Breathe You In by Lily Harlem | New Release from Totally Bound Publishing | #contemporary #new

Title: Breathe You In 

Author: Lily Harlem

Genre: Contemporary Romance (M/F)

Publisher: Totally Bound 

Blurb

Soul-aching desire was only the first layer of emotion around a secret I had to keep for all of time.

If the road to heaven starts in hell, then I was ready to start climbing my way out and Ruben Strong was the man to accompany me. With his devastating good looks, seductively sexy charm and lust for adrenaline, he was sure to make it a sensual and erotic experience as well as one to re-awake the passionate, throw-caution-to-the-wind woman I’d once been.

I’d given Ruben something, though, without him realizing, and that gift had come from the man I’d loved before. But I couldn’t tell Ruben. I had to keep that a tight secret even on the nights our naked bodies wound together, sought out pleasure and hit the dizzy heights of ecstasy—because Ruben had my husband’s heart, literally, and that heart was still in love with me, so it seemed, and now I was in love with Ruben.

Emotions tangled with bliss and fears were locked away as I surrendered to the touch of Ruben’s hands, the taste of his skin and the sounds of his pleasure. I couldn’t deny that Ruben had brought me back to life the same way I had him, and there was no way I was giving up that feeling, not for anyone.

Publisher's Note: This book was previously self-published. It has been expanded, revised and re-edited for release with Totally Bound Publishing.

Like the sound of Breathe You In? Buy it here.

Guest Post - Lily Harlem

Breathe You In. My Inspiration by Lily Harlem

Breathe You In, starring Ruben Strong and Katie Lansdale, was a wonderful book to write and played like a movie in my head for the few months it took to pour from my fingertips onto the screen.

It's an unusual plot and I'm going to give a spoiler now - though if you read it, it's only a chapter before you find this out - in order to chat about why this book is so important to me.

Katie is having a rough time and struggling to move on from the death of her husband Matt. But one thing has captured her attention and she can't let it go. "Had I learned nothing about grief and its obsessive, dark, manipulative nature?".  She's become fixated on finding the recipient of her husband's donated heart. A difficult decision she made on the day of his death.

Perhaps this makes it sound like a really sad book, it isn't, it's fun and flirty, sexy and steamy. Breathe You In is about picking up the pieces after tragedy, finding laughter and love again and moving into a bright future after being in a dark place.

Before I took up writing erotic romance I was a nurse. I worked in London mainly but did spend some time in Oxford at the John Radcliffe Hospital. I was only just qualified and working towards a post grad in acute care. I spent some time in the operating theatre as part of a cardiac rotation. The John Radcliffe is a pioneering hospital, the work they do there is outstanding, life saving and life changing.

The heart has always fascinated me as a structure, the chemicals and electrical impulses, the constant contractions and the problems that can arise when things go wrong. I saw patients before, during and after major cardiac surgery. Got to know them, spent time with them, celebrated their recovery with them and their families. It truly was an amazing experience for me, as a nurse, but for the patients, it was something else.

Which is why I dreamed up Ruben Strong, a man who'd physically and emotionally been to Hell and back when his health declined and he needed a new heart. But like Katie, his story picks up a couple of years down the line and he's well and strong and getting on with his life. He's a gorgeous, fun-loving, adrenaline-junkie who's had to make adjustments, of course, but is raring to go again.

The trouble is Katie seeks Ruben out, even though confidentiality laws in the UK require donor families and recipients to co-ordinate any communication through a transplant liaison officer. Actual meetings can be set up but usually years after the transplant and only if both parties agree. Katie can't wait, she wants, no needs, to see Ruben, the man who has the heart of the man she loved mind, body and soul. She hires a private detective to track him down with the intention of seeing Ruben from a distance, believing this will help her sleep at night, knowing where the heart that loved her for so many years actually is.

What Katie doesn't count on is that she literally bumps into Ruben, in of all places, a museum's World War 2 display that is having a malfunction with the audio - the sounds of bombs and explosions are rattling her nerves...

This is just the very start of Ruben and Katie's story and I adored all the twists and turns of Katie's thoughts especially as she realises that she's attracted to Ruben and their friendship turns to more. The sexy scenes are high-level emotional. Katie because she hasn't been intimate with anyone since the death of her husband and Ruben, because, let's just say he was a bit of a Casanova before he became ill.

Working on a Formula One racing team and travelling the world meant he had his fair share of beauties in his bed, but now, well, his confidence has been knocked and he hasn't dated since his operation. It takes Katie's gentle support to turn him back into the vibrant, passionate man he once was, but when he finds himself, wow, there's no stopping him!

I used this serene expression as inspiration for the first sex scene.

But by the time Ruben has his mojo back this is definitely more his brand of action...

Thank you for reading and I hope you’ll check out Breathe You In, it’s a very special story to me and has been raking in the 5* reviews.

Lily x

Excerpt

I was out of breath as I hunted for my key and climbed the one set of stairs to home. It was hard to even see into my bag—water was streaking down my face and my hair was hanging in rats’ tails around my eyes. Eventually I found the key and shoved it into the lock.

“Phew, thank goodness,” I said, stepping into my flat.

Ruben hurried in behind me and shut the door.

