Blog Tour Review: When I’m With You by Harper Sloan

When I’m With You is the third book in Harper Sloan’s ‘Hope Town’ series. I adored the Corps books and the Hope Town books follow the children of the Corp Security guys.  Nate is Axel and Izzy’s son and Emberlyn is Maddox and Emmy’s daughter, so we get to see all of our old favorites.  I read it straight through because I can never put down a Harper Sloan book.

Emberyln Locke has always known what she wants.  She is older than her age and she knows when she is finishing high school that she wants Nate Reid.  The problem is Nate is 6 years her senior and he just doesn’t feel right about it.  So he pushes his little firecracker away and it hurts him as much as her.  

A few years past and Emberlyn is now 20 years old, she is a successful artist and has a pretty great life with tons of friends and a tight knit family.  All she is missing is the love of a man. If she is being honest, she hasn’t gotten over being rejected by Nate.  She tries to keep her distance and it has forever changed their friendship.  

Nate Reid doesn’t like the change.  He wants Emberlyn and now he feels the timing is right.  Nate, who is considered the guy who doesn’t take life to serious, has opened one of the most successful new clubs in town.  He has everything he wants but Emberlyn and in typical Harper Sloan fashion, he won’t stop until he gets her.  Emberlyn fights her feelings for Nate and he keeps pursuing her relentlessly. 

I loved these two.  Nate was just damn adorable.  Plus he had a magic mike moment with lollipops and I will not forget that scene anytime soon.  I loved Emberlyn as well.  It’s nice to see a strong female who knows what she wants, goes after it and when it doesn’t work out, she moves on.  She is fierce and I loved seeing her interact with Maddox.  I adored Maddox as a father and how  he handled his baby girls growing up.  The scenes between Maddox and Nate were pretty noteworthy too. 

Harper Sloan knows how to write alpha males with strong female leads.  We get a little drama, a ton of heat but what makes the mark is how strong these relationships are once the characters are together.  I will never say no to one of these books.  The characters just stick with you and I can’t wait for the next set in the Hope Town series.  These are written to be standalone books but don’t be silly, get them all! 

EXCERPT:

“I want you so bad,” I mumble through the arousal rushing and flowing over every inch of my body, tingling up every nerve and swimming around inside me in overdrive.  “I’ve dreamed of this for so long,” I continue, my words coming out in a pant as I rock my hips.

“Ember,” he warns when I jerk my hips out of his unforgiving hold, giving us both the friction we’re in the need of when my wet and swollen lips slide against his erection.  “Stop,” he barks in a deep rumble, his neck straining as he takes my hips again between his hands.

“Never.”  I let my head roll back and start to pick up my movements, each thrust up getting the attention to my clit that has the burn in my core starting to fire up my spine, wrapping around me as it climbs through my body, gearing up to explode.

“Fuck!” he roars.

Before I realize what’s happening, he’s flipping us.  My head lands in my pillows, just a breath away from the headboard in the center of my bed.  It takes me a second, still clinging to the climax that had been just seconds away from taking over, and I push my hair off my face with both hands.  When I look down my body, I almost retreat when I see the feral expression on the man kneeling between my spread legs.

He takes huge body rocking gulps of air, his chest heaving with their power.  His hair is a loose mess hanging free to dance at his shoulders, a few pieces falling into his face that he either doesn’t notice or just doesn’t care about.

And his eyes are focused downward.

If I didn’t believe he was fighting the same all-consuming feelings as I was, I would have thought that his downcast gaze was for another reason, but seeing those brilliant emerald eyes locked on my very exposed and wet sex, I know that I’m the reason he’s being slammed with a hungered need.

The power I feel seeing his reaction to my excitement is a high I never want to live without.  Something that I will wake up thinking about and fantasize every second we’re apart, trying to think of new ways to make him come alive like this.  That uncontrollable, feverishly strong emotion he’s wearing can only be an aftereffect of our chemistry.  Until it burns so bright that it’s exploding around us like a brilliantly beautiful display of fireworks.

And with that thought, he makes a sound low in his throat, pushing forward in the next breath to cover my body with his as his mouth takes mine in a deep, bruising kiss.  His underwear still keeping him from me completely, but that doesn’t stop him from thrusting against my body as if he was already inside me.  Each time he slams against me, the headboard slaps against the wall and my eyes roll back in my head.

It was foolish of me to think I would ever be able to control this man once I saw the fierceness burning in his scrutiny break free of his careful control.  When I try to push my hands into his hair, he breaks our kiss with a hiss and narrows his eyes at me.

“You’re not to touch me, Ember.  Not at all.  I’m so worked up right now because of you. I’m about to fucking come all over myself and the only place that’s going to feel my fucking come will be the inside of your pussy.  Do not test me by putting those wicked little hands on my body until I can take my time to show you what it’s really like to take while giving.”

“Please,” I rasp past my dry throat, needing that so desperately.

“No, not please.  From this point on, the only word I want to hear from your lips is my name.  Moan, groan, scream out your pleasure, but you say no other word than my name.  I want to hear you scream that, Ember,” he stresses with a hard thrust.  “You don’t come until I tell you to,” he rumbles deep in his throat.  I lose his eyes as he bends to trace my ear with the tip of his tongue before whispering against it.  “And when you do, you had better do it loud enough to feel pain in your throat from the pleasure I’ll give your pussy.”

“Take me,” I beg, trying to rock against him, but his weight on me restricts my movements.

“Nate,” he grunts in my ear.  “No more fucking words but my name.  Know who is claiming you.  Let the whole fucking world hear who is taking you and making you his.”

He runs his hands up each of my arms, stretching them out until I can almost feel the edge of my mattress and his hands are curling around my fingers.

“Hold on,” he commands with a wink.