Tempt My Heart by Jade Church

 

"Does this feel pretend to you?"

Tempt My Heart, an all-new work-place, fake-relationship, romantic suspense, and standalone in the Living In Cincy series from bestselling author Jade Church is available now!

Christopher is off-limits, a fact Ali struggles to remember every time she’s faced with her boss. 

So when she’s forced to make a deal with him that blurs the line between the professional and personal, she knows she’s in trouble.

Given an ultimatum by her paparazzo ex, Ali has sixty days to either stop him—with a little help from her boss—or be forced to leak the most exclusive wedding of the year, giving her ex the scoop of a lifetime and forcing Christopher to betray his closest friend.

As the deadline nears and tensions rise between them, Ali starts to wonder if her heart was the thing most at risk after all.

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“Alison,” he smiled at her and the chip she’d always found cute in his bottom tooth seemed to mock her. “I know this is probably coming as quite a shock.”

Her throat was dry but she managed to squeeze the words out of her throat anyway. “A shock? What the hell kind of game are you playing? There’s no way that video exists.”

His hand wrapped around her arm and tugged so she would walk next to him down the sidewalk. “Oh Ali.”He sighed, and for some reason the note of disappointment in his voice coupled with the sheer size of the hand gripping her made a chill skitter down her spine. But it was a ridiculous reaction. This was Jared. He wouldn’t hurt her. “You’re a smart girl. Let’s not do this.”

She bristled. Smart girl. She hadn’t been a girl in quite a long time. She was nearly thirty and he was being a condescending asshole—one of his less redeeming qualities, honestly. “Do what, exactly?”

“I never wanted to hurt you,” he said and despite everything, she wanted to roll her eyes at the flatness of his voice. “But you can do something for me, something I need.”

“I really can’t,” she said, annoyed. “And I think we’re done here.” She tried to tug her arm free and gasped when he pulled her closer, tightening his grip around her bicep. “Jared, you’re hurting me.”

He didn’t let go. “I told you I didn’t want to hurt you, not that I wouldn’t,” he said gently, like she was an animal that could spook at any moment. “The video is real, Alison.” When she said nothing else, he sighed again like she was inconveniencing him. He tilted the screen on his phone toward her and her lunch curdled in her stomach as acid rose in her throat. 

The back arching, the red hair swept off to the side, they were familiar. They were her. He’d recorded them without her knowing—had this been his plan all along? Date her to blackmail access to Christopher and gain access to the high-profile world he lived in? 

“You planned this,” she said woodenly, too shocked to do anything but stare at the video playing before she looked away, unable to take it anymore. 

“I did what I had to.”There wasn’t an ounce of regret on his face, just a cold frankness that made her feel dizzy. “I need this story, Ali. Both for my career and the money, I’m not going to throw this opportunity away just because you were a nice lay. So now you know where we stand. You can have until Monday still, if you like.” There was a smug tilt to his mouth that said the offer was hollow—he expected her to comply without question. 

No. No. He didn’t get to just do this to her and make her risk everything she’d worked for. The business world had grown a lot, but a video like this getting out would still be detrimental to her career, her reputation. Maybe if she were a guy, a sex tape wouldn’t be a scandal—or at least it would blow over five-times faster. But it was hard to be taken seriously in the business world and this would only make her life harder, not to mention that this was a private moment and the violation alone made her heart quicken with anger. 

She lunged for his phone and he snorted, surrendering it as he finally relinquished her arm. “Take it if you want. I have it backed up online. This isn’t going away that easily, Ali.” He left the phone in her numb fingers and stepped closer to murmur in her ear. “For what it’s worth, the sex really was good. If I didn’t need this so badly, maybe things would have worked out.”

Jared chuckled as he moved out of her space, walking away as easily as he had a few months ago when he’d unceremoniously ended things without so much as a goodbye. He’d left the phone with her, the video of them still playing and she flinched as the sound of her own moans carried to her before she hit pause. 

She’d been in a low place when she’d started dating Jared and, for a while, he’d made things better. Made her feel slightly less alone. Her dad had just died, she’d been vulnerable, and clearly this sick fuck had taken advantage of that. 

A strange mixture of shame and anger swirled inside of her, clawing its way up her throat and making her eyes water until she hurried further down the sidewalk and vomited in the closest trash can. He’d seduced her and betrayed her and now he wanted her to do the same thing to Christopher. And for what? His career? Money? She shook her head, fighting the sting of tears in her eyes. The truth was that she hadn’t even been worth a goodbye to him and she hated that it still hurt. 

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and grimaced before walking away, just wanting to be back home where she could cry in privacy. 

Jared may have got the upper hand on her before, but she wasn’t about to go down quietly now. 

Monday. 

Ali had the whole weekend to work out how she was going to make Jared sorry he’d ever met her, and she’d be damned if she wasted a single second of it.

Learn more about Jade Church and her releases by visiting her websites:

https://www.jadechurchauthor.com

My Review
4 Stars
Tempt My Heart by Jade Church is book Two in the Living in Cincy Series. This is the story of Christopher and Alison 'Ali'. Alison has crush on her boss but she knows it can't go anywhere so she is a daily fight with her feelings. Then her ex-boyfriend has threaten her with a tape of them. If she doesn't get the information he wants he is going to expose it. This information she has to get from her boss about a high power wedding that is happening. This starts their story. Enjoyed