Hi guys, we have Garrett Leigh stopping by today with her new release Rented Heart, we have a great excerpt, a fantastic giveaway and Aerin’s review, so check out the post and leave a comment to enter the giveaway! <3 ~Pixie~

Rented Heart

Garrett Leigh

Ex-surfer-turned-businessman Liam Mallaney moved back to Holkham, Norfolk, to mourn the loss of his husband. Grief and loneliness keep him a solitary figure, and he likes it that way. There’s no room in his broken heart for anything else.

Rentboy Zac Payne left London and most of his demons behind, but he still only knows one way to make a living. When he spots Liam in a club one night, it seems he’s found his mark. But Liam proves nicer—and their connection far deeper—than he’d bargained for.

Their arrangement quickly becomes too complicated for Zac, who has other things on his mind: namely his BFF and wayward flatmate, Jamie. Zac owes Jamie the world, and even as Jamie’s drug addiction destroys all they have, Zac won’t leave him behind.

Besides, Liam knows nothing of Zac’s home life, too caught up in his own head to think much beyond the crazy heat he and Zac share. But when trouble comes to Zac’s door, putting his life in danger, Liam must set his grief and anger aside to pick up the pieces of Zac’s shattered heart and his own.

Excerpt

Zac crossed the road, weaving through the late-night revellers who were spilling from the club, searching for taxis to take them home. The blond saw him coming. His previously empty stare turned curious, and Zac’s confidence took a boost. Perhaps he’d struck gold. “All right, mate?”

The blond smiled slightly, showing Zac a beautiful set of teeth. “Yes, thanks. You?”

Zac shrugged. “I’m bored. This club is shite.”

The blond’s grin widened. “That why you’ve been loitering outside all night?”

“How do you know what I’ve been doing all night?”

“Because I’ve seen you every time I’ve come out for a fag. Looked like you were waiting for someone.”

Not someone. Anyone. But this bloke didn’t need to know that. “Maybe I got stood up.”

“Maybe we both did.”

“Yeah?” Now Zac was the curious one. “What happened?”

“My mate dragged me out. Thinks I need to get laid.”

“And do you?”

The blond shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone?”

Zac couldn’t argue with that. Fucking was like breathing to him, especially when he had a good partner, something he’d yet to find in the rural monotony of eastern England. Shoulda gone to Newquay.

“What’s so funny?”

“Hmm?”

The blond raised an eyebrow. “You’re smirking.”

“Speculating, actually.”

“Yeah? About what?”

“About how you need to get laid.” It was a reckless move, but Zac didn’t care. It had been a long night with no work, like the night before, and the night before that. No work tonight meant no food tomorrow, and he needed to eat almost as much as he needed to get fucked.

If the blond was taken aback by the bluntness, he didn’t let it show. He took a moment to consider his response, before he treated Zac to another lopsided half grin. “If you’d said that a few hours ago, I’d have said I could live without it, but I’ve drunk my body weight in Jäger since then, and I reckon it might be the only thing that will sober me up.”

It was as good a reason as any. “What’s your name?”

“Liam. What’s yours?”

“Zac. Wanna come back to mine?”

“Where do you live?”

“In town. The new flats on the high street.”

Liam pulled the latest iPhone from his pocket and studied the screen before he seemed to make a snap decision. “Why the hell not? Looks like I’ve got nothing better to do.”

