Julianne Becker is desperately in love with her boss, Nick Matthews. She has daydreamed about him since the day she first met him a year earlier, but she is firmly stuck in the friend-zone until New Year’s Eve, when the game completely changes and she finds out how Nick really feels about her. They embark on a sexy affair that’s everything Julianne ever dreamed of… except she can’t tell anyone about it. What will happen if anyone finds out about their secret relationship? And how will her lifelong best friend, Travis Miller, react when Julianne begins a relationship with someone who isn’t him?
How He Really Feels is a novel that explores relationships and love between coworkers and friends.
My heart slammed into my ribs and then my eyes closed automatically as his lips brushed mine just once. Every nerve ending in my body was alight with electricity at our connection. He clutched me close against his chest in a quick embrace. “Happy New Year,” he murmured, his breath tickling close against my ear, sending shivers down my spine.”
“Everything in my life was insignificant until I met you, and now you are all that matters.” (-Nick)
“I see the way he looks at you, Julianne. It’s the same way I look at you.” (-Nick)
“He was definitely The One; he just didn’t know it yet.” (-Julianne)
“I started drinking coffee because I knew you went to the kitchen every morning to get a cup. And going to the kitchen meant that I would have a moment with you, just you, to look at you, to talk with you, just to be with you. But I felt like an idiot going in there without a reason, so I started drinking coffee.” (-Nick)
POV Excerpt-Nick
I was headed home from another painful Christmas spent in California. After four nights in a hotel bed, I was ready for the familiar comforts of home. Josh had volunteered to drive, and for that, I was grateful. He knew better than anyone the emotional toll that spending time with my mother had on me, even if I was a little proud that I had finally stood up to her.
My mind had been on Julianne since the Christmas party. I was at an impasse. In my head, I knew that I could potentially be fired for having anything to do with her, but other parts of my anatomy were ruling this situation: for one, my heart. It sounded cheesy, but holding her against me for that one dance had been… perfection. Her hair smelled like peaches, and she was warm and soft in my arms as we swayed to the gentle beat of Adele’s “Someone Like You.” I felt like a fucking teenager with the raging hard-on that I got anytime she was in my general vicinity, and that dance we shared was no different. I had never reacted to a woman like that in my life, but this was Julianne Becker.
She was everything that I had ever looked for in a woman: beautiful, intelligent, creative, clever, and sexy as hell, but I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I had to be careful.
Both of our jobs depended on it.
I tried staying away from her, but I found that I just couldn’t. The more I worked with her, the more I realized that I was inexplicably drawn to everything about her. It was the air that surrounded her, the vibe she gave off. It sucked me in, and I had resisted it for nearly a year. But I was done. Josh and I had driven to California on Christmas Eve morning, the morning after the office Christmas party, and I admitted to him that I had danced with Julianne. He knew that I had been pining away for her for quite some time; I had to come clean with him when he kept trying to hook me up with his on-again, off-again girlfriend’s friends and I wasn’t interested in any of them.
I wanted Julianne thinking of me as much as I was thinking of her, so I sent her a text wishing her a Merry Christmas while Josh used the restroom at a rest stop on the way to my mother’s house. She texted me back: You, too :).
I sent her another text the next day with the same motive just after I had finished the formal dinner my mother’s chef served to us: I hope Santa was good to you.
Her reply came quick: He always is. Hoping you got everything you wished for, too. How could she possibly have any idea that she was everything I wished for?
I assumed she was busy with her holiday celebrations, which was fine as long as she wasn’t busy with some other guy. A pang of jealousy seared through me as I pictured Julianne dancing with her date at the Christmas party. The guy she was with had joined us at some of our happy hours before, but they didn’t seem like they were an item. Well, she didn’t seem like she was with him. I wasn’t sure that he felt the same based on the way he looked at her. But when I had asked her if she was seeing anybody just a few weeks earlier, she told me she wasn’t, and that was enough for me.
Josh and I were less than an hour from home when I pulled out my phone to text her again.
“How many is this?” he asked.
I glanced over at him. “What do you mean?”
“How many times have you texted her?”
“Today? This is the first.” It was amazing how well my brother knew me.
“Since the Christmas party, then.”
“Not enough.”
“Dude, you’re fucking pathetic. When are you going to do something about it?”
I sighed. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. The asshole. Before I had a chance to think it through, I said, “New Year’s Eve.”
