"Rival families. Deep secrets. Exact opposites who can't help but cross all the lines. Neat will leave you thirsty for more Becker Brothers!" -- bestselling author Staci Hart
Neat, an all-new standalone contemporary romance by Kandi Steiner is LIVE!
My life is over.
I swore I would never work at the whiskey distillery with my last name on it, that I would never be a part of my father’s legacy. But when I graduated with my art degree and realized there were no jobs, the devil appeared, and I sold my soul, agreeing to work in the family business if he’d give me the art studio I’d always dreamed of.
It can’t be that bad, I thought.
Until I realized my new boss was Logan Becker.
The Becker brothers have a reputation for being trouble, and since I love trouble, it’s no surprise to me that I’m infatuated by that forbidden fruit the first day I walk into the distillery. That lean, whiskey-eyed, too-hot-for-his-own-good man hates me — and I can’t blame him. His family has been at war with mine for decades, and for good reason.
The Beckers and the Scooters are the Montagues and Capulets of Stratford, Tennessee.
But if he’s Romeo, and I’m Juliet? Well… we all know how that story ends — and for that reason, I tell myself to steer clear.
Because if my father finds out I’m falling for Logan Becker, my life actually will be over.
And Logan’s will be, too.
Neat is a stand-alone book in the Becker Brothers Series.
➔ Small town
➔ Country
➔ Romeo & Juliet vibes
➔ Angst paradise
➔ Holiday romance
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Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Qg5p9D
Amazon Worldwide: mybook.to/NeatKS
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Excerpt:
“So… I guess we should just be…” Logan swallowed. “Friends?”
The way he asked it, the way his eyebrows bent together, his lips flattening — I knew it was a hollow offer.
I nodded. “Sure. Of course.” A smile that felt like a wave of nausea found my lips. “Friends.”
Logan watched me, and I watched him, both of us waiting for something more. It seemed like there were a million unborn words between us, floating in the air, waiting for us to reach out and grab them and bring them to life. When a long moment of silence had passed, Logan bit the inside of his cheek, picking up his highlighter he’d abandoned on the desk when I’d walked in like he was ready to get back to work.
“But,” I said, and his eyes snapped to mine, the highlighter frozen over the page. “I mean… there’s another option, isn’t there?”
Logan dropped the highlighter, leaning back again. “There is?”
“I’m just saying,” I said, voice shakier than I wanted it to be in that moment. I took a sip of my coffee, shrugging. “What if we kept things low key… casual… just between us?” My eyes found his again. “It is what it is, and it’s not what it’s not. Right? No need for anyone to know.”
“Low key,” Logan repeated, like he was tasting the words, checking them for poison with his tongue. “So, friends… with benefits.”
I snorted. “If you want to be twenty-one about it, sure.”
Logan nodded, over and over, just a slight movement of his chin up and down as he considered it. I watched him as he stood, and I expected him to start pacing the office, but instead, he crossed it, closing his door and turning to face me.
His eyes swept over me, sparking a fire low in my stomach.
He wet his lips.
He took a step.
And then I was out of my chair, meeting him in the middle, the two of us crashing together like magnets.
His hands weaved into my hair when he captured my mouth with his own, both of us sighing on an inhale, moaning on the exhale, leaning into each other like we could somehow melt together completely. All the electricity I’d felt that night came back like a tidal wave, and I surrendered to the waves, letting them drown me. I wanted him to fill my lungs, to conquer every breath, to imprison me.
It was a kiss that told me we were both lying. We both wanted more.
But if it was a choice between this, or nothing at all?
There wasn’t a decision to make — not where I was concerned. It had already been made for us, without either of us having a say, without either of us having an ounce of control to throw this story in another direction.
We were inevitable, me and him.
And maybe we knew it from the start.
Logan backed me up to the desk, and when my ass hit it, I hiked both legs up, wrapping them around his waist and squeezing. He hissed, sucking my bottom lip between his teeth and releasing it with a pop, his hips rolling against mine. I broke the kiss to let out a gasp, and his mouth was on my neck in an instant, sucking and biting, my eyes rolling back at the contact.
He paused with his lips by my ear, breathing heavy. “I think this could work for me,” he whispered, running his tongue over my ear lobe. “This… friends agreement.” His hands squeezed where they held my hips, and the familiar pressure sent flashes of Saturday night barreling through my memory. I gasped, mouth still hanging open when he kissed my neck over to the opposite ear to whisper again. “What do you think?”
