Title: You Didn’t Know Me Then Series: Riviera View #2 Author: Lily Baines
Genre: Small Town Romance Release Date: March 16, 2022
BLURB
Chemistry pulls them together. Falling in love might tear them apart.
Hope Hays, a divorced mother of two, has decided it’s finally time to test the waters in the dating world. Her first excruciating attempt at flirting combusts—the failed experiment even more humiliating as it is witnessed by a handsome stranger.
Political advisor Jordan Delaney swam with D.C. sharks until he bled. Now licking his wounds in his hometown, he is reluctantly intrigued by the quirky redhead chatting up a bartender with obscure chemistry facts.
In this small-town meetings are unavoidable and Jordan finds Hope’s awkward sincerity refreshing after the poker faces of politics. He falls for her the more he knows her, fearing she’d like him less if she knew him more. Hope falls for the man who makes her feel seen even though she’s certain someone like him would never want a single mother’s unglamorous life.
Their undeniable chemistry is an inflammable combination, but her scars and a secret from his past threaten to burn them both down.
‘You Didn’t Know Me Then’ is perfect for readers who love small-town, slow-burn romance, opposites attract, a relatable, everyday heroine, and the gorgeous man (inside and out!) who falls for her. It’s book 2 in the Riviera View series but can be read as a standalone.
The way he looks at me makes me feel like I’m me again, not just someone’s mom, ex, teacher, friend, daughter, sister. Me. Hope. And it’s scary. Because I forgot who she was but I see her in his eyes.
#2
It was the first time she had seen Jordan in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and by God, it didn’t make matters easier. All the muscles she had felt under his shirt with her eager palms when they had kissed, were now exposed and were in every way as mouthwatering as she had imagined they’d look. And just where the sleeve of his blue tee ended, over his left bicep, was a tattoo. A wave rising and curling in black and grey ink. To battle her unwarranted attraction to him, especially in light of what had happened, she had told herself that he was just a slick-talking ivy league and ivy life champion who was circling way out of her orbit, crashed against her accidentally, caused a little earthquake, and regretted it immediately. But somehow a tattoo made him seem so … down to earth. Silly as it was, it now became an intervening variable in her experiment.
#3
They stood less than a foot apart and she could see every line and edge of his face and a hint of his aftershave and detergent reached her. She ensured her gaze didn’t drop lower than his chin because whenever it did, all she could think of was the small gap between his shirt and his skin.
#4
She switched the light off again. Jordan grabbed her wrist and pinned it above her head, then turned the light back on, stilling above her and looking into her face in the softly lit room. “I prefer the light off,” she expelled into his face. “And I prefer to see you,” he rasped, his eyes flaring, searing hers. “I want to see this,” he half-whispered, skimming his gaze over her face, caressing her with his eyes from her hair to her lips, drawing his thumb over the same path, parting her lower lip, and sliding down her chin. “And this.” He traced his gaze further down, his palm sliding with it to her breasts, and further south to her stomach.
Lily Baines is a mother, wife, and author (not always in this order). For 20 years she worked in Human Resources but kept writing to maintain her sanity and flow of creative juices. For the last 3 years Lily is dedicating her time to her 3 children, husband, family dog, bottomless laundry basket, full kitchen sink, and her writing. Her first book was published in 2020. This is her 6th book.
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