He took his eyes off the road for a moment to study me. I stared straight ahead.
“Seriously?” he asked, surprise in his voice.
Now it was a challenge from my brother. He and I took competition seriously, and I wasn’t about to back down now that I had said it. “Sure,” I said, my voice projecting a swaggering confidence that I didn’t actually feel. “Why the hell not?”
Got any New Year’s plans? I texted Julianne. I had to find out where she would be, and then I could formulate the best course of action. If she didn’t have plans, which I found hard to believe given her penchant for wine and hanging out with her friends, I’d just invite her out with me. Josh, my roommate Eric, and some of our buddies were hitting up West, a swanky bar in downtown Scottsdale close to a bunch of other bars.
“What did you text her?” Josh’s voice broke into my thoughts.
“I just asked what she’s doing for New Year’s.”
“And?”
Rave Reviews
How He Really Feels is a novel that explores relationships and love between
coworkers and friends. It contains some adult situations and is intended for
mature readers.
Recent Praise for How He Really Feels
“Lisa
Suzanne you sure can write!!” – Elizabeth, Delighted Reader
“I found
myself completely lost in the story and hated when it had to come to an end…
Romantic and steamy, a perfect combo.” –Nikki S., Winding Stairs Book Blog
“I am a die hard romantic and the main character of Nick fulfills my
fantasy of a sweet, caring, and sexy book boyfriend to a ‘T’. Lisa Suzanne was
able to spin a love and lust filled storyline with so much feeling that my heart
felt like it was literally bursting out of my chest!” –Kelly, Kiss and Tell
Reviews
“This author has an excellent way of using dialogue between the
characters. There are some books I read and I wonder if they ever have
conversation aside from the moans and groans they make in the bedroom. I like a
book that develops the characters relationship. I like it to tell me how the
characters developed passion for each other. I cannot wait for Lisa Suzanne’s
next book ‘What He Really Feels’.” –Emily, The SubClub Books Blog
“Did I
mention the sex scenes are super duper HOT??? I promise you won’t be
disappointed with this book. Great job for new author Lisa Suzanne.” – Donna, My
Sticky Pages Book Blog
“I feel the budding of a wonderful writer in our
presence.” –Desiree, The Book Bar
“First time author Lisa Suzanne has
written a steamy, entertaining contemporary romance… I enjoyed reading HOW HE
REALLY FEELS.” –Karen, Cocktails and Books Blog
(You can read them for yourself on Amazon)
Links:
Amazon-US Amazon-UK
Book 2
What He Really Feels
Synopsis
He told her How He Really Feels and had his
heart broken. Now Travis Miller is trying to move on from the greatest
heartbreak of his life by getting out of town. But two nights before his big
move to California, Travis meets a mystery woman who grabs hold of his broken
heart and gives him hope that he can piece it back together.
Will Travis ever figure out What He Really Feels, or will he be stuck on his
first love forever? Will he find his happily ever after?
*What He Really Feels contains some adult situations and is intended for mature
readers.*
GORGEOUS POV POST: When Gorgeous and Tiger Meet
You know those days or weeks right after you break up with someone, even if you were the one to initiate the break-up? They’re tough on the heart, and I was in that place when I walked into Mahogany. I was in the “I’ll never love again” stage. I was hurt, because even though I had to break things off with my ex, break-ups were always difficult. I was even in the “I can’t even look at men right now” stage. Just the thought of getting back into a relationship scared the hell out of me.
So Sydney and her roommate Vanessa decided we needed a Girl’s Night Out. I was in; wine and friends and music were exactly what I needed. I borrowed a tall pair of black heels from Sydney and paired them with a skirt and a shimmery top.
We sat at a table and ordered red wine, and then Syd added on a Buttery Nipple shot for each of us. Once our shots arrived, Syd toasted: “To getting drunk enough to forget.” We held our shots in the air and tapped our glasses together, and then we each threw them back. It had been a few years since I’d done shots, and it tasted like college. But it slid down my throat sweetly, and I immediately wanted another.
We’d just finished our third shot when I glanced up toward the bar. My glass of wine was nearly empty and I hadn’t seen our waitress in awhile.
And then I saw him.
Once my eyes found him, I couldn’t seem to look anywhere else. He looked wild and untamable and ferocious and sexy, but at the same time, he looked like he was sweet and playful, and he was that perfect combination of hot and adorable all at the same time.
