Spotlight & Giveaway: Dirty Plays by Emma Salah

Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Emma Salah’s new release: Dirty Plays

He’s playing a dangerous game. And winner takes all.

Aidan Thomas is staying at his brother’s apartment while his own home is being remodeled, but the apartment isn’t as vacant as he was led to believe. Pushed out of her own place by a rent increase, Letty Garcia, his sister’s gorgeous best friend, is staying there too. The involuntary cohabitation is a temporary solution, one they can both endure unscathed.

Maybe.

But the intense attraction that’s long lingered between them sure is making things hard.

Cards. Truth or Sexy Truth. For these red-hot roomies, no game is off the table. But all bets are off when heartbreak-veteran Letty wants to keep things light and fun—and Aidan starts playing for keeps. With both of their hearts on the line, the stakes have never been higher.

Game on.

Becoming a Thomas

Book 1: Dirty Tactics
Book 2: Dirty Plays

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from Dirty Plays 

“What are you doing here, Letty?” Aidan asked, voice deep with the arousal he was trying to ignore.
He turned away. Where the fuck did I leave my clothes?
“Don’t get dressed on my account,” Letty said nonchalantly, her bag thudding onto an empty chair.
“I’m not,” he snapped as he grabbed the grey sweater he’d flung onto the chair. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
He poked his head through the neck of the garment, rolling up the sleeves as Letty raised a single eyebrow. Then, with one simple sentence, she turned his world upside down.
“I live here.”
Nope, this isn’t happening.
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No.”
She laughed as she spread her hands on the counter. “Hate to break it to you, tough guy, but just because you deny something doesn’t make it any less true.”
“You have an apartment,” he pointed out. “I’d know that since I’ve driven you there myself.”
“As of two days ago, I don’t.”
“Two days? So where have you been staying?”
“There.” She pointed out of the kitchen and he knew exactly where she was referring to. That fucking closed door on the right at the end of the hall.
The exact door Reagan had told him not to look in. He rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip in annoyance. Fuck, having a little sister can be a pain in the ass. Aidan pulled out his phone from his jeans’ back pocket and hit a number in his most recent contact list.
“Hey, Aidan—”
He cut off Reagan’s happy voice, putting her on speaker. “I’m standing in Callum’s kitchen with Letty. That’s your best friend Letty if you haven’t realized. Anything you care to say to me, little sis?”
Silence, except for an audible gulp. Oh yeah, Regan is going on my shit list. Letty leaned in closer and, although they were standing on opposite ends of the same table, they were now only a few inches apart. He breathed in, her rich and sweet jasmine scent filling his lungs, and he swore he could almost taste her on his tongue too. Shaking his head, he tried to dispel the smell and the image it conjured.
“Um,” Reagan began, “say ‘hi’ to Letty for me?”
“Hi back,” Letty said, waving.
“Oh. I’m on speakerphone. Cool. Let me just do the same for you guys. Okay, there. Zac’s next to me too, by the way.”
Aidan imagined his best friend Zac, sitting beside his sister on her ugly green couch in her apartment. Reagan had bought it several weeks ago at a flea market and even though everyone had told her looking at it was the equivalent of pouring acid over their corneas, she refused to get rid of it. Aidan had a feeling she was keeping it because she knew it pissed them the fuck off.
“No, I’m not,” Zac immediately said.
“What?” Reagan gasped.
“This was fucked up, Ree. You’re on your own.”
“What? You can’t do that!”
“Yes, I can,” Zac said. “And I do. Sorry, Aidan.”
“Don’t apologize to him! Or for me! I haven’t done anything wrong—”
“You told me I should stay at Callum’s apartment,” Aidan cut in, knowing they could be stuck in this back-and-forth for a long-ass time if he let them get into their bickering. “You told me that would be the perfect solution since I’m so goddamn sick of hotels.”
“And that’s still true,” Reagan replied. “It just wasn’t the whole truth.”
