What Hurts the Most
Previously featured in our BB Book Box subscription service
SIGNED EDITION
Author: Amanda Courtney
new book
paperback
Dating her childhood crush should have been Cori’s happily ever after, but eight months later, she’s still trapped within her insecurities. She’s broke with a car that hates her, her job interviews go horribly, and the idea of failing is as scary as small talk. It isn’t until an awkward encounter with her boyfriend's roommate that a spark inside her reignites.
Nick is determined to finally move on from the football injury that broke his heart. But as he reconnects with friends, he realizes just how far behind he is, and thinking of his future only brings back the pain he tried so hard to overcome. Locked in similar figurative cages, Cori and Nick make a deal to keep each other accountable while they work towards their goals.
Nick’s pointed looks and sly grins have Cori questioning the safety she’d found in settling for her circumstances. But just as she finds the courage to voice her desires, chaos ensues sending her back to the start line. And Nick, conflicted between his feelings for Cori and his friendship with Sam, doesn’t know how to fight for someone who sees no point in fighting for herself.
***This novel is a steamy, boyfriend's roommate romance. It is the slowest of burns. This novel includes profanity, sexual themes/content, mental health struggles, body shaming, dubious consent, and talk of death.
An excerpt from chapter 26-
After we finish eating, Cori grabs her book, and I continue watching the baseball game. Neither the bullpens, nor defense, for either team do what they need to, and too many runners land on base.
I steal a glance at Cori when the station cuts to a commercial, her hair tied into a messy ponytail and her socked feet curled beneath her. Her lips twitch at something on the page.
“What are you reading?”
She shows me the cover depicting a ship and bubbles beneath the water, as if someone is drowning. I ask what it’s about and she gives a seven-minute speech about the main plotline. A simple, “Pirates,” would have sufficed, but I’m glad she took me on the scenic route. I drink up every word, every smile, every animated gesture as she talks with her hands.
“Does that answer your question?” she asks after she’s done explaining.
“That answered questions I didn’t even ask.”
She grins and returns to her reading. But as interesting as the game is, it becomes increasingly harder to look away from her. Based on the slight shifts in her expression, I can almost read the words from the page on her face.
The crease in her forehead, the quickening of her breath and eyes racing across the page, the tiniest lift of her brows in concern. I can’t pry my eyes away, and I find myself desperate to read the same words as her. To know what it is that makes her bite her bottom lip and shift in her seat. To know what makes her breaths shallow, the rapid rise and fall of her chest that I pray is bare underneath my sweatshirt.
I still haven’t told her it’s mine, although now I want to so she’ll think of me every time she puts it on.
As if a bucket of ice water falls on me, I jerk my head back to the TV. What the hell is wrong with me, and where did these thoughts come from? This is another man’s girlfriend. Sam’s girlfriend. Sam, one of my best friends from college. Although, I’m not sure that means much anymore.