“I’ll grab us some towels,” I said, dashing to the laundry pile. I retrieved a couple of freshly washed pink towels that smelled of fabric conditioner and passed one to Ruben.

He took it and dropped it over his head, rubbed vigorously. I did the same to mine and toed off my sandals at the same time. I dabbed my face, collected an oasis sitting in the groove of my throat and patted beneath my eyes, hoping I wasn’t displaying a panda look.

Ruben buried his face in the towel then dropped it to one side. “I don’t think I’ve ever got so wet so fast,” he said, trying and failing to flatten his now fluffed up hair.

“It was fun,” I said. “I’d forgotten how much I like to splash through puddles or how much I enjoy a good storm.”

As I’d said the last word a tremendous boom, accompanied by white light, filled my flat. I jumped and let out a slightly hysterical squeak. “Well, that’s maybe a bit too close for comfort.”

Ruben smiled, but then the smile fell. His gaze dipped and he stepped up to me. “Did you know your blouse is see-through?”

“Is it?” I glanced down, automatically pressing my arm over my breasts.

He caught my hand, tugged it to my side. “The best type of blouse as far as I’m concerned.”

My white blouse had indeed turned transparent, highlighting my white cotton bra and the small pebbles my nipples had become in the cool rain. I could just make them out, dark disks beneath white material.

“Ruben, I…”

Suddenly I was face-to-face with him. He’d picked me up, arms tight around my body and our chests pressing together. My bare feet were dangling.

I put my hands on his shoulders and stared at his face. His eyelashes were still heavy with water and had become tiny triangular points. A large drip was rolling from his right temple into the fuzz of hair by his ear.

“I think it’s time,” he said, his lips almost touching mine. “To pay my debt.”

Beneath his wet clothes, his body felt hot and hard. There was also a seriously sexy glint in his eye that held determination and lust—a delicious combination.

I pushed my hands through his damp hair and kissed him. Was vaguely aware of him walking, heading to my bedroom, as our tongues weaved together. I slanted my head, deepened the kiss, and he moaned gently, feeding me more of what I wanted.

Ruben Strong.

He set me on the edge of the bed, his mouth not leaving mine. I was wet, turned on, scared and excited. It was like living in a cloud, someone else’s life. But it was mine. My life. And I was here with Ruben, gorgeous Ruben who was acting like he was more than ready to give me what I was owed.

He kissed across my cheek, at the same time his caress roaming down my chest and my stomach, seeking out my fly button.

I tugged at his top, wanting the wet material out of our way.

He paused to fist it between his shoulder blades and drag it over his head.

His chest was beautiful, the hair damp and flat with rain, his nipples, like mine, taut and hard. I looked at the scar, smooth and pink, and the neat trail of hair that feathered across his stomach then disappeared into his jeans.

“Say yes,” he said, kissing my right breast through my top and bra. “Katie, say yes.”

“Yes,” I murmured, laying fully back and trying to push at my trousers. “Yes, Ruben, yes.”

He kneeled between my legs, helped me drag my jeans past my hips and over my buttocks, peeling away the tight material that was clinging to my skin. He worked fast, his hands gripping and tugging the denim downward.

Eventually they bunched at my ankles, and with a final jerk were off.

He shoved them aside and kissed my knee then my thigh, his lips and hands warm on my cool, damp flesh.

I dropped back on the bed again, folded my arms over my face. This was the first time I’d been this intimate with another man. Matt had always said he loved giving me oral, but would Ruben? What if I wasn’t what he expected? What if all those supermodels and glamorous girls had been his type and I just wasn’t up to his standard?

“Lift,” he murmured, his breath a hot breeze on my lower stomach. He gripped the waistband of my little white knickers.

I did as he’d asked. Let him pull them down my legs then over first one foot then the other, my arms still over my face.

“Katie, look at me,” he said, running his hands up my inner thighs, his thumbs sweeping very near my intimate folds.

I gasped, tensed.

“Katie.” He stilled.

I pulled my arms away. Looked down.

He was staring up at me from between my legs, his eyes wide, pupils dilated, and a hint of redness on his cheeks. “I’ve been thinking of this moment for days,” he said. “Giving you the same pleasure you gave me, but if you don’t…”

“Yes,” I said, touching his cheek, the one with the mole. “I want you to, it’s just…different.”

“I know.” He dropped a kiss to my inner thigh then shifted upward and set one over my small strip of pubic hair. “But you know you talked about we, us?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s be us.” His eyes were earnest, his longing almost tangible. “Let me make you come, Katie.”

About Lily Harlem:

Lily Harlem lives in the UK with a workaholic hunk and a crazy cat. With a desk overlooking rolling hills her over active imagination has been allowed to run wild and free and she revels in using the written word as an outlet for her creativity.

Lily's stories are made up of colourful characters exploring their sexuality and sensuality in a safe, consensual way. With the bedroom door left wide open the reader can hang on for the ride and Lily hopes by reading sensual romance people will be brave enough to try something new themselves? 

After all, life's too short to be anything other than fully satisfied.

Enter Totally Bound’s competition for the chance to win a copy of Breathe You In as well as three books from Lily Harlem’s backlist!

https://www.totallybound.com/breathe-you-in-giveaway

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