Aidan hated them with a passion. The lack of privacy reminded Aidan of growing up with three older brothers and the inability to get a grilled cheese sandwich that was heavy on the cheese and light on the bread without someone stealing it—Dean, it was always Dean. Aidan might unfortunately be stuck with living in hotels during away games, but it was the price he paid for being on The Comets, an incredible ice hockey team. And he was more than happy to pay that, but voluntarily staying at one when his brother had a perfectly usable apartment in the city? Yeah, fuck that. He’d planned to stay here until remodeling was done on his new place. Except that was now a problem.
Aidan shook his head. “So, you just conveniently forgot to mention that Letty was staying here too?”
“No,” Reagan said, slowly, “I just didn’t think it mattered. You’re both adults and it’s a big house. You can share.”
“Yeah, Aidan, we can share,” Letty said, amusement clear in her voice.
“See, Letty is down with it. I don’t see the prob—”
“Oh no, Reagan, this was definitely fucked up,” Letty countered.
“What?” Reagan sputtered.
Aidan couldn’t help but quietly chuckle. Brown amused eyes flickered up to meet his own. “She’s crazy,” Letty mouthed, her lips a vibrant red. “That’s your sister.”
“And you chose to be her best friend,” he mouthed back, distracted by her full bottom lip.
She smirked. “Touché.”
Tilting back subtly, Aidan shifted his attention when Reagan began speaking again.
“Okay, look, I’m sorry, Letty. I wasn’t trying to be malicious. I just saw that you needed a place to stay and I knew you’d both be unnecessarily stubborn if you knew about the other person. What was I supposed to do? Say: ‘Hey, Aidan, you’re looking for somewhere to sleep so why don’t you use Callum’s apartment? Perfect. But, slight problem, see, Letty—you know, Letty, my best friend, Letty—she also needs a temporary place, such a funny coincidence, but Callum also said she could stay at his. That’s cool, right? What do you mean no? Aidan? Aidan?’”
“Only you, Ree,” Zac laughed, drowning out Reagan’s yelling.
“I get it, Miss Drama Queen,” Letty said. “I don’t like it, but I accept your apology. But, Reagan, next time you keep something like this from me, we’re going to have a problem.”
“Understood. I’m sorry,” Reagan said, her voice low and clearly contrite.
Aidan groaned in disbelief. “Of course, Letty gets an apology and I get…what, exactly? This is my fault because you preempted my reaction? Not good enough.”
Silence descended again over the phone. If Aidan couldn’t see that the call was still connected, he might have wondered if Reagan was suddenly dodging him.
“Give her a minute,” Letty whispered, tucking loose brown strands of her hair behind her ear.
Fine, he nodded. He’d give her a minute and then he’d—
“You’re right, Aidan. I’m sorry. I promise I won’t do it again.” Reagan spoke.
“I’m sorry, can you say the first part again?”
“Letty?” she called out. “Can you flick him for me, please? He heard it once, he ain’t hearing it again.”
“Yeah, I’m not flicking him. Sorry, not sorry. You can do that when you see him next.”
“Done,” Reagan promised.
Aidan hung up after they said their goodbyes, realizing this wasn’t something Reagan could resolve for him. She might have started this, but the rest was on him. He’d avoided thinking about it for the last few minutes, but now, he couldn’t exactly ignore things. What the fuck am I supposed to do?

Excerpt. ©Emma Salah. Posted by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
 
 

Giveaway: One (1) ebook copy of DIRTY PLAYS by Emma Salah (US Only).

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Meet the Author:

Born and raised in London, Emma Salah spent her childhood climbing mountains, killing dragons and sneaking Mills & Boon books into her bedroom as a teenager. While only one of those is true, she did go off to seek adventures after a degree in literature, backpacking through Southeast Asia, living in Istanbul and enjoying her time in Japan. As a young black woman, she is interested in telling stories that don’t always get heard. She writes playful, steamy stories about love with heroes and heroines with diverse backgrounds.

The third book in the series (Callum’s story!) will be coming soon so keep an eye out! In the meantime, check out where it all began in Dirty Tactics with Reagan and Zac’s story. To find out more about Emma Salah or to be alerted to new releases, check out her website for all of the latest news and to subscribe to her monthly newsletter to get some really cool freebies at: www.emmasalahwrites.com. You can also find her on Twitter (@EmmaSalahWrites) and Instagram (EmmaSalahWrites).
 
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