretty penny. The hint of his physique I noticed in the auditorium is much more
pronounced without added layers. Scrawny until the night I left him, his arms
now look as strong as they used to feel when they were wrapped around me tight.
Biceps bulge against the fabric of his shirt. A row of buttons clings to his
flat stomach then disappears beneath his belt. His smooth dress pants hug
muscular thighs that used to thrust against me until pleasure I never knew was
possible made me feel so high I wondered if I’d ever be able to come back down.
I’m down now, all right.
His heavy gaze touches me in all the places that the years
haven’t been as kind to me.
I squirm in my seat, cursing Mama and Liz’s choice of dress.
There’s no way to hide the bulge of my belly or the breasts that aren’t as
perky as the last time he caressed them. At least that’s one thing going for
me. He’s matured and aged like a fine wine, but any physical trait I used to
possess that attracted him to me is long gone.
His voice sounds the same, even if it’s softer now than the
last time I heard it. “I have imagined this moment in so many different ways
over the past five years, but now that it’s here…I don’t rightly know what to
say.”
I nod even though I never imagined this moment at all.
Kata Čuić lives in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
with her husband and three teens. She’s an actual marching band geek, and she
attends alumni events for both high school and college whenever her schedule
allows. Her children wouldn’t exist today if she hadn’t fallen clarinet over
tuba in love with her spouse during their shared time in marching band.
Coincidentally—or not—the kids are following in Mom and Dad’s footsteps. Band
family isn’t fictional at all.
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