Book Title: Don’t Mess With The Ex

Author: DJ Jamison

Publisher: Must Love Books LLC

Cover Artist: Morningstar Ashley

Release Date: July 20, 2023

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance, small-town romance

Tropes: Secret husband, second chance romance, fake relationship, forced proximity

Themes: Rekindling old love, being true partners, standing together, fighting for love

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 86 000 words

It is book 2 in the Rules We Break series, but it can be read as a standalone.

It does not end on a cliffhanger.

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For years, I’ve lived by one rule: Don’t Mess With The Ex.

 

Blurb

For years, I’ve lived by one simple rule: Don’t Mess With The Ex.

It was an easy rule to follow when Laurence Kensington III was on the other side of the country.

Now that he’s shown up out of the blue to tell me we’re still married? Not so much.

I followed my heart into a whirlwind romance with him once, and it ended in a heart-breaking annulment. Or at least, I thought it did. I don’t know what to think of the news we’re still hitched.

I’ve vowed to never be so impulsive or reckless again. But when he brings me a proposal that will help me achieve my dreams for Granville *and* refuse his entitled family something they want, I’m once more put to the test.

Laurie is as handsome as I remember, and so damn tempting. His sweet gestures, generous spirit, and open heart make it a challenge to stick to my rule.

But then, maybe messing with the ex wouldn’t be all bad. Maybe it’s time to write new rules.

Is it really so wrong to follow my heart if my heart was right all along?

Don’t Mess With The Ex is Book 2 of Rules We Break, set in the small, quirky town of Granville, where nosy residents meddle in one another’s lives, great friendships are made, and silly innuendos are a way of life.

 

Laurie and Tucker discovered they were still married after nearly twenty years apart, and they’re keeping up appearances of a reconciliation. But when Laurie gets a text that leads him to believe they’re being watched, they’ll have to amp up their performance…. Enjoy the excerpt from Don’t Mess With The Ex!

 

LAURIE

My heart beat double-time as Tucker gazed down at me, pondering my words, I think it’s time you kissed me. I’d put the decision in his hands, knowing he had to be the one to take the next step. I’d barged into his home and upended his life, but I couldn’t take more than he was willing to give.

“Right,” Tucker said, sounding a little unsteady. He glanced over his shoulder toward his friends, who were all watching us like hawks. “My friends have been grilling me too, so I suppose it’s…the logical step.”

Logical wasn’t what I wanted from Tucker when we finally kissed again. Logical wasn’t what made my breath catch when he walked into a room.

But I wasn’t an idiot. Tucker wasn’t ready to kiss me for anything other than a logical reason.

I licked my lips and watched his gaze fix on my mouth. His eyes were dark with something that had very little to do with logic. I held on to that as I nodded my head.

“Right. It’s a practical solution.”

I couldn’t help it. My lips quirked with amusement. Tucker was too focused on my mouth to miss it. He dipped down, not to kiss me as I’d hoped, but to growl in my ear. “You’re awfully pleased about this situation.”

“Sorry?”

“Not yet, but you will be.”

I would have replied, but Tucker bit gently on the lobe of my ear and all my brain circuits misfired. He nuzzled his nose along my throat, brushed kisses along my jaw, and came to a stop at the corner of my mouth…just shy of my lips.

He drew back and picked up the pitcher of beer still sitting on the bartop. I was dimly aware of Maude watching us with an amused expression. “We should get back to the table. The game is starting.”

“Tucker,” I complained.

He took my hand in his, and I followed him to the table, my mouth still tingling with the craving for his kiss. I wanted to demand that he finish what he started, but if this was only for logical purposes, Tucker had achieved the mission. Anyone watching would have been convinced we were intimate.

The interior of my pants was feeling extremely intimate at the moment.

I shifted in my seat, once we were back at the table, trying to adjust subtly. Tucker laid his arm along the back of my seat, hand curling around my shoulder, and joined the discussion about the current question displayed on the screen. Something about the Adriatic Sea, but I couldn’t focus on anything but the brush of Tucker’s fingertips along the side of my neck, the warmth of his body next to me.

The kiss he’d denied me.

“Don’t you think, Laurie?” Clark said.

I blinked, realizing that I’d lapsed into a lust-soaked daydream involving dragging Tucker into the bathroom and having my way with him. “Sorry, what?”

“This question.” He waved to the television screen across the room that was displaying a question about a national park. “That’s in upper New York State, isn’t it?”

I forced my mind to focus. “Yes. Right. Sorry, I was…distracted.”

Clark smiled. “That’s okay. Not everyone is into trivia.”

He seemed to have no idea of the way Tucker was tormenting me.

Of course, normally, such small touches wouldn’t be a torment. I’d had blow jobs less thrilling than the weight of Tucker’s arm over my shoulders. But then, I hadn’t waited twenty years for those blow jobs.

You’re still waiting. This is logical to him, remember?

But was it? Tucker didn’t have to tease me. He could have treated tonight’s need for affection in a very direct, methodical way. He could have pecked my lips and moved on. What he’d done instead was way more sensual. More titillating.

More frustrating.

Tucker leaned in and murmured, “I’ve been watching the crowd, but I don’t see anyone I don’t know.”

Right. The reason for this torment was not to make my cock hard, but to throw off suspicion.

 

DJ Jamison writes romances about everyday life and extraordinary love featuring a variety of queer characters, from gay to bisexual to asexual. DJ grew up in the Midwest in a working-class family, and those influences can be found in her writing through characters coping with real-life problems: money troubles, workplace drama, family conflicts and, of course, falling in love. DJ spent more than a decade in the newspaper industry before chasing her first dream to write fiction. She spent a lifetime reading before that and continues to avidly devour her fellow authors’ books each night. She lives in Kansas with her husband, two sons, one snake, and a sadistic cat named Birdie.

 

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