And also shockingly late this week, but *cough* we won’t talk about that! 😉

I’ve just been proof-listening (is that a term?) to the first chapter of Hard Tail, my Southampton-set bike shop rom-com, and the narrator is doing a fabulous job. Hopefully we’ll be able to bring you the full audiobook by the end of summer. For now, here’s a snippet:

The bell above the shop door tinkled, and Matt Berridge fell into my life.

Literally.

I’d been staring at that glass door, willing someone to come in and stave off the killing boredom before I stuck a bicycle spoke through my neck out of sheer bloody ennui. So when a broad-shouldered, shaggy-headed lad in mirror sunglasses loped into view, I was all eyes. He wore lived-in jeans and a purple Weird Fish T-shirt, with a battered biker jacket over the top. He looked like he’d just got back from a festival somewhere. At least, he looked like I imagined a guy who’d just been to a festival might look. I’d never been to a festival. Too busy with exams and work and getting married to a girl I didn’t love.

When he pushed open the door, I barely had time to mentally punch the air—and then he was gone, well-shaped arse over tit.

***

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Hard Tail – Southampton Stories #2

Finding love can be a bumpy ride

With his job and his marriage dead in a ditch, Tim Knight doesn’t take much persuading to leave London for the greener fields of Southampton and look after his injured brother’s mountain bike shop. But Tim’s a fish out of water in this brave new world of outdoor sports and technical jargon—not to mention struggling with the realisation he can no longer deny his sexuality, at least to himself.

The reason? Matt Berridge, his brother’s bike mechanic. Fit, tanned and an adorable klutz, Matt takes a tumble the day they meet and falls straight into Tim’s heart. There’s only one problem: Matt’s boyfriend, who Tim’s convinced is abusing him, despite the stories Matt comes up with to explain away the bruises.

A black belt in karate, Tim’s no pushover when it comes to physical confrontation. But he’ll need to step his courage up a gear if he’s ever going to come out, be himself—and save the man he’s coming to love.

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