Dirty Secret

The Burke Brothers Series – Book 1

By Emma Hart

Synopsis

Conner Burke never expected Sofie Callahan to come back.

Where she’s been for the last two and half years is a mystery, and so is the reason she left in the first place. Now, though, she’s back in their hometown of Shelton Bay, South Carolina, at the same time Conner’s band Dirty B is home on a tour break.

Sofie Callahan has spent the months since her father’s death avoiding anything to do with her home town. But with her brother in Afghanistan, she has no choice but to return and sort out her father’s house, even if it means facing the boy she fell in love with and revealing the reason she left.

Conner has questions, and when his broken heart and her guilty one collide, Sofie has to start answering them. Their present is rocky, their future unknown. Only one thing is certain:

Sofie’s daughter will change everything.

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Excerpt

That kid that could be mine.

I get up and let the empty bottle drop to the floor. The woods are eerily quiet, as if it can sense my anger. As if it knows the bitterness that lingers in my veins, as if it knows the burn of not knowing anything.

Like the woods, I’m left in the dark. Completely.

Branches and twigs crunch under my feet as I increase my pace to a gentle jog. And again, to a slow run. Then to a sprint.

The need to know increases with every footstep, as evenly paced as the ticking of the clock. It doesn’t matter that I’ve probably drunk too much beer to be here or that we’ve only been back for a matter of days.

I can’t be in this shithole full of memories without knowing. I can’t move on until I know. I can’t forgive her for a single fucking thing until I know—and even then, maybe I won’t be able to.

Maybe she’s unforgivable.

Instead of knocking on the back door like I did yesterday, I round the side of the house to the front door. The front room light glows softly through the curtains, but the rest of the house is dark.

My chest heaves with the exertion of my run here and I grab the doorframe to balance myself. I’m definitely too fucking drunk for this conversation, but what the hell.

I bang on the door, once, twice, again and again and again. “Sofie! Open the fuckin’ door!”

“Shut up!” she hisses, yanking it open. “The hell’re you doing here?”

I smirk, leaning against the wall. “Shouldn’t I be askin’ you that, princess?”

“Are you drunk?” Her voice rises a little at the end, and her eyes widen.

Those eyes. Fuck, those baby blues that have always undone me.

“Drunk? No. If I was drunk I’d be sitting at home like a miserable bastard and not here facing the cause of my misery.”

“You’re being an asshole. I don’t have to listen to this.”

She pushes on the door, but I wedge my foot in front of it. I let go of the wall and grab the edge of the door.

“Actually, you do.”

She can’t overpower me, and she knows it, because she lets up and the door swings open. “Why are you here, Conner?”

“You have a kid.”

She smacks her lips together. “Yep.”

“When? When did you have her?”

Sofie takes a deep breath in and presses her hands to her stomach. They’re shaking, even as she links her fingers to hide it. I can see that fucking tremble.

She whispers something but I’m too pre-occupied by her hands to hear it.

“What?”

“August last year,” she repeats, still a whisper.

August. Last year. My stomach clenches as I meet her eyes. “When? When in fuckin’ August, Sofie?”

“August fifteenth.” Her voice hitches halfway through the ‘fifteenth.’

Almost seven months to the day she walked out on me and the rest of Shelton Bay.

Adrenaline hums through my body, and I stare at her. At the tears building in her eyes, the quiver of her lips, the bob of her throat as she swallows harshly.

It’s no different from the burn in my chest, the twisting of my stomach.

“Is she mine?”

She shudders and a tear drips from her eye.

“Sofie. Is. She. Mine?!”

Michel’s Review

Wow! What a great start to a new series. The Burke Brothers Series has a little bit of every type of sub genre romance readers desperately crave.  First and foremost, the series is about the four Burke Brothers and their family.  Not only are these brothers sizzling hot, they are sizzling hot rockstars in the chart topping band Dirty B.  They are the tattooed heart throbs every woman wants rocking their world.  This series also has a small town romance feel to it.  The Burke’s are from a small South Carolina coastal town that is still their home although they are big stars.  They come home on every tour break to spend time with family and friends. The first book, Dirty Secret is a second chance romance. This book not only has the second chance romance it also has two very distinct genres blending together.  Those genres would be New Adult and Erotic Romance.  The passionate love scenes will leave the readers fanning themselves.

Dirty Secret featured the youngest brother and lead singer, Connor Burke.  Sophie Callahan was Conner’s childhood sweetheart and once in a lifetime love.  She walked away from him without an explanation or single clue as to why.  They had the perfect relationship.  His band was on the brink of making it big.  Everything they had worked and sacrificed for was finally becoming a reality for them.  So why would Sophie walk away when he is finally becoming a true success?

Sophie Callahan found out she was pregnant just as Conner’s band was about to make it big.  She left Connor without a word.  She never told him about the baby.  She disappeared without a trace.  Two years later she is back in the small town she grew up in.  She is ready to face the music.  She is ready for Conner to know his little girl.  She knows her decisions are unforgivable.  She doesn’t expect Conner to forgive her or repair their relationship.  She knows she made mistakes and she owns the responsibility of her choices.  She just wants Conner to be a part of Mila’s life.  They need each other.

There are other reasons she left Conner.  She will have to face n the truth she has been hiding from herself and Conner.  Is it too late for them?  She seems to think so.  Conner has a different opinion.

They will have to deal with their past.  The will have to deal with the fame.  They will have to learn to be parents together.  They will have to reach deep within their hearts to find out what is the most important thing for their daughter and themselves.

The chemistry between Conner and Sophie is steamy.  They have a passion that will last until the end of time.

I loved all the characters in this book.  I felt like I knew them personally.  I can’t wait for the next book in the Burke Brothers Series.

 Author Bio:

By day, New York Times and USA Today bestselling New Adult author Emma Hart dons a cape and calls herself Super Mum to two beautiful little monsters. By night, she drops the cape, pours a glass of whatever she fancies – usually wine – and writes books.

Emma is working on Top Secret projects she will share with her followers and fans at every available opportunity. Naturally, all Top Secret projects involve a dashingly hot guy who likes to forget to wear a shirt, a sprinkling (or several) of hold-onto-your-panties hot scenes, and a whole lotta love.

She likes to be busy – unless busy involves doing the dishes, but that seems to be when all the ideas come to life.

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