Blog Tour Stop with Extract - Our Little Secret by Claudia Carroll

Hi guys! I know it's been a while but I'm back (kind of) and thrilled to be bringing you an extract from the new novel by Claudia Carroll; Our Little Secret, which is out now with Avon Books.

 

 

 

What They Say:

A sparkling story about what happens when you let someone into your life… but they turn out to want more than you’d bargained for!

 

Sarah Dee has the perfect life. A high-flying job in a law firm, a beautiful daughter and a house to die for. So how does she find herself looking in through the kitchen window while another woman enjoys it all?

When Sarah takes pity on a struggling young graduate who can’t get a job, she thinks she’s doing the right thing. She’s being kind, generous and helpful to others, as she always is. But as Sarah allows the younger woman into her home, her law firm and even her family, is there more to this pretty youngster than meets the eye? And could this be a good deed that goes further than expected?

Claudia Carroll does it again with an incredible new novel about what happens when your life becomes up for grabs…

 

 

Read on for an Exclusive Extract from Our Little Secret:

Darcy

Half an hour later, her mum had dropped her outside a branch of Starbucks in town, where Darcy had told her ‘all the gang were meeting’. Another whopper of a lie, of course; the truth was that all the others were meeting at the Palace Bar just a few streets away and the minute her mum pulled off, Darcy began to clip her way there in slightly too-high heels. 

‘There you are, bitch,’ said Abi, who was already there ahead of her and standing outside, pulling on a cigarette and looking freezing cold against the icy March chill. She was dressed in a skirt that was more like an elongated belt really, with fake tan plastered all the way down her incongruously long legs and two guys were hanging out with her, smoking. Abi, however, made absolutely no effort to introduce either of them. 

‘Hey, did you get your make-up done professionally or what?’ she demanded. 
‘Well, no, it’s just that . . .’ Darcy began to say, but Abi barrelled over her. 
‘Whatever,’ she said, eyeing her pal a bit enviously. ‘If you ask me though, you look a bit overdone for just a few scoops at the Palace. Looks to me like you’re trying too hard.’

Darcy felt a short stab of hurt, wishing that Abi hadn’t said that in front of two complete strangers, but all was forgotten a minute later, when her pal produced a half-drunk 7UP bottle from out of her handbag. 

‘Here,’ she said bossily, unscrewing the bottle. ‘Take a swig of this to get you in the party mood.’
‘What is it?’ Darcy asked. 
‘Bit of everything I could snaffle from my dad’s drinks cabinet. Just knock it back, you’ll soon feel no pain.’

Darcy did as she was bid, even though it tasted revolting. It burnt her on the way down and both Abi and the two guys with her laughed to see her coughing and spluttering. 

‘You’ll have to excuse my friend,’ Abi said. ‘She’s not used to this. A long weekend in Magaluf, that’s what this one really needs, lads. That’d soon knock the corners off her.’ 

They went inside to the bar then, but if Darcy had thought this part of the night would be just some pals gathering for a few laughs before heading off to the party, then she was sadly mistaken. 
For starters, the Palace Bar turned out to be a complete dive and although some of the gang from her class were there, there were also a bunch of total strangers, including two improbably blonde girls who were draped around Tony Scott. Neither of whom seemed in any rush to move. 

‘Hiya, Tony,’ Darcy called across the table to him, but he just nodded back, barely even acknowledging her before turning his full attention back to the blonde with the slightly bigger boobs. 
‘Here, have another drink, then you won’t give a shit about him,’ Abi said, just a bit too loudly for Darcy’s liking. ‘Because if Tony thinks he’s in with the slightest chance with either of those bitches, he’s kidding himself. I heard they’re both repeating their Leaving Certificate at Mount Anville. And that one of them was in a bar in Magaluf last year, when she was offered a free holiday if she gave ten fellas a blowjob. So she did and you know what? Turned out the “free holiday” was the name of a cocktail. Apparently some eejit filmed it and it was all over YouTube.’

Darcy tried her best not to think about the college girl and all the blowjobs she gave to total strangers in Magaluf and instead took another swig from the plastic bottle she was being offered. 

And you know what? Abi was dead right. By the time she’d knocked the rest of it back, she didn’t give a shite at all. 

 

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