Title: Heart on His Lead
Author: JR Hart
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 02/28/2023
Heat Level: 2 – Fade to Black Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 52700
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, contemporary, family-drama, gay, dog walker, dogs, sibling rivalry, enemies to lovers
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Description
Jobless Julian has been struggling to get his life in order for a while now. When his sister asks him to dogsit, he’s turned off by the idea. For one, he’s never been a dog person. For two, her pampered pooch Sprinkles takes a lot of extra work.
Thankfully, dog expert, former dog trainer, and current romance writer Cole has experience with Sprinkles. Too bad he’s annoying…and cute. Growing closer feels inevitable, but when a sudden accident makes Cole second-guess Julian’s dog-oriented decision-making, Julian needs to prove he’s changed from doggy downer to man’s best friend. That, or forget the grand gesture and admit this dogsitting thing—and his time with Cole—was only ever temporary.
Heart on His Lead
J.R. Hart © 2023
All Rights Reserved
“No, Mom, I didn’t do anything wrong. It was just another layoff.” He felt ridiculous trying to explain it to her. Of course, she’d immediately think the whole thing was his fault. Her dogs yapped in the background, loud and uncontrolled. It was hard to hear her over them. “Could you…can you put them outside or something?”
“I’m just saying, sweetheart. I don’t think I know anyone who’s gotten laid off three times in a year before. I talked to Mary and her son got laid off. Then he got right back in the saddle and was in management the next year!”
“Yeah, because after his layoff, he went into retail.” There was plenty of room for upward growth when you started on a sales floor and ended up as a team leader. He bit his tongue after because it seemed unfair to say any more than that.
“No job is beneath you, Julian.”
He knew that. But the thing was, if he had chosen a job in retail, she would immediately tell him how much better his sister was for the job she had, the glass palace she was in, her ivory freakin’ tower of a career, the travel and pay it offered. It wasn’t that any job was beneath him. Instead, it was that most jobs were beneath her. “I know, Mom.”
“You just need a good, solid, consistent job.”
“I know, Mom.” At this point, arguing at all was futile. God, her dogs were so loud.
“You know, you could ask Molly if there are openings at her company.”
God no. That would be worst-case-scenario. Molly had suggested other companies for him to apply to, and he’d never gotten in at any of them…except this one, that he’d just been laid off from. The last thing he needed to do was go crawling back to Molly and asking her for help again. “I know, Mom,” he repeated.
“Are you even listening to me?”
He thought about saying it again, another “I know, Mom,” just to drive home the point that she wasn’t being helpful. Instead, he said, “Yeah, I am. It’s just hard to hear with the dogs and the barking and the—”
“Dogs are going to bark, Julian. It’s in their nature.”
He sighed. “Mom, I think…I think I’m just going to let you go for a while, okay.” His entire body was tense. Back, shoulders, face…he had a migraine coming on, the early stages of something that would plague him for hours if he wasn’t careful. He could swear he had imprints on his fingers from gripping the phone so tightly. Did talking to his mom always do this to him? Usually. Maybe. Today seemed worse than most of their calls, though.
“Okay. But really, you should consider calling Molly. She probably knows someone who has an opening.”
Of course. Because Molly knew everything. “Thanks, Mom. Bye. Love you.”
He was pretty certain she said she loved him too, but with the dogs barking, it was hard to tell.
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J R Hart is a queer 30-something novelist passionate about telling romantic and erotic stories about LGBT+ characters. When J R isn’t writing, you can find her at the science museum with her son, cheering for her favorite soccer team, or at The Bean Coffee Co plotting her next work. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram as @jrhartauthor, or on her website at jrhartauthor.com.
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