RELEASE BLITZ with EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY: 'Shadows On My Soul' by Leigh Jarrett
Title: Shadows On My Soul
Author: Leigh Jarrett
Release Date: June 12, 2017
Publisher: Self-Published/Steambath Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 287 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Comfort/Hurt; Angst: High; Friends to Lovers; CW: Rape
About Shadows On My Soul
Derek Lawrence is a player. There is no other way to phrase it. He's been unstoppable since coming out in high school. Guy after guy, conquest after conquest. He isn't looking for any kind of commitment from anyone. His life is perfect the way it is. Except for one aspect. Derek has been in love with his best friend and business partner, Justin Leary, since the first day he set eyes on him almost twenty years ago. When an implication surfaces that Justin's feelings for Derek might run far deeper than friendship, he considers approaching Justin about it. But before he can, one targeted act of violence followed by the aftermath of violation, challenges the depth of Derek's love for Justin.
Justin clenched his eyes shut, his thoughts suspended somewhere between prayer and hope, as he listened to Derek move closer to him. Maybe Sam's rant had stirred something in Derek...
Don't be a fucking idiot.
Yet his body burgeoned with the dim prospect of Derek's actions when his best friend's hand came to rest on his chest. Strong and heavy. As it had so many times before.
He breathed up into its weight as Derek's thumb stroked the material of his jacket. Deep down, he knew there was no intent beyond friendship, so he bottled the impulse to turn toward Derek, capture his lips, and run his hands through the deep, dark curls that were more often than not decorated with drywall dust, wood chips, and colorful stripped casings of electrical wires.
"Hey, about what Sam said ...," Derek mumbled.
"Yeah, what the hell, right?" Justin made an attempt at a laugh, but only managed a single exhalation in its place, panic strangling his breath. He hadn't expected Derek to bring up what Sam had said. His breath quickened, fueled by uncertainty.
Derek grunted and laughed, barely audible. "That's our Sam for you."
"Yeah," Justin whispered. "It sure is."
Derek stopped stroking the material of Justin's coat, but left his hand where it lay, resting upon Justin's chest. He shifted his shoulder and repositioned his pillow. It brought Derek close enough that Justin could feel Derek's warm breath on his cheek.
"Justin."
"Yeah?"
"You like working with me, don't you? The whole business? Our business. Doing renovations and everything." Derek's hand emphasized each sentence in turn by patting Justin's chest.
"Of course, I do." Justin laughed, the sound erupting short and breathy. "Do you honestly think I'd put up with you otherwise?"
"I'd like to think so," Derek said.
Justin laughed in earnest this time. "Yeah, I suppose. Right back at you. Who else would put up with me singing twenty-four seven?"
"But is that …"
Derek fell silent as he gripped Justin's coat, then smoothed it out.
"Never mind," he mumbled into his pillow.
Then they must have passed out, because Justin found himself being startled awake when Derek coughed, pulled his hand away, and curled up facing away from him.
Amazon/KU
Meet the Author
Leigh Jarrett is a bestselling Canadian author of LGBTQ Romance. Queer, quirky, and passionate. Lover of antique stores, the smell of lye and oil as it turns to soap, cathedral groves, and bright colors. In her hometown of Kelowna, BC, Leigh is an advocate for the LGBTQ community, celebrating their diversity, and affirming their most basic of human rights—to love and be loved.
For more from Leigh be sure and visit her website.
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