On Dublin Street (2012)

On Dublin Street is a 2012 erotic romance novel by Samantha Young.

Plot

Jocelyn Butler, called Joss, is a 22-year-old half-American, half-Scottish woman who finished college, tries to become a writer and is the main protagonist of the series. After losing her whole family during a car accident while she was at school 8 years ago and her best friend afterwards, she decided to build a cool and tough façade in which she doesn't care for anyone and tells everyone bluntly what she feels without feeling guilty. She starts her new life by searching for an apartment to share with a roommate. She finds a free room on Dublin Street, owned by Ellie Carmichael, and pays her a visit by taxi.

On her way, she is invited to a taxi ride with an attractive and seemingly intimidating man, whom she refers as 'The Suit'. After talking to him and realizing that she's already attracted to him, Joss shows off her coolness, pretending to be completely indifferent about him, which pleases him. When he asks her if she's got a name, Joss cheekily replies that she has two and leaves him hanging.

In the new apartment, which Joss finds fantastic because of its elegant design, she meets Ellie Carmichael, a bubbly and sweet blonde-haired university student, to whom Joss becomes unwillingly attached. Much to her shock she also finds out that the so-called 'Suit' is her older brother and the owner of the famous club Fire.

In the upcoming events, Joss' plan to remain aloof gets rebuffed when she's invited to Ellie's and Braden's family dinner at the Nichols. She tries to refuse at first but later feels guilty about doing so and agrees. In the Nichols house, she meets Ellie's mother Elodie and her stepfather Clark and also Ellie's younger siblings Hannah and Declan. She finds out that Braden and Ellie have the same dad, Douglas Carmichael, who never asked after them and died, and that Braden views Ellie's family more as family than his own mother and that he had to mature at a very young age. Joss suddenly feels pity, trying to think of a young Braden and is embarrassed that she cares, while it pleases Ellie. During dinner, the close family atmosphere provokes a panic attack in Joss of which she's ashamed. Yet the family doesn't talk about it in front her because they know it makes her uncomfortable and Joss feels touched, especially after Braden's only purpose is to make sure she's okay. In later events, Joss' attraction to Braden and her panic attacks become more overwhelming and she decides to go to a psychologist, Dr. Kathryn Pritchard, to find a solution for that problem. She finds herself piece by piece, but still refuses to acknowledge her affections for both Braden and Ellie. While being busy with becoming soft, Joss is also haunted by her past. While writing a fantasy story with her parents in the lead roles, she has a panic attack in the gym after thinking of happy times with them and she has to help her friend Rhian with her boyfriend James, who shows up at Joss and Ellie's apartment. Also, Joss still feels guilty about the death of her former friend Dru, who was interested in a guy on whom Joss had a crush on too but didn't tell her, to prevent from hurting her, when they were teens. In a park meeting, where she meets Jenna and Ed, Ellie's friends from University, Joss realizes that Ellie has strong feelings for Adam, Braden's best friend, and wonders if he reciprocates them.

In the meantime, Joss' and Braden's relationship gets to its climax when Braden attempts to make Joss jealous by being with a beautiful woman who is married and Joss reacts back when Craig, who had been interested in her, makes out with her without her stopping him. During her break, Joss and Braden confront each other and lose control by making out and almost having sex. They are interrupted by another co-worker, Alistair, and Braden uses the moment to get Joss to a conversation about their situation, to which Joss reluctantly agrees.

The next day, Braden proposes Joss a non-exclusive friends with benefits relationship, to which Joss, although trying to negotiate with him, agrees and they both end up having sex for the first time with Joss being blown away. In the following months, Joss realizes that she doesn't only like Ellie and her family but that she also loves Braden. Because of her fear of losing him, she tries to keep her distance from him. When Ellie invites Joss over to a party in Fire, Ellie accidentally spills that some of Braden's ex-girlfriends would be there, forcing Joss to become jealous and flirting with Gavin whom she met at the gym and who helped her while she was having a panic attack. The whole evening ends in a fiasco when Braden, outraged, hits him. It turns out that Gavin was the guy Analise, Braden's then fiancée, cheated on him with. Braden didn't care actually but when he saw him flirting with Joss, he hit him, although from previous events he swore to never become that violent again. Joss feels guilty but after Braden takes her to his office and confronts her about it, she snaps and screams at him for flirting with other women who were his ex-girlfriends and asks him, hurt and upset, if she was so worthless that he could do that to her. Braden comforts her and apologizes for his behavior, while Joss replies that she can't be hurt by him. But the fact that he did hurt her is proof enough for Braden that she loves him and when he has sex with her on the desk, to read her feelings for him in her gray eyes which become soft with him, he knows that he loves her and that she belongs to him.