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UNDER YOUR SKIN  by Shannon Schroeder

UNDER YOUR SKIN

by Shannon Schroeder

Pub Date: June 28th, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4201-3949-5
Publisher: Zebra/Kensington

Norah O’Malley, a college student who's seven months pregnant, meets Kai Ellis, her brother’s boss, at his tattoo parlor and is stunned by the immediate attraction she feels. But when he offers her a job as a companion to his ailing mother, Norah and Kai both find that it may be time for some life changes.

Ten years ago, Norah's family sent her from Chicago to Boston to live with an aunt; her mother had died when she was a baby, and when her oldest brother, Jimmy, joined the Army, he thought she'd be better off living with Bridget. While Boston never felt like home, she was not quite sure she was welcome in her father’s house, either. Now she's back in Chicago, since Aunt Bridget threw her out when she got pregnant, but her father’s hardly a font of wisdom, and her four brothers are too busy being angry at the father of her baby—who doesn’t know about it yet—to give her any help or practical advice. So when she meets Kai, who owns a tattoo parlor and has a criminal record, she jumps at his offer of a job as a companion to his mother, who's recovering from knee surgery. Kai is sexy as sin and a fierce loner, and Norah senses that his bark is worse than his bite; coming from an angry, overprotective family, she also appreciates that, having made his own mistakes, he’s pretty silent and nonjudgmental about other people’s. As she spends more time at his house, their quiet attraction grows, and Kai discovers that his highly compartmentalized life might be made better through outreach and that Norah has somehow made him feel like that's not only possible, but positive. Schroeder has written a warm yet sexy contemporary romance with down-to-earth characters who share an unexpected attraction that turns to fascination, respect, and love as they help each other through big life choices.

A surprising, bighearted romance.