Just like a tiger. Fierce and cute.
The moment my eyes spotted that tall, sexy, hunk of a man, I felt the need to be the one to tame the ferocious tiger inside.
Something inside of me leapt back to life. Gone were whatever “stages” I found myself in. Gone were the tears and the heartbreak and the getting away.
The only thing on my mind once I spotted him was how I was going to get into his bed.
Once that thought hit my mind, I was at once shocked and relieved. I’d never, ever had a random sexual encounter. I was feisty, but I was a good girl. Yet looking at this man made me want to be a bad
girl. I’d never looked at a man that screamed “SEX” at me the way this one did, and this was all just looking at him across a bar from my table with Sydney and Vanessa. I hadn’t even made eye contact yet.
The feeling of relief came from that feeling alive again. It had only been a few days since the break-up, but the first few days are the worst. Those are the days when you feel like you’ll never be happy again. And just looking at this guy – not even making eye contact, just looking at him and the way he sat at the bar, his back to me as he sat in the middle of his friends – awakened those feelings that had been lost.
“What are you looking at?” Sydney asked, following my line of site. “Damn,” she drawled slowly, pronouncing it as a two-syllable word (“Day-ummm”) once her eyes landed where mine had.
“Dibs,” I claimed him. No way was I letting Syd have this one.
And just looking at this guy – not even making eye contact, just looking at him and the way he sat at the bar, his back to me as he sat in the middle of his friends – awakened those feelings that had been lost.
“What are you looking at?” Sydney asked, following my line of site. “Damn,” she drawled slowly, pronouncing it as a two-syllable word (“Day-ummm”) once her eyes landed where mine had.
“Dibs,” I claimed him. No way was I letting Syd have this one.
She huffed an irritated sigh. “Fine. His friends are hot, too.”
“Didn’t notice,” I said.
“Dibs on the one on the left,” Vanessa said.
I giggled. “Hands off the middle one.”
“Shit,” Syd said, left with the last guy… not that it was a bad deal. As I tore my eyes from the sexy tiger, I noticed his friends were, in fact, attractive as well.
“The waitress hasn’t been by in awhile,” I hinted.
“Are you suggesting we walk up to the bar to purchase our next round?” Sydney teased.
I raised my eyebrows and then smiled. “I guess that’s our only option.”
We made our way to the bar, and the closer I walked to him, the more my heart rate sped up until I thought it was going to beat right out of my chest.
I ordered my drink, and I could hear the pounding rush of my heart in my ears. I was nervous, my only saving grace those three Buttery Nipples and the one glass of wine. I swear I could feel his eyes on me in those moments when I stood at the bar. The little hairs on the back of my neck prickled in awareness at his proximity, and I felt a quiver of excitement shoot through me.
After I placed my order, I turned toward him, and Syd and Vanessa mirrored my movements, heading toward his friends.
Up close, he was heart-stoppingly handsome, so much that looking at him literally took my breath away. All I could do for a moment was stare at him and drink in his chiseled features. Everything about him screamed red-blooded male. He had dark hair that looked soft enough to run my fingers through and chocolate eyes that I could get lost in. His square jaw had just the right amount of sexy stubble on it, and I imagined how rough it would feel under my tongue. I was stunned at the lusty direction of my thoughts, but this man awakened things in me I didn’t know existed.
And I hadn’t even spoken a word to him yet.
The more I stared at him, the more I realized that I had no chance with a man who looked like that. He was so far above my league, but I was a little tipsy and feeling a confidence that I would never have felt if not for three Buttery Nipples.
“Hey, tiger,” I finally said, surprised at how composed my tone was when I was shaking like a leaf on the inside. It felt completely natural to call him the nickname that had been in my head since the moment I’d first laid eyes on him.
“Hey gorgeous,” he replied, and then he hit me with a grin.
I am pretty sure my heart stopped completely in that moment.
I was blinded by his smile and the way it lit up his entire face.
I had never believed in the ridiculous notion of love at first sight, but I knew that there was more between us than just an attraction.
I needed to feel him. I’d never had such a strong pull tugging me to a man before, but I needed to find some way to feel his body against mine. Just for the night, I promised myself. I couldn’t jump right back into a relationship, but I could certainly have a night of fun.
“Want to dance?” I asked.
