Title: Set the Pace
Series: The Detroit Love Duet #1
Author: Kim Karr
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release: February 21, 2016
Cover Designer: Hange Le
A rough childhood branded Jasper Storm trouble. A bad boy. Not worth a damn. His love of cars was the only thing that could battle his delinquency. With the need for speed in his blood, he overcame his wayward ways. Mostly. Now the broken city of Detroit hails him their shining star. And the man behind a new cutting-edge automobile is ready to turn this bankrupt town around.
Charlotte Lane was the tomboy who lived next door. She was his best friend. He was her protector. Then tragedy struck and she disappeared, forever—or so he thought.
Everything Jasper does in life is fast. He talks fast, f*cks fast, and drives fast. But when one reckless turn brings him face-to-face with the childhood he has tried very hard to forget, he finds himself on the edge of wondering if he shouldn’t slow down.
Time hasn’t erased who they are though. Jasper has many reasons to hate Charlotte and keep his distance, which is easier said than done. Soon she’s infiltrating his every thought and he can’t stay away. Back in town with an agenda of her own, she should push him aside. Make him turn around. Walk away herself. Yet she can't.
With the past lurking between them, they proceed with caution. That is until one sex-filled night leads to murder, and things are forced to change. Now that Detroit’s biggest ally has suddenly become suspect number one, will Charlotte—the girl Jasper once kept safe—be the one to save him?
Set the Pace
Excerpt
© 2016 by Kim Karr
Charlotte Lane
Buzz. Buzz.
Startled, I jump and quickly place the frame back in its place.
Buzz. Buzz.
It’s the call button from the lobby. I’m not sure what to do. I
should probably ask Jasper if he is expecting anyone before I let whomever it
is up.
The hallway he disappeared down is fairly long and at the end
are two doors. Both are slightly ajar. I can hear the shower running and music
playing. I try to place the song. Just as I go to knock, I pause, and then grin,
it’s Led Zeppelin—the same music that used to blare from his garage when he was
out there with his father.
Somehow in my absentminded quandary, my fingertips have nudged
the door open just enough that I can see inside the bathroom. Perfectly. In my direct line of sight is
a huge glass wall and he is just beyond it.
My pulse is beating so hard I can feel it pounding at all my
pulse points. I should leave. I don’t need to bother Jasper. Whoever it is
buzzing to come up can just come back later. Yet, I can’t move. Or maybe it’s
more like I don’t want to move.
Steam hovers in the air but there’s not nearly enough to obscure
anything. And there he is, naked in the water, head bent as it sluices over
him. His eyes are closed. One hand is on the wall. The other slides slowly down
his belly and lands between his thighs.
Oh, God.
Now I really can’t move. I’m frozen in place. His hand is on his
cock. I swallow the noise my throat tries to make, but I’m sure I don’t do a
good job of it. Thank you, Jesus, he doesn’t seem to notice. No, he definitely
doesn’t notice because oh, my God, now he’s stroking himself. Slowly.
Deliciously. Up, then down, and a twist of his palm around the head of his
cock.
I shouldn’t be watching this, and yet I can’t look away. This is
private. For him only, and yet I have to wonder if it’s because of me. Is it
his attraction to me that made him step back just moments ago? Made him have to
relieve the desire he was feeling? Then why did he say he wouldn’t kiss me
again?
When he moves his wrist faster, I have to stifle my sudden harsh
breath with my hand. My eyes are glued to his body and although I should leave,
I can’t. I just can’t. Jasper, doing this to himself, is the most erotic thing
I’ve ever seen in my life. The only thing stopping me from reaching between my
own legs is my perverted fascination with wanting to watch him come. Oh, and of
course the terror of getting caught.
His mouth opens, water filling it and overflowing when he tips
his face into the spray. I want so much to be in there with him, share the
water, and feel that mouth on my body, but I’m not sure that’s ever going to
happen. We seem to be dancing around the attraction we feel for each other.
Like both of us are afraid to take that leap from a two-decade-old friendship
to intimacy. Afraid perhaps of where it might lead, or maybe where it won’t.
I can’t be sure.
Then again, it could be that the ghosts that accompany us are
just too strong to bear.
Soon he’s fucking into his fist with a deliberation that makes
me weak at the knees, and I watch. I watch the way his muscles cord in his
arms, the way his cock moves within the confines of his fist, the way his face
contorts into pure pleasure.
Looking at Jasper, watching him about to come, it opens up
something within me. The feeling is hard to describe and I can only think of
one word that is fitting—primal.
His cock disappears inside his curled fingers and this stroke
seems somehow more determined. Up, down, a twist around his crown, and then
another twist. This time his head dips down, and then lowers still.
I press my thighs together to ward off the ache of arousal that
is flooding me. I can’t hear him, but I wish I could. I know what he’s feeling,
though, because I can see his mouth open and his face contort with
satisfaction. He’s close. I can tell. And then soon enough, his taut belly
strains, the muscles in his legs bunch, and then it happens—his desire jets
out.
Never in my life have I wanted to make myself come like I do
right in this moment. No, that’s not true. Never in my life have I wished for a
man to take me the way I wish for Jasper to take me right now. Still, this is
all kinds of wrong. I shouldn’t have watched him. I know this. Chiding myself,
I lick salt from my upper lip and slowly, cautiously take a step back.
“Is there a show going on that I wasn’t invited to?”
That voice. I know that voice. The cynicism behind the tone.
Oh, God.
No. No. No.
Reader * Writer * Coffeelover * Romantic
Kim Karr is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She is a daydreamer. So much so that if daydreaming could be a hobby it would be her favorite. It’s how her stories are born and how they take root. An imagination that runs wild is something to be thankful for, and she is very thankful. 
She grew up in New York and now lives in Florida with her husband and four kids. She’s always had a love for reading books and writing. Being an English major in college, she wanted to teach at the college level but that was not to be. She went on to receive an MBA and became a project manager until quitting to raise her family. Kim currently works part-time with her husband and with the rest of her time embraces one of her biggest passions–writing.
Kim wears a lot of hats! Writer, book-lover, wife, soccer-mom, taxi driver, and the all around go-to person of her family. However, she always finds time to read.
She likes to believe in soulmates, kindred spirits, true friends, and Happily-Ever-Afters. She loves to drink champagne, listen to music, and hopes to always stay young at heart.
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