Extract: Rules of Attraction - Simone Elkeles

Today I'm very excited to be taking part in the UK blog tour to celebrate the release of Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles.  I'm a massive fan of both Perfect Chemistry and Rules of Attraction so if you haven't already discovered these books I'd highly recommend you go out and buy both of them today!  You can read my review of Perfect Chemistry here and I'll be posting my review of Rules of Attraction later today.

In the meantime here is the cover, blurb and book trailer and I also have an extract to share with you...

Carlos Fuentes isn't happy about leaving Mexico to start the "new" life his older brother, Alex, has planned for him.  Carlos liked his freedom; living life on the edge and carving out his own path - just like Alex did.

Kiara Westford doesn't talk much; preferring instead to shut the world out.  And when Carlos bounds into her life she struggles to understand him and his wild ways.  Carlos is sure that Kiara thinks she's too good for him, which is just fine because he's not interested anyway, right?  But when they finally open up to each other, the connection they feel shocks them both.  Can they overcome their fears and realise that sometimes opposites really do attract?



Extract from Carlos' point of view (taken from chapter 25, pages 134-137 and posted with permission of Simon & Schuster UK):

I sit on the ground, facing her. Kiara continues taking notes.We came up here together, and we’re gonna leave here together. I’m not gonna like it, but at this point I don’t see any other option. Every once in a while she looks up and catches me staring at her. Yeah, I’m doing it to make her uncomfortable. Maybe if I annoy her enough she’ll want to pack up and leave.


But after five minutes I can tell my strategy isn’t workin’.


Time to change tactics. “Want to make out?”


“With who?” she asks, not bothering to look up.


“Me.”


She lifts her head from her book just long enough to give me a once over.


“No, thanks,” she says, then goes back to her homework.


She’s fuckin’ with me.


She’s got to be fuckin’ with me, right? “Because of that pendejo Tuck?”


“No. Because I don’t want Madison’s leftovers.


Wait. Un. Momento. I’ve been called a lot of things before, but . . .


“You callin’ me leftovers?”


“Yeah. Besides, Tuck is a great kisser. I wouldn’t want you to feel bad when there’s no way you can compete.”


That guy hardly owns a pair of lips. “Wanna bet?”


I’m anything but leftovers. After we moved to Mexico and Destiny broke up with me, all I did was date one girl after another. Hell, I could write a book on kissing chicas if I wanted to.


I lean toward Kiara and get a small dose of satisfaction when I hear her breath hitch and notice her pencil stop moving. She doesn’t move an inch as my lips get close to that place right below her right earlobe. I reach up with my left hand and touch the sensitive spot below her left ear with my thumb while my lips hover over her neck. She can definitely feel my hot breath on her bare skin.


She tilts her head the slightest bit, giving me more access. I’m not even sure she realized she’s doing it. I stay where I am. She moans almost silently, but I don’t give in. She’s definitely being turned on. She likes this. And she wants more. But I’m holding back . . . leftovers, my ass.


The problem is, I’m not prepared for what Kiara smells like. Usually girls smell too much like flowers or vanilla, but Kiara has a distinctly sweet raspberry scent that’s totally turning me on. And while my mind is telling me I’m flirting with her just to prove a point, my body wants to play “you show me your perky privates and I’ll show you mine.”


“D-d-do you m-m-mind?” she says. She might be trying to mask her reaction to me being so close, but her words betray her. “I’m trying to work and you’re blocking my sun,” she whispers. I’m guessin’ she doesn’t stutter when she whispers.


“We’re in the shade, under a tree,” I say, but pull away anyway because I need to cool down and stay in control


I lean back against a rock, the rough edges rubbing into my bare back. I bend one knee and get in a relaxed position even though I’m anything but relaxed.While I’m trying to get comfortable, Kiara is still sitting under that damn tree doin’ her homework. She’s not sweating at all, and she appears totally relaxed. I don’t know if I’m hot because of what just happened, or didn’t happen, between us. Or if it’s because of the weather. You’d think I’d be used to the hot weather from Mexico but I was born in Chicago and spent most of my life there. The summers in Chi-Town are humid and hot, but it only lasts a few months.


My insides are going nuts. My heart is beating furiously and there’s a crackling energy in the air that wasn’t there before I leaned close to her.


What’s going on?

OK so tell me you're not going to go out and buy a copy of Rules of Attraction after reading that extract?  Go on, I dare you.  It's certainly made me want to go and read my copy again...in fact I think I might just go and do that now!  Don't forget to check back later to read my review.