SET THE PACE by Kim Karr: Blog Tour, Excerpt & Mary’s Review
Every city needs a hero, but Detroit’s white knight just might be a villain.
A rough childhood branded Jasper Storm trouble. A bad boy. Not worth a damn. His love of cars was the only thing that could battle his delinquency. With the need for speed in his blood, he overcame his wayward ways. Mostly. All grown up, the broken city of Detroit hails him their shining star. And the man behind a new cutting-edge automobile is ready to turn this bankrupt town around.
Everything he does in life is fast. He talks fast, f*cks fast, and drives fast. But when one reckless turn brings him face-to-face with the childhood he has tried very hard to forget, he finds himself on the edge of wondering if he shouldn’t slow down.
Charlotte Lane was the tomboy who lived next door. She was his best friend. He was her protector. Then tragedy struck and she disappeared, forever—or so he thought.
Jasper has many reasons to hate Charlotte and keep his distance, but she’s infiltrating his every thought and he can’t stay away. Back in town with an agenda of her own, she should push him aside. Make him turn around. Walk away herself. Yet she can’t.
With the past lurking between them, they proceed with caution. That is until one sex-filled night leads to murder. When Detroit’s biggest ally suddenly becomes suspect number one, will Charlotte—the girl Jasper once kept safe—be the one to save him?
Set the Pace
Excerpt
© 2016 by Kim Karr
Charlotte Lane
Buzz. Buzz.
Startled, I jump and quickly place the frame back in its place.
Buzz. Buzz.
It’s the call button from the lobby. I’m not sure what to do. I should probably ask Jasper if he is expecting anyone before I let whomever it is up.
The hallway he disappeared down is fairly long and at the end are two doors. Both are slightly ajar. I can hear the shower running and music playing. I try to place the song. Just as I go to knock, I pause, and then grin, it’s Led Zeppelin—the same music that used to blare from his garage when he was out there with his father.
Somehow in my absentminded quandary, my fingertips have nudged the door open just enough that I can see inside the bathroom. Perfectly. In my direct line of sight is a huge glass wall and he is just beyond it.
My pulse is beating so hard I can feel it pounding at all my pulse points. I should leave. I don’t need to bother Jasper. Whoever it is buzzing to come up can just come back later. Yet, I can’t move. Or maybe it’s more like I don’t want to move.
Steam hovers in the air but there’s not nearly enough to obscure anything. And there he is, naked in the water, head bent as it sluices over him. His eyes are closed. One hand is on the wall. The other slides slowly down his belly and lands between his thighs.
Oh, God.
Now I really can’t move. I’m frozen in place. His hand is on his cock. I swallow the noise my throat tries to make, but I’m sure I don’t do a good job of it. Thank you, Jesus, he doesn’t seem to notice. No, he definitely doesn’t notice because oh, my God, now he’s stroking himself. Slowly. Deliciously. Up, then down, and a twist of his palm around the head of his cock.
I shouldn’t be watching this, and yet I can’t look away. This is private. For him only, and yet I have to wonder if it’s because of me. Is it his attraction to me that made him step back just moments ago? Made him have to relieve the desire he was feeling? Then why did he say he wouldn’t kiss me again?
When he moves his wrist faster, I have to stifle my sudden harsh breath with my hand. My eyes are glued to his body and although I should leave, I can’t. I just can’t. Jasper, doing this to himself, is the most erotic thing I’ve ever seen in my life. The only thing stopping me from reaching between my own legs is my perverted fascination with wanting to watch him come. Oh, and of course the terror of getting caught.
His mouth opens, water filling it and overflowing when he tips his face into the spray. I want so much to be in there with him, share the water, and feel that mouth on my body, but I’m not sure that’s ever going to happen. We seem to be dancing around the attraction we feel for each other. Like both of us are afraid to take that leap from a two-decade-old friendship to intimacy. Afraid perhaps of where it might lead, or maybe where it won’t.
I can’t be sure.
Then again, it could be that the ghosts that accompany us are just too strong to bear.
Soon he’s fucking into his fist with a deliberation that makes me weak at the knees, and I watch. I watch the way his muscles cord in his arms, the way his cock moves within the confines of his fist, the way his face contorts into pure pleasure.
Looking at Jasper, watching him about to come, it opens up something within me. The feeling is hard to describe and I can only think of one word that is fitting—primal.
His cock disappears inside his curled fingers and this stroke seems somehow more determined. Up, down, a twist around his crown, and then another twist. This time his head dips down, and then lowers still.
I press my thighs together to ward off the ache of arousal that is flooding me. I can’t hear him, but I wish I could. I know what he’s feeling, though, because I can see his mouth open and his face contort with satisfaction. He’s close. I can tell. And then soon enough, his taut belly strains, the muscles in his legs bunch, and then it happens—his desire jets out.
Never in my life have I wanted to make myself come like I do right in this moment. No, that’s not true. Never in my life have I wished for a man to take me the way I wish for Jasper to take me right now. Still, this is all kinds of wrong. I shouldn’t have watched him. I know this. Chiding myself, I lick salt from my upper lip and slowly, cautiously take a step back.
“Is there a show going on that I wasn’t invited to?”
That voice. I know that voice. The cynicism behind the tone.
Oh, God.
No. No. No.
MARY’s 5 STAR REVIEW
Kim absolutely has a best seller with her new release. I found Set the Pace to be one of the most enthralling books that I have read so far this year. STP is an intense read! It’s highly addictive, pulse racing-ly sexy and has so many WTF moments it leaves you wondering what will happen next. Having never read anything written by Kim Karr before I am totally sold.
STP starts with Jasper Storm, along with his longtime best buds, Jake Crown, Drew Kates and Will Fleming, revealing his car new car, the Storm. After obtaining the funding that was needed by selling a part Jasper had created the only obstacle left was approval of the land he wanted to build on. Jasper’s dream was to revitalize and bring back to life the city of Detroit with the founding of his future company. And now that dream appears to be happening with approval of the land sale.
Along with the revealing of “The Storm” and the ground breaking for the new company has come a large influx of media. Included in this media is Charlotte Lane. Not only is she covering the reveal and groundbreaking but she is also there on a mission of her own. What is Charlotte here to do?
Charlotte, Charlie, and Jasper, JJ, were best friends! Inseparable, until that night 20 years ago. The night of the explosion at Laneworth Automotive Parts that had ripped their 8 year old friendship apart but it also destroyed the town they lived in. Jasper’s Dad was also killed in the explosion that night too. The Lane family fled from the town after Mr. Lane was blamed for the explosion at the plant. Leaving behind them a town decimated not only by mass deaths and injuries but by financial ruin. It left the city filled with hate for the Lanes. Leaving many unanswered questions but also never giving Charlie a chance to say goodbye to JJ!
Little did Charlotte realize just how much hate and resentment there would be toward her returning to her hometown. Knowing that she would eventually come face to face with Jasper she feared his reaction. It wasn’t long until her greatest fear was realized. Would Jasper look past this to find the Charlie he once knew? Twenty years had not been kind to Jasper but has made him a bad boy, just one with a good heart.
Despite this resentment Jasper may have had there was a myriad of niggling feeling that he had for Charlotte. A spark, a flame, a singe when he was around her or touched her. The chemistry is undeniable and sizzling hot between them but could Jasper trust her. Was Charlotte there to hurt him? Or could Jasper act on the feelings and let passions soar!
But there is still that one drunken night of women and sex that memories don’t allow to be fully recalled. And now there is a murder? Danger lurks. Secrets surface.
Is it sabotage? Who is behind the murder? Is someone being set up?
