Still Beating

He puts his hand against my chest. "It's still beating," he whispers, his words a soft kiss against my lips. "As long as it's beating, you're okay."

When Cora Lawson attends her sister's birthday party, she expects at most a hangover or a walk of shame by the end of it. She doesn't anticipate a stolen wallet, leaving her stranded and dependent on her sister's fiancé, Dean Asher―her archnemesis and perpetual thorn in her side.

And she really doesn't anticipate getting knocked out and waking up chained in a madman's basement, Dean in his own shackles beside her.

After fifteen years of teasing, insults, and never-ending pranks, the ultimate joke seems to be on them. The two people who always thought they'd end up killing each other must now work together if they want to survive long enough to escape.

But Cora and Dean don't know that their abductor has a plan for them. A plan that will alter the course of their relationship, blur the line between hate and love, and shackle them to each other long after they are freed from their chains. They're in this together―no matter what their unexpected bond might cost them.

Jennifer Hartmann resides in northern Illinois with her devoted husband and three hooligans. When she is not writing angsty love stories, she is likely thinking about writing them. She enjoys sunsets (because mornings are hard), bike riding, traveling, binging Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns, and that time of day when coffee gets replaced by wine. Jennifer is a wedding photographer with her husband. She is also excellent at making puns and finding inappropriate humor in mundane situations. She loves tacos. She also really, really wants to pet your dog.