Bayou Book Junkie: Release Day Blitz ~ Reckless Behavior by JJ Harper (Excerpt)

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Release Day Blitz ~ Reckless Behavior by JJ Harper (Excerpt)

Reckless Behavior

Blurb

Framed and imprisoned at eighteen, six years later Santiago “Santo” Valentine is not the frightened teen he once was. Taught by Master Salvatore Moretti, and with walking papers in hand, Santo is determined to turn the family name around and distance it from the drugs and prostitution his father’s legacy is built on.

Santo seeks revenge on his father, the man who framed him, and the whereabouts of his younger brother, Luca.

When he finds him, in the worst place a child could ever be—a children’s home simply known as “The Pound,” where unwanted children disappear—Luca has a friend he refuses to leave behind.

At the first sight of Ezra’s brilliant, ice-blue eyes, something shifts in Santo, and he knows he has to help this boy, too.

Ezra, dumped at The Pound when he was barely eleven years old, takes one look at Santo and knows his heart is lost. He also knows he has no chance with him. He might be seventeen, but he’s nothing more than Santo’s little brother’s best friend.

After a massive error in judgment, Ezra runs, obliterating all trace of him.

Santo, sent to investigate a dancer for his club six years later, crosses paths with Ezra. Santo’s reckless behavior shocks them both and leaves them stumbling to trust their hearts.

***

This is a gay romance with BDSM scenes and lots of men-on-men action. Due to sexual content, it is advised that readers are 18 and over.

Excerpt

The sun slowly rises, shining brightly through the narrow window. The rays catch on the bars and, for a few moments, the gunmetal gray glows like copper. Every morning, for the last six years, has been exactly the same. But, today is different. Today is the day I step into the warm sunlight, a new man. A stronger man. A man with power. It’s time to take charge and claim what’s mine.

When I arrived here, I was eighteen, scared and angry at the same time. I knew I’d been set up and I knew by whom. I simply couldn’t believe he went through with it. Word quickly spread that I, the son of the Big Gun, had arrived in prison. Rocco Valentine’s eldest son, his right-hand man, had been found guilty.

I understand why he did it. He was angry with me. I wasn’t the man he thought I was, the man he had molded me to be. He had no room in his empire for a queer—a faggot, or any other name he could think of calling me.

I survived in here because of one man, a man who became my father. Salvatore Moretti. He received a life sentence and knew it meant exactly that. He would die in prison. He also knew I was innocent, but that didn’t mean shit in this place. He was the first person to greet me as he crowded my cell. He filled it, not only with his size—and he’s a huge motherfucker—but with his presence. I knew of him, - he was my father’s rival, and even from within these oppressive, confined walls, he - ruled his domain outside.

“Welcome, Santiago. You are no saint, after all.” His lips turn up in a wolf-like grin before he steps closer and holds his arms out to me.

“I have no fucking clue how to survive this, and it’s just Santo now.” I say the first thing that comes to my mind, and it’s the dumbest sentence ever. Way to show your weakness, Santo.

“Santo, you just stick with me. I’ll see you right. No fucker will touch you while you are with me. I own this place and I run it with an iron fist.” He embraces me. “We will get along just fine, young man. Your father is a fool if he thinks he can get away with this.”

“How do you know?” I look at him askance.

“Santo, I know everything. Now, come, let me introduce you to my men. You are safe here.”

Over the years, he proved it. Then, after three years, he came to me with something more than merely protection. He came and taught me a skill I never knew existed. He showed me the way to use a man’s body. I never hid my sexuality from him. I didn’t need to; he knew. He unleashed something inside me, so real and so pure. I remember it vividly.

ღ 🌹░ ░J ░J ░ ░H░ A░R░P░ E░ R░ ░ 🌹ღ

You will normally find her in the living room—typing away—with her dog, Maud. As a hopeless romantic, JJ dives into her stories, always falling in love with her men, making sure they get the happy ever after they deserves, even if they do have to work hard for it.

As a bona fide bookaholic, coffee-addicted, wine-drinking and swear-like-a-sailor type of girl, she has yet to work out how to act her age!! LOL. And she has no intentions of growing up or growing old gracefully.

JJ lives in a small, very quiet, village in Lincolnshire, UK, with her husband and dog, and spends all day dreaming up stories full of really hot men.

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