Against the voice inside me warning me not to, I ran my fingers through his hair, gripping those dark strands and pulling his lips back to mine.
That kiss was an answer.
That kiss was a lie.
And distantly, I realized that kiss might be the biggest mistake of my life.
About Kandi:
Kandi Steiner is a bestselling author and whiskey connoisseur living in Tampa, FL. Best known for writing “emotional rollercoaster” stories, she loves bringing flawed characters to life and writing about real, raw romance — in all its forms. No two Kandi Steiner books are the same, and if you’re a lover of angsty, emotional, and inspirational reads, she’s your gal.
An alumna of the University of Central Florida, Kandi graduated with a double major in Creative Writing and Advertising/PR with a minor in Women’s Studies. She started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.” She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a diehard hopeless romantic, and likes to highlight all the challenges of love as well as the triumphs.
When Kandi isn’t writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, talking with her extremely vocal cat, and spending time with her friends and family. She enjoys live music, traveling, anything heavy in carbs, beach days, movie marathons, craft beer, and sweet wine — not necessarily in that order.
Connect with Kandi:
Mailing List: bit.ly/NewsletterKS
Facebook: facebook.com/kandisteiner
Facebook Reader Group: (Kandiland): facebook.com/groups/kandischasers
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kandisteiner
Twitter: twitter.com/kandisteiner
Pinterest: pinterest.com/kandicoffman
Website: www.kandisteiner.com
Kandi Steiner may be coming to a city near you! Check out her “events” tab to see all the signings she’s attending in the near future:
www.kandisteiner.com/events
I've read most of Kandi's books but I must say- this is her most touching and most tender hearted story. Generally she has written, like most of the authors do, about heroines' POV in a romance, but here She gives us a peek into the heart of a man who goes through a gamut of emotions when he falls in love with his enemy's daughter.
“Mallory?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think there’s a universe that exists where you could be mine?”
“Let’s make one.”
Logan Becker goes through every sentiment of infatuation, betrayal, loss, frustration, heartbreak and eventually total, consuming love as his forbidden object of desire- Mallory Scooter. I felt all his heartaches, his loneliness clawed at me, his rare smiles and his battle within...everything cause Kandi wrote it brilliantly.
"what I desired from her, from us… maybe it didn’t actually exist. She had ties to her family, and I had ties to mine, and for that reason alone, it didn’t make sense that we would ever be together".
Theirs is a conflicted and doomed romance because they belong to opposite corners of the Scooter Whiskey Distillery and their family disputes have drawn a permanent line right in the middle with Becker and Scooters on either side. Deep anguish and distrust have fortified their walls for years.
It's an insurmountable problem and these young lovers are caught in the midst like Romeo & Juliet between Montagues & Capulets.
"Logan Becker and I should have had a relationship that existed only within the walls of the Scooter Whiskey Distillery. He as the Lead Tour Guide, me as the guide in training. He’d show me the ropes, and I’d try not to get him into any more trouble. Because he was a Becker, and I was a Scooter. That was where all the lines should be drawn."
Mallory shows so much strength of character, her righteousness just floored me. She ends up loosing it all, yet her pride doesn't take a hit. Between her sassy demeanor and his stoic character, it was inevitable that opposites would attract and how!
"She was the spontaneous to my well planned, the art to my logic, the unexpected welcome to my day-to-day routine I didn’t even realize was suffocating me. In that moment, I took my first breath on a new life with her."
There's a kind of purity in Logan person, his vulnerability and childlike craving for love just made me cry, although surrounded by a living family, there's an emptiness in his soul and Kandi made me touch that somehow. He's not the chest- thumping, possessive alpha, yet his quiet love lays a claim on Mal's heart in his own sweet way
She has so fabulously explored a man's heart and taken us readers with her on this voyage.
Kandi is a joyous nature shines through in her books, her smiles and sparkling personality are mirrored in her soft love stories. They are heavy on emotions and feelings and I'm assuming so is she in real life.
Pick up this book, it's live, gulp down the Neat, unfiltered, undiluted & Heady drink of intoxicating love and feel the buzz, the ardor, the high...it's magic!!
5 drunk-in-love stars
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