“Then let’s go.” Zac held out his hand and wrapped his fingers around Liam’s smooth, warm palm. “Oh, and by the way, it’s a hundred for the fuck . . . three if you want to stay all night.”

~~~

Liam Mallaney dropped the beautiful man’s hand like he’d been burned. What the fuck? Have I seriously just been picked up by a hooker? Nah, he’d heard him wrong. Shit like that didn’t happen in Norfolk. Damn place was too bloody boring. And that’s why you’re here.

Shut up.

Liam silenced the devil on his shoulder and focused on the dark-haired man—on Zac—studying his intelligent, bottomless green eyes, searching for any sign that he was pulling Liam’s leg, but Zac stared back at him, his gaze steady and expectant. Jesus. He is a hooker.

The realisation didn’t horrify Liam as much as it should’ve done, because nothing truly horrified him anymore. Life had already played its trump card, and as he stood in the moonlight, a foot away from the hottest bloke he’d seen in years, there was no denying the spark of attraction—and arousal—creeping through him. He did need to get laid, really fucking laid, with no emotional strings to disentangle himself from in the morning, and no obligation to pretend he was still capable of giving a shit. Could he buy that freedom? Tonight, it seemed he could.

Liam checked his pocket for his wallet. “One hundred to fuck?”

“If you want. We can do other stuff if you don’t have that much.”

Liam snorted. “Trust me. I can afford you. Are we going, or what?”

Zac shrugged, his gaze slightly narrower than it had been before. “Whatever. It’s this way.”

Liam followed him down the side path that led to the high street. The alley was dank and dark, and it crossed his mind that following a rentboy home wasn’t the cleverest move he’d ever made, but as he dodged murky puddles and the squashed remnants of discarded kebabs, he didn’t much care. Whatever Zac had in store for him would be a relief, it had to be.

“Not going to drug me and kill me, are you?”

Liam glanced up, startled by the echo of his own fears. “Not likely, mate. What about you? Gonna handcuff and rob me blind?”

“If you want—the handcuffing, I mean. I won’t need to rob you. I’ve told you my price.”

Indeed he had. Liam’s pulse quickened. He’d come to the club tonight sure he’d be home by ten, tucked up in bed with the dogs and his ever-overflowing inbox, harbouring no regrets save that he’d bothered to go out in the first place. Sex had been the last thing on his mind, until he’d spotted Zac across the road, dancing along the kerb, weaving to his own tune with a dubious-looking cigarette jammed in his mouth. He wondered if Zac knew he’d pictured them fucking long before he’d sauntered over and offered his services.

Not that it mattered. After all, Zac wasn’t doing this for fun.

Liam tried to let the notion of paying someone to find him attractive seep into his self-esteem and shock him into calling time on the madness.

Nothing happened. He pulled a battered pack of Marlboro Lights from his back pocket and lit up, proffering the box to Zac, who took one and followed suit. “Am I your only client tonight?”

“Client?” Zac regarded Liam through a haze of smoke. “This ain’t Pretty Woman, mate. In my world, you’re called a john.”

Liam didn’t particularly care what he was called, but he was curious about his place in Zac’s workday. Was he the first of many, or the last?

“This is me.” Zac stopped outside a nondescript block of new-build flats. “Still wanna come in?”

“If you’ll have me.” The absurdity of his own answer made Liam snigger.

Zac grinned too and opened the exterior door to the flats. “Oh, I’ll have you. Trust me, we’re going to have a good time.”

Liam didn’t doubt it. Zac moved with a sensuous grace and the barest hint of a swagger, all signs of a man who knew he was dynamite in bed, though, he supposed Zac had probably had enough practice. Not like Liam, who hadn’t touched a man in more than a year. Not since—

Stop it. Liam fought the cloud of misery as he climbed the steps behind Zac. Tonight, he’d drunk most of it away, but his Jäger-laced buzz had faded while he’d set himself up for an expensive night of fun with Zac, and he needed a distraction.

Arriving at Zac’s flat provided one even faster than Liam had hoped for. Zac let them in and ushered Liam forward.

Liam stepped inside, glancing around nervously, though for what, he wasn’t quite sure—he’s a hooker, not a serial killer. If anything, Zac was taking the bigger risk. Liam had half a foot and a stone on him, maybe more. Perhaps he’s a ninja. Liam sniggered again. Perhaps his buzz was still there after all.

“So . . .” Zac hovered in the doorway of what looked like a living room. “Do you want to come in and sit down?”

“What do you usually do with a john?”

Zac shrugged. “This and that. What do you want to do?”

“I want to fuck you.” Liam hadn’t known how true it was until he said it, but as he stared at Zac, taking in his slender frame and clear complexion, set off by the greenest eyes Liam had ever seen, he suddenly craved the very thing he’d left the club to avoid.

Zac smirked, like he’d known Liam was a good bet all along. “We need to go over some stuff first, so we both know what we’re getting into.”

“Okay.” Liam chanced a surreptitious glance around what he could see of the flat, taking in the bare walls and basic furniture. “Do we need to sit down for that?”

“Not especially, but I could go for a whiskey. You want anything?”

More booze sounded like the worst idea Liam had ever heard, but he trailed Zac into the sparse living room anyway, and accepted an oversized shot of Grouse, perching on the arm of the couch while he waited for Zac to spit out whatever he needed to say before they got what they’d come here for.

Zac sat on the coffee table, relaxed and nonchalant, like he’d had a stranger over for sex a hundred times. “It’s simple really. Cash up front and no sex without a condom—oh, and I don’t do kissing and small talk.”

“No kissing?” Liam couldn’t suppress a laugh. “Thought this wasn’t Pretty Woman?”