He nodded, so I pulled his hand and he lifted off of his barstool , following behind me to the dance floor. I finally got a good look at his body unfolded from the stool, and he stood a full foot taller than me. Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You” pumped from the speakers, and I shimmied against this godlike creature before me, wondering what the hell he had hidden under his black shirt and jeans.
His hands gripped my hips, and that was the moment when I knew for sure that the night would end with me in his bed. All I could imagine was those strong fingers gripping my hips against his body without the barrier of clothes. The way he clutched me close against him made me feel like he owned me. It was one of the sexiest moments of my life, and it was taking place in the middle of a crowded dance floor. I tilted my head up and back, and his lips slid over mine for just a moment.
I swear I was going to have a heart attack at this rate, the way my heart kept speeding up and slowing down.
That kiss.
Just.
Wow.
It was fast, but it spoke volumes. It was electric, maybe the most electric kiss of my life, and that was just a quick, closed mouth one. I couldn’t imagine what a full-on kiss with tongues would feel like.
His eyes showed the surprise I felt at our quick connection. I laced my fingers through his on my hips, loving the way our fingers twined together. I grinned up at him, and his eyes suddenly took on a melancholy sadness.
He leaned down to my ear, and I took in his fresh scent. He smelled like clean laundry and soap, and I wanted to breathe him in forever.
“I’m moving out of Arizona in two days,” he said, his warm breath against my ear sending chills down my legs.
Was it a warning? I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t really care. I had to have more time with him. I still wasn’t in a place to start anything serious, not after my recent break-up. But the connection I had with this man left me panting with need. I wasn’t going to end the night without more from him, and I was fine with one night that would surely be magical, one night that I could remember forever.
One night with no strings attached
So I said something to make my inner slut proud. “Perfect. I’m looking
for something without strings anyway.
“Get Your SWAG On’
He Feels Trilogy Bookmarks
Etsy
Book Quotes
Sleep had always been my friend. A good friend. Maybe even a best friend. Our relationship was one of give and take; sleep gave to me and I took it freely. I could sleep through an earthquake (in fact, I had once). I could sleep through construction. I could sleep through a woman leaving my bed to save me from an awkward goodbye.
But it turns out that I couldn’t sleep through a broken heart.
The most perfect kiss of either of our lives ended, and she looked up at me one last time. Those eyes would be burned into my memory for the rest of my life. I saw tears fill them, and before she had a chance to let them spill over, she kissed my cheek one last time and then turned, opened my door, and walked out of my life.
I stood in my entryway for a moment, gathering my wits about me as I stared at the closed door that she had disappeared through.
I wanted to run after her.
I wanted to stop her.
She huffed an irritated sigh. “Fine. His friends are hot, too.”
“Didn’t notice,” I said.
“Dibs on the one on the left,” Vanessa said.
I giggled. “Hands off the middle one.”
“Shit,” Syd said, left with the last guy… not that it was a bad deal. As I tore my eyes from the sexy tiger, I noticed his friends were, in fact, attractive as well.
I wanted to tell her that I believed in love at first sight, as ridiculously cliché and foolish and absolutely stupid as that sounded.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t. She had made it clear that she didn’t want that with her words, even though I didn’t believe that she had any conviction at all behind those words.
I most certainly couldn’t set myself up for another heartbreak, and I couldn’t afford to hang around in self-pity. So I pushed it to the back of my mind, burying it and bottling it even though all I wanted to do was curl up in my bed and smell the citrus scent that she had left behind.
“Tell me your name,” I begged.
“I like that you call me ‘Gorgeous.’”
“And I like that you call me ‘Tiger.’ But I want to know who you are.”
“Names mean strings, Tiger. Attachment.”
“Then maybe we’ve got strings.”
I didn’t want her to go, but I didn’t know what to do to get her to stay
I didn’t know if it was “love,” because I had always felt like love was something that grew between two people. Surely you had to know someone’s name before you could claim to love her.
But something about my connection to her was different. Something about her told me that my feelings ran deep.
“So text your friend and let her know you’ll be back later this afternoon.”
“No can do, Tiger.”
“Tiger?” I leaned back to study her, my body still poised over hers.
“Yeah. Seems fitting. You’re ferocious and wild and at the same time playful and adorable.”
My heart skipped a beat in my chest at her words. “I could say the same about you, Gorgeous.”
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Author Information
Lisa Suzanne is a high school English teacher who lives at home in Arizona with her amazing husband and adorable yellow lab. She loves summer more than her students do.
Links:
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