Back in New York City (Patreon)

Sorry for the double post! I went all the way back to the beginning of the book and was scheduling snippets chronologically and had one scene building on the next and then accidentally posted this one, which is why it's coming out of nowhere. I deleted it, but belatedly realized it went to emails already so reposting so you guys can comment on it. Sorry!

Jasmine perched in the kitchen window seat of Roth’s penthouse at 432 Park Avenue with both hands around a steaming cup of coffee. It was hours before sunrise, but she was wide awake. Not by choice. Part of that was due to her internal clock being off from spending three weeks in Europe. The other part was Roth. She woke, feeling as if her boob was on fire. She was days away from her period, so her nipples were hella sensitive, something she mentioned on the flight back to New York when he kept feeling her up. Apparently, he saw that as an invitation rather than a rejection. This morning, he held her down while he paid homage and drove her crazy. Had any woman ever gotten off from having her nipples played with? She never had, but twenty minutes ago, she came pretty damn close.

She heard him coming before he entered the kitchen. His hair and beard were damp from his shower. He was dressed for the office in a slate gray suit with a matching overcoat that made him appear even larger than he already was. No matter how sophisticated his clothing, he always managed to look more like a gangster than a businessman.

He came straight to her, taking the cup from her hand and setting it aside, before he tipped her face up and kissed her deeply. Her heart literally fluttered.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said.

Her eyebrows shot up. “You thought I was going to sleep through you sucking on my boobs?”

His beard twitched as his mouth crooked in a half smile that she was slowly becoming more accustomed to seeing.

“I thought you’d go back to sleep. It’s three in the morning.”

“You’re up,” she pointed out.

“I’m always up. I worked out and was going to take a shower and saw you with your nightgown hiked up around your waist with your breast out. I couldn’t resist.”

“You could have.”

“No, I couldn’t.”

She hissed when his hand dropped to her chest and kneaded. “Will you stop playing with my boobs?”

“No,” he said again and tucked his face against her neck and inhaled. “You smell like me.”

“I’ll shower after you leave.”

“You should have joined me.”

Her eyes fluttered shut. “I needed coffee.”

He grunted and gave her another kiss before he drank her coffee and grimaced.

“You never learn,” she chided as she took her cup back and settled it on her knees.

**This is a raw draft of Bitter Confessions. Please do not share or distribute.

This is the opening to R & J back in New York City. After running the gamut in the first chapters, dissecting their past to death so they could come to some kind of understanding, I felt a little lost when they came back to New York. I've never written an amicable, domesticated Roth & Jasmine and felt a little lost... Like, what the hell am I supposed to do with this? Where do we go from here? I was so used to the angst that I didn't know how to deal with them in this state. Thankfully, I found my feet and leaned into the more domesticated scenes and thoroughly enjoyed their growth and development. They're both feeling their way and Roth is keeping his promise not to waste this opportunity. I think this book will be eye-opening for a lot of readers. It was for me!