Naomi's Reading Palace: Toxic by Kim Karr ~ Excerpt

Toxic by Kim Karr is released on July 7th, and today I have an excerpt to get you in the mood. Enjoy!

Title: Toxic

Author: Kim Karr

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Expected Publicatopn: July 7th 2015

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New York Times bestselling author Kim Karr turns up the heat in a smoking hot, emotionally compelling romance that takes you into the world of Manhattan's elite. Meet Jeremy McQueen, a sexy, intense, brooding entrepreneur who goes after what he wants, and Phoebe St. Claire, a socialite-turned-CEO who's been drifting through life searching for something she thought she'd never find again--the right man to share her future.

Phoebe St. Claire has devoted herself to saving her family's hotel empire--but her best efforts have not been good enough. With her whole world in turmoil, the tenacious go-getter turns to the once love of her life. Far from innocent, Jeremy McQueen was the guy from the wrong side of the tracks who her parents would never have approved of. Their years apart have only made the sexy bad boy more irresistible than ever--and their reunion is explosive.

When she asks Jeremy to help her salvage her family business, he agrees immediately, with only one condition--he wants her in his bed.

But soon surprising circumstances leave Phoebe reeling. Was this fairy tale romance just too good to be true? Will Jeremy's secrets pull them apart all over again?

THIS IS A STANDALONE SECOND-CHANCE ROMANCE WITH NO CLIFFHANGER ENDING.

Excerpt #2

Published by the Penguin Group

Phoebe St. Claire

“We’re a good team you know.”

I lifted my head in question.

“We fit together well.”

Feeling naughty, I threw him a saucy look.

As expected, he smiled a rueful grin. “Not like that.”

My heartbeat went sky high but I contained the effect he had on me and raised a sensual brow.

“Well, yes like that, but I mean in business. We work well together.”

Call it hopeful expectation but I knew we would. Gratified, I relaxed back down against his chest and murmured, “We do,” before hitting play on the remote. It meant a lot to me that Jeremy valued my opinion when it came to business decisions. He’d confided in me about his plans for Jet Set and we had even discussed the best ways to grow membership as well as which cities would be ideal targets when he was ready to expand. I pondered our business savvy as he drew shapes on my back but when the movie started, I dedicated my attention to Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Sometime during the movie, we must have fallen asleep because a pounding on my door woke me up. “Stay here, it’s probably Mrs. Bardot wanting to see her dress on me. I’ll just tell her I’ll come by before we leave.”

“Sounds good,” he mumbled as he covered his head with the pillow. All the sex we’d been having was probably wearing him out. I knew it was me.

I opened my door to find Lily standing there.

“I kissed a girl,” she announced.

I simply blinked at her.

“And he liked it.”

I stepped aside for her to enter. “Preston?”

She traipsed over to the couch and flopped herself down. “Yes, Preston.”

I pulled a blanket off the back of the sofa and sat in the chair. “I thought you weren’t having sex?”

“We weren’t. That’s the point.”

“Lily, I’m just waking up. Help me out a little.”

She covered her face in her hands as she spoke. “After I got off the phone with you, I went to go find Preston. It was late and he wasn’t in his room. When I called him, he told me he was in the hotel bar. I went down there to find him sitting with a French woman who didn’t even speak English.”

I was confused. “What was he doing with her?”

“I asked him the same thing. He told me it was nothing. That he was just sitting with her. I asked why and he told me he had overheard my conversation with you and felt bad that I was feeling sexually frustrated. Well hello, I told him, he could fix it.”

I grimaced.

“At least I wasn’t sitting in the hotel bar staring at a dude like I might fuck him.”

“Is that what he had planned?”

“No! That’s when he told me he’d never cheat on me. She was for me, for us, not him. And then he asked me to kiss her.”

“And you did?”

“Yes, I did, to prove a point to him. I wanted him to know I was sick of this no sex thing and if he wanted me to show him just how sick of it I was, I would. So I brought her to our room and we sat on the couch and I kissed her. Then I stood up and looked at him and asked him if I’d proven to him how much I wanted him now.”

I pulled my legs up under my chin. “And he said what exactly?”

“That he wanted me to kiss her again.”

The situation wasn’t at all funny, but I had a hard time not laughing. It was just so unbelievable. “So what did you do?”

“Packed my stuff and left him there to stare at her as I caught the next flight back to New York City.”

“Did you ever think he might have a mechanical problem and was looking for a way to . . . you know,” Jeremy was standing in my bedroom door looking yummy, all sleepy and crumpled.

Lily’s eyes shot to his. “To get it up?”

Jeremy cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

She looked at him deep in thought. “Why would he have a problem like that? He never has before.”

Jeremy shrugged. “Stress, medication, I’m really not sure. I’ve just heard it happens.”

“We have been under a lot of stress,” she admitted.

Jeremy walked toward me and put his hands on my shoulders, massaging them.

I sighed and leaned forward.

“St. Claire, focus on me.”

I laughed. I had really missed her. “You need to talk to him. Ask him about it.”

“What if he says yes? Then what? I have sex with a girl to see if he can get off?”

“Men do like girl on girl action.”

I cranked my head around. “Jeremy!” I scolded.

“I’m just being honest.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. He raised his palms. “Not me of course.”

Lily jumped up. “I have to run. I have to talk to Preston and find out what’s going on. I’ll call you,” she yelled as she slammed my door.

“What if that’s not the problem?” I asked Jeremy.

He plopped on the couch. “At least it will get them talking.”

I had to laugh.

That it would.

I live in Florida with my husband and four kids. I've always had a love for reading books and writing. Being an English major in college, I wanted to teach at the college level but that was not to be. I went on to receive an MBA and became a project manager until quitting to raise my family. I currently work part-time with my husband and full-time embracing one of my biggest passions—writing.

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