Book Title: Eight Months Without You
Author: Nell Iris
Publisher: JMS Books
Cover Artist: Written Ink Designs
Release Date: November 12, 2022
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: second chances, established relationship
Themes: jealousy, possessive main character, reunion, bisexual representation
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 15 207 words
It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links
JMS Books | Universal Amazon Link
Can Sami and Joakim’s relationship survive accusations of cheating, a thrown wineglass, and eight months of silence?
Blurb
Hurtful words and a thrown wineglass in a fit of jealousy tear Sami and Joakim apart; fiery tempers and stubbornness keep them from making up. But then, after eight months without a single word, just as Sami is about to make the first move, Joakim shows up, eager to make things right.
Can they overcome accusations of cheating and eight months of silence? Are conversations, confessions, and planning for the future enough? Will the love they still share conquer all?
“I never cheated on you. Never. Not with anyone, definitely not with Anna. And I’m not a liar.”
He averts his eyes.
“Look at me.” I sweep my thumbs along his jawline, keeping my voice soft. This is important, and if we can’t have this conversation, we don’t stand a chance.
Maybe he feels my urgency because he swallows once, then meets my gaze.
“Anna is my dearest friend. I love her with all my heart. But not like that. We’ve never even kissed, not even when I was a hormonal teenager who wanted to fuck everyone who breathed. I’ve never liked her like that. She doesn’t like me like that either.”
He purses his lips but doesn’t look away.
I sigh. “What are you even doing here if you don’t believe me?” I start to withdraw, but he stops me by laying his hands on top of mine.
“It’s not that I don’t believe you,” he rasps, letting his hands fall, as though he’s confident I’ll keep touching him.
And I do. I slide my hand down to the crook of his neck and rest my fingertips on his pulse point. It’s a faint flutter, faster than usual, and I ache to lay my ear on top of his chest to hear his heartbeat, to make sure he’s actually here. “Then what?” I ask instead.
He wraps strong fingers around my wrist. “I hate it when someone else touches you. You know I hate it, and you usually slink away before anyone can lay a hand on you. But you still let her touch you. You two are so close and she touches you all the fucking time.” His eyes burn, his grip tightening on my wrist. Not enough to hurt me, but he’s sending a signal. Mine. Hands off.
Before I met him, I always found jealousy distasteful and a huge turn-off. But it’s different with him. Alluring. Something about how he growls under his smile when someone flirts with me revs my engine. How he’ll wrap an arm around me and glare at whoever’s daring to flirt with me, the way he’ll step between me and the hopeful guy or girl and plant a possessive kiss on my mouth makes me hot and bothered. I don’t mind him staking his claim on me. The opposite, in fact.
What I do mind is being called a liar, something that happened seconds before the wine glass crashed into the wall and him walking out in a snit.
“She’s a very touchy-feely person.” I keep my voice even.
His mouth turns into a straight line, but his temper doesn’t make an appearance. “I know.”
“She’d never touch me inappropriately. I wouldn’t let her if she tried.”
“I know.” He sounds sincere. Mostly.
“Do you?”
Joakim nods once, a sharp movement, a slice of his head through the air.
I snort. “Very convincing.”
A chuckle escapes him, dark and throaty, and he releases his grip on my wrist and instead laces our fingers together. “I’m still a work in progress. But I mean it.”
“You didn’t believe me back then.”
“I know you’re not a liar. I do. But all I could see was you two hugging, and I couldn’t stop the insecurity from spilling out of my mouth.” His shoulders droop.
“I still hug her. Last week, she even kissed my cheek after we’d had dinner.”
His fingers twitch against mine as he closes his eyes, leans in, and rests his forehead against mine. “Are you trying to provoke a reaction from me?”
“Yes.”
His breaths are slow. Measured. His exhales caress my face with restraint. Eight months ago, he would’ve erupted like a volcano, so I’m counting this as progress. After another deep breath, he stands. “Let’s relocate to somewhere more comfortable. I have something to tell you.”
Nell Iris is a romantic at heart who believes everyone deserves a happy ending. She’s a bona fide bookworm (learned to read long before she started school), wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without something to read (not even the ladies room), loves music (and singing along at the top of her voice but she’s no Celine Dion), and is a real Star Trek nerd (Make it so). She loves words, bullet journals, poetry, wine, coffee-flavored kisses, and fika (a Swedish cultural thing involving coffee and pastry!)
Nell believes passionately in equality for all regardless of race, gender or sexuality, and wants to make the world a better, less hateful, place.
Nell is a bisexual Swedish woman married to the love of her life, a proud mama of a grown daughter, and is approaching 50 faster than she’d like. She lives in the south of Sweden where she spends her days thinking up stories about people falling in love. After dreaming about being a writer for most of her life, she finally was in a place where she could pursue her dream and released her first book in 2017.
Nell Iris writes gay romance, prefers sweet over angsty, short over long, and quirky characters over alpha males.
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