Zac scowled. “Them’s the rules. Take them or leave them.”

Okaaaaay. Liam retrieved his wallet and counted out five twenty-pound notes. He held them up, dangling them an inch from Zac’s face. “I’ll take it.”

Zac took the money and stuffed it, without checking, in a drawer in the coffee table. “Do you have any questions?”

“Me? No.”

“Sure? Don’t want you freaking out halfway through.”

Why not? Surely, if he bolted before they were done, Zac would get paid for half a job, but he kept that theory to himself and considered Zac’s question while Zac topped up their glasses. A million responses sprung to mind, but none seemed appropriate, or anything less than stupid. Zac had covered most of the bases with his Edward Lewis rules: no barebacking, kissing, or talking. What else was there to say? It wasn’t like those things had been high on Liam’s agenda anyway. Jesus Christ, he just wanted—needed—to get laid.

Read more at: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/rented-heart (just click the excerpt tab)

About Garrett

Garrett Leigh is a British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Black Jazz Press. Her protagonists will always always be tortured, crippled, broken, and deeply flawed. Throw in a tale of enduring true love, some stubbly facial hair, and a bunch of tattoos, and you’ve got yourself a Garrett special.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible. That, and dreaming up new ways to torture her characters. Garrett believes in happy endings; she just likes to make her boys work for it.

Garrett also works as a freelance cover artist for various publishing houses and independent authors under the pseudonym G.D. Leigh. For cover art info, please visit blackjazzpress.com.

Social media:
Website | Twitter |Facebook Cover art enquiries: blackjazzdesign@gmail.com

Giveaway!

To celebrate the release of Rented Heart, one lucky winner will receive $25 in Riptide Publishing credit! 

Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Review

Title: Rented Heart

Series: N/A

Author: Garrett Leigh

Genre: Contemporary, Rent-boys

Length: Novel (228 pages)

Publisher: Riptide Publishing (September 12th 2016)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 hearts

Blurb: Ex-surfer-turned-businessman Liam Mallaney moved back to Holkham, Norfolk, to mourn the loss of his husband. Grief and loneliness keep him a solitary figure, and he likes it that way. There’s no room in his broken heart for anything else.

Rentboy Zac Payne left London and most of his demons behind, but he still only knows one way to make a living. When he spots Liam in a club one night, it seems he’s found his mark. But Liam proves nicer—and their connection far deeper—than he’d bargained for.

Their arrangement quickly becomes too complicated for Zac, who has other things on his mind: namely his BFF and wayward flatmate, Jamie. Zac owes Jamie the world, and even as Jamie’s drug addiction destroys all they have, Zac won’t leave him behind.

Besides, Liam knows nothing of Zac’s home life, too caught up in his own head to think much beyond the crazy heat he and Zac share. But when trouble comes to Zac’s door, putting his life in danger, Liam must set his grief and anger aside to pick up the pieces of Zac’s shattered heart and his own.

ISBN: 9781626493919

Product Link: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/rented-heart

Reviewer: Aerin

Review: This book touched my heart and changed my reluctance when it comes to rent-boy books. I’m not sure what exactly was different about this book from other rent-boy books that left me disappointed in the past, but every single thing in this story worked for me.

Liam is broken hearted after losing his partner and husband, the love of his life, in an accident. Liam is now the sole owner of the company him and his husband Cory started, but all the money and success can’t bring him an ounce of happiness; Liam is lonely, and his life has no purpose or shine. Letting some friends talk him into going to a club didn’t work the way it was intended, but it put rent-boy Zac Payne in his path.

Zac has been a rent-boy since he was a teenager and that’s all he knows what to do and is good at. A former junkie and prostitute, Zac has been clean for the past 6 months and he changed the way he sells his body: everything is now done on his own terms with whomever he chooses. When Liam accepts to go home with Zac for a night of sex, it surprised Liam and shocked him to the core. Despite how much he enjoyed Zac and despite the unexplained chemistry between them, the guilt he felt at the end crushed his soul. Zac tried his best to stop thinking about Zac, but feeling alive is something his soul craves despite the grieving and guilt that comes with it.

I loved Liam more than I can say. He’s a nice person with a beautiful soul who was fortunate enough to meet the love of his life and unfortunate enough to lose him. Even though it’s been two years since Cory died, Liam’s grief feels natural and painful. I wanted him to move on, of course I did, but every moment spent grieving for Cory was one I cherished because it gave me a glimpse in Liam’s beautiful soul.

Soon Liam starts paying Zac for more than sex…. he pays him for company. This connection between them is cherished by both for different reasons and I loved how it became about how they saw each other as individuals and about the relationship that formed between them. Their chemistry is solid and hot as hell, but from the very first time they had sex, it FELT like it was more in a way I can’t explain. I love it when an author shows me something, especially feelings and chemistry, without having to tell me about them. That takes a lot of talent!

Rented Heart is a beautiful story about second chances and the unexpected way they come about. This book is beautifully written, and it will leave you feeling hopeful and giddy. I would love for Jaime (Zac’s best friend) to get his own book.

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