Release Date: May 14, 2013
Publisher: Brooklyn Skye
Summary from Goodreads:
"I like you." His voice is low and soft, which I don't deserve. I look away, down the rutted parking lot.
"Don't...waste those words on me."
He touches my cheek. "You just need someone to show you."
"No." I ease back again. "I don't. So please, Torrin, stop trying to swoop in and save me. I don't need saving."
College freshman Quinn Montgomery will do anything to avoid the mistake her sister made - killing herself over a boy. But when she is forced into nude modeling at a local college to support her family after a bankruptcy, she begins to crack, just enough to let Torrin, the university's top varsity oarsman, see that the real Quinn is not as feisty and unapproachable as she wants everyone to think. But letting someone in comes at a steep cost and, it turns out, Torrin is connected to Quinn's family in more ways than she could ever imagine.
**Excerpt**
From STRIPPED:
Muscles. That’s all I see walking toward me. Rock-hard muscles.
“No chance I’m changin’ your name now,” Torrin says. Eyeing the cigarette pinched between my fingertips, he lifts a teasing smirk. I grimace and hide the cigarette behind my back because, really, I’m not in the mood for this.
Okay, that’s not true. I’m sort of in the mood for it because it is loosely fascinating. I’ve obviously charmed the guy out of his mind.
“I only took one drag. This cigarette shouldn’t count.”
“Still does.” He sits on the wall next to me. A camera swings under his arm.
“What if I’m really stressed?”
Jutting out his chin, he slips the camera strap off his shoulder. “Get rid of that thing and check this out.”
I take another drag and blow it out in front of me. He waves the smoke away from his face.
“That’s disgusting.”
I grin. “Someone twisting your arm to sit here?”
He ignores my question and sets the camera in my lap. I’m no camera expert, but I do know this one’s probably over a thousand dollars by how heavy it is and the overabundance of buttons and dials and digital screens. I should run with it, sell it to pay for my tuition—
“A Nikon D300. Ever use one of these?”
I shake the thought away. It’s crazy. And I doubt I’d be able to outrun him.
“No.”
“Check out the LCD screen. Three inches.”
I pick it up. At the same time he leans in and presses a button on top. An intricate menu displays on the screen with words and acronyms that may as well be a foreign language: JPEG compression, NEF (RAW) something or other.
I am so stupid. So stupid. I told him I was into photography, and that’s why he’s here trying to camera-talk with me, but maybe I should’ve said I like to look at photos. He’s obviously much more experienced and equipped and, God, I hope he doesn’t expect me to be the same.
“I’ve had this for a few months,” he says. “I’m still learning how to use it. The manual is over four hundred pages.”
I lift the camera to my face, peer through the lens at a teacher walking in the distance. Jackie McNamara. Science department. She spoke to my dad once about funding for telescopes. Bet she didn’t do something ridiculously illegal to get them.
Lowering the heavy black box, I meet his gaze. “I’ve never held such a fancy camera before.”
He nudges me with his elbow. “C’mon. I’ll show you how to use it.”
My stomach twists.
“No.”
He blinks. “No? Why not?”
I stand. Because I’m not at Pacific Rim to make friends. I’m here to earn money and I’m done doing that for the day and should be heading back to school for whatever ghastly concoction Loyola’s cafeteria decides to call dinner.
I return the camera to his hand.
“I can’t.”
“Why?” He stands too, looks down at me. “You have somewhere else to be?” His head cocks curiously to the side. “A boyfriend’s house?”
“No.” The word comes out too fast. Dammit. I grab my bag. “I mean, yes.”
“Well, which is it?” He grins. “You seem a little unsure.”
My head is telling me I need to walk away right now. Right now. Before I have to say anything more, but my hands are the only ones listening, and they’re shaking and my feet won’t move.
I need to kill this conversation.
“Listen, Torrin. You’re not getting in my pants. Not today. Not ever. So you can go."
**Giveaway**
One signed paperback copy of Stripped (US only) or one e-book copy with authorgraph (INT)
About the Author, Brooklyn Skye:
Brooklyn Skye is just your average awkward girl who's obsessed with words. She grew up in a small California town where she quickly realized writing was an escape from small town life.
Check out of the rest of the Stripped blog tour by clicking here: http://yabound.blogspot.com/
0 comments :
Post a Comment
Thanks so much for passing by and for commenting. I read and appreciate each and every comment.