Jennifer
Gracen is back with a brand new contemporary romance! In BETWEEN YOU AND ME, a
woman and her friend make an arrangement: he'll be her sperm donor, if she
pretends to be his girlfriend. But maybe they're not just pretending...
Genre:
Contemporary Romance
Release Date: November
28, 2017
Publisher: Kensington Publishing/Penguin
Random House
Series: The
Harrisons
Format: Print &
Digital
As the only daughter of the wealthy Harrison clan, Tess
Harrison has everything—except the baby she longs for. With no husband in
sight, she escapes to her family’s retreat in Aspen, Colorado, visions of sperm
donors dancing in her head. Instead, she finds Logan Carter. When the ruggedly
handsome manager of the Harrison ski house offers to be her baby daddy in
exchange for her playing his girlfriend, Tess is breathless to begin the
charade. After all, the brokenhearted heiress knows better than to fall in love
. . .
She would be Logan’s dream girl, if his dark past had left
him with any dreams. Now the brooding bachelor’s only hope is to satisfy his
mother’s dying wish to see him happily paired off—and give lovely Tess the baby
she longs for. But when he and Tess opt to make a baby the old- fashioned way,
he’s fighting hard against the longing to hold on to the elusive Harrison
beauty forever . . .
An excerpt from BETWEEN YOU AND ME
Copyright © Jennifer Gracen 2017
By the time Logan pulled up in front of Tess’s house, she
was warm, full, tired, and happy. “I had a great time today.”
“I did too,” he said with a smile. “Thanks again for
inviting me.”
“Any chance you’d like to do it again sometime soon?”she
asked. “You’re a worthy ski partner, and I had fun with you.”
“Yeah, I’d like that,” he said. “But next time, I pay for my
lift ticket.”
“Deal. Sometime next week?”
“Sure. Give me a call, we’ll work out a time.”
“Well, you have a job
with a real schedule. Right now, I don’t. I’m free as a bird. So you give me a
call.”
His eyes held hers as he said, “Okay. I’ll do that. You’re
on. Got yourself a ski buddy.”
God, she wanted to kiss him. Sitting so close in the warmth
of his truck, he smelled good and his eyes were intense and his mouth was
inviting and she wanted to kiss him so bad. But this new friendship—all the
things they’d revealed to each other that day—she didn’t want to cross any
lines or mess it up. For now, she’d hold back.
But still couldn’t resist flirting a little bit. “So,” she
said boldly. “Are you coming in to soak in my tub or what? The offer stands.”
His gaze turned hot, a full-out smolder that made her belly
do a wobbly flip. “The offer is more tempting than you know.” His voice had
dropped low and dead sexy, making her shiver. “But I think I’d better head home
for tonight.”
They stared at each other for a moment, pure electricity
crackling between them. She could feel her blood in her veins, racing now, hot
and needing, as his eyes lowered to her mouth for a few seconds before lifting
to meet her gaze again. “You sure?” she asked. Her heart thumped in heavy
beats.
“Only so much temptation a man can take,” he murmured. “And
you’re testing my limits as it is, Tess. You have to know that.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Well . . .”
She leaned in, her face so close to his that she could feel
his hot breath feather against her lips.
“Tess.” He whispered it as a protest, but his eyes gave him
away. He wanted her too, she could see it all over his face.
She closed the distance between them, pressing her mouth to
his. It was a brush of her lips against his, just the slightest touch. But his
hand lifted to cup the back of her neck and hold her there. He took control of
the kiss, gently but surely, slanting his mouth over hers to take more of what
he wanted. Her mouth opened with a little sigh as their tongues met and swirled
slowly. As they leaned into each other, his fingers threaded through her hair
and his other hand came up, cradling her head in his hands as his mouth
consumed hers.
Her senses reeled. His full beard tickled her face,
surprisingly soft against her skin. The feel of his mouth on hers, his hands in
her hair, his big, warm body so close . . .her head swam with it all. He
deepened the kiss and groaned softly into her mouth, and she was lost. She
surrendered willingly, kissing him back with the same slow, sensual pace he’d set,
her fingers clutched in his ski jacket. She could have kissed him for days.
He broke away slowly, leaning his forehead against hers,
eyes still closed. “Jesus,” he whispered. When his eyes opened to focus on her,
they were heavy lidded with lust. “You . . . you better go inside now.”
Still catching her breath, she touched his cheek. “You sure
you don’t want to come in?”
“I do want to,” he said, his voice thick. “Too much. So I’m
not going to.”
She pulled back, trying to hide her disappointment. “Okay.”
“Tess . . .” He stared at her, his mouth opening and closing
as he fought with what he wanted to say. “You’re an amazing woman. I like that
we’re . . . kind of friends now. Let’s try to stick with that for now, okay?”
The disappointment sharpened in her gut, but she pasted on a
smile. “Fine.”
“Ah crap. No, no, don’t say fine,” Logan demanded gently. “When a woman says fine, it’s never fine. Even a loner lumberjack like
me knows that.”
She couldn’t help but giggle.
“Tess, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he
said earnestly. “Don’t think for a second that I wouldn’t love to go inside
with you right now, because I would. But you have an agenda, you’re gearing up
to go through some medical . . . stuff . . . and I don’t want to get in the way
of that.”
She gaped at him in shock. “I . . . I don’t know what one
thing has to do with the other.”
“You have big plans,” he murmured, trailing the backs of his
fingers along her cheek, eyes locked with hers. “I’d be a distraction. You said
it yourself, you don’t want any distractions right now.” His gaze turned wicked
and hot as he added, “I promise you, it’d be a fantastic distraction. A sexy,
fun, passionate distraction . . . but this friendship we’ve started? Means
more.”
“We’re attracted to each other,” she said flatly.
“Can’t deny that.” He touched his mouth to hers again, a
light brush of his lips, and her whole body shuddered. “But I shouldn’t go
inside with you. Not tonight.”
Her nerves jangled, every nerve ending alight and aware of
him. Her heart beat hard and fast as she nuzzled into his palm, stared right
into his eyes, and whispered, “If you insist.”
“I do,” he said, not breaking their gaze. “C’mon, you know
I’m right. Last thing you need right now is us starting something up like this.
Didn’t you tell me your first doctor
appointment is tomorrow?”
She didn’t like it, and wasn’t sure she fully agreed with
it, but had to admit she’d thought along those lines herself before his kisses
had turned her brain to mush and her insides to jelly. With a heavy sigh, she
nodded and pulled back from him. “Pretty early, in fact. I should go inside and
get into bed.”
Logan growled, his head falling back against the leather
seat. “Had to put an image like that in my head right before you leave. You,
climbing into bed . . . not nice, Tess. Not nice.”
She laughed lightly, and he grinned back at her. Their eyes
held for a long beat and she took a slow, deep breath, exhaling it before she
said, “Good night, Logan. Thanks again for a great day.”
“Back at you,” he said. “Good night, Tess. Sleep well. Good
luck tomorrow.”
With a sweet smile, she climbed out of his truck and into
the cold night.
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Jennifer Gracen hails from Long Island, New
York, where she lives with her two sons. After spending her youth writing in
private and singing in public, she now only sings in her car and is immersed in
her passion for writing. She loves to write contemporary romance for readers
who look for authentic characters and satisfying endings. When she isn’t with
her kids, doing freelance proofreading, or chatting on Twitter and Facebook,
Jennifer writes. She’s already hard at work on her next book.
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