Book Title: Underneath it All
Author: Bethany Bazile
Genre: Erotic Romance (Novella)
Release Date: July 14, 2014
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions
Avery was unexpected but exactly what I needed. She gave me hope again, made me feel things I thought died over a decade ago.
I was reverting back to the man I used to be. The man who destroyed lives to keep the one person who meant everything to him.
My secrets were piling up. I didn’t know how long I’d be able to maintain it all.
But I knew I’d do anything to keep her.
There was only one way to hold on to her. I had to let her see who I was underneath it all.
Lie to protect.
Lie not to destroy.
Lie to keep Avery happy.
This is Xander’s reasoning when he starts on his slippery slope of falsity. In Underneath It All, volume 2 of Bethany Bazile’s Sexual Misconduct serial, Xander’s secrets are slowly being revealed: some to Avery and all to readers, and we are also starting to see the man underneath the Hollywood star and tortured soul. He’s in deep with Avery, and all of his illogical tendencies are manifesting. The Xander of 12 years ago is controlling and manipulative, and when he feels like things are slipping from his grasp…things he wants, he takes desperate measures to hold on. But what happens when Avery learns all of his secrets? She may be just as desperate as he is to be together as a couple, but she’s a black and white person who knows the difference between right and wrong. She’s trained to help others, but how can she help herself if she doesn’t try to see underneath the man she knows she loves? Secrets and lies always surface regardless of how much people try to bury them, so it’s only a matter of time before Xander’s life, once again, spirals out of control, and when that happens, Xander and Avery will never be the same.
In volume 2, readers are given more insights into what happened to cause Xander’s insomnia. He wants to show Avery that he trusts her to know who he really is, so he provides her with the details from twelve years ago, but there’s more to tell. Xander’s not ready or willing to unload all of his truths, which is causing him to go off kilter a bit in terms of his obsessive tendencies. The hot sex between Xander and Avery continues, but Xander is using it as a way to avoid his deeper issues, and Avery is allowing him to do so.
There is a definite conflict of interest in Avery’s decision to remain Xander’s therapist as well as his lover, and when she takes on another client who can share insights into Xander’s situation, Xander’s paranoia increases. And then there’s the bomb that’s dropped at the end of the text and Xander’s decision of what to do with the information. All of this sets the stage for the resolution in Lie to Me.
It will be interesting to see how everything plays out in the final installment. Avery’s reaction will either be Xander’s undoing or his redemption, and at this point, knowing the type of person Avery is, I don’t see it ending well for him at all.
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
4 poison apples
Let’s Play Doctor
Xander
“I need help.” I licked my lips and smiled at Avery because I knew she had a weakness for my dimples.
“What kind of help?” Avery furrowed her eyebrows, gazing at me over her glasses.
“I have an obsession with sexy doctors who pull their hair up in tight buns but wear sexy garters and naughty underwear.”
“Well, Mr. Pierce, sounds like you need therapy.” Avery came around the desk and leaned her ass on the edge, pulling off her glasses and eying me.
“It’s really severe, Dr. Shaw. My fingers tremble with the need to let her hair down, my mouth waters from her smell, and my dick gets so… hard.”
She stepped forward, bit down on her bottom lip as she leaned over, and rubbed my cock through the fabric of my pants. “It’s not only hard. It’s feverishly hot.”
“What can you do for me, doctor?”
She smiled. A slow, sultry smile. She unfastened my belt, dragged my zipper down, and pulled out my cock. “Maybe I can cool it down.” She cupped my balls in her palm and massaged them, her lips brushing against mine. “With my mouth,” she whispered against my lips.
I hissed.
She dropped down to her knees, looked up at me, then rolled her tongue over the head of my cock. I jolted. It was all I could do not to come. She caressed the underside of my dick, then flicked her tongue into the seeping slit.
Ohh… fuck. She was going to kill me. Hundreds of blowjobs and I never felt anything like this. Once she got her mouth on my cock, there was no such thing as a simple blowjob. It was more like a blast of pleasure, a rush of sensation, and then a series of aftershocks once the earthquake passed.
Her mouth worked me hard and fast. I laced my fingers into her hair and restrained her, because the only way I’d survive this was if I took the bull by the horns and controlled it. She peered up at me, trying to persuade me with her blue gaze to let her drive me mad.
But fuck that. If I was going to pour my soul out to her today, I was going to savor this moment. I guided her up and down my shaft, her lips soft and her mouth hot. She licked the head every time I pulled her back, sucking me almost to the base when I pushed her down.
She’s too good at this. I’m going to blow soon.
The next time I pulled her back, she licked my cock with this wicked smile on her lips. Then she sucked it into her mouth and twisted and sucked and twisted. The pleasure was too much. I fucking whimpered, shuddered, then growled because I was pissed she’d won. She wasn’t going to let me stall at all. I came in a hot rush of pleasure that raced up and down my spine, then shot out into her mouth.
She swallowed it. I think. My mind was in a whirlwind and I couldn’t focus on much of anything that happened after that orgasm.
She sat in my lap and kissed me. Yeah… she swallowed because she tasted like me. She held me until my breathing evened out. Then she stood up and tucked my dick back in my pants.
“Xander,” she said, pushing away my hand as I tried to slip it back up her thigh. “I know you’re stalling.” Her expression was effectively sobering. The room went from reverberating sexual cries to brimming with tension in a few short minutes. “We agreed to meet here because you said you would take this seriously.”
“What just happened here was serious as fuck.” I smirked, trying to lighten up the solemn tone that was setting in around us.
She frowned.
“Fine.” I huffed a breath. “But before we continue, I want to tell you I’ve never been good at relationships.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean I’m controlling and manipulative. I become consumed when I feel something for a woman.”
“Don’t worry about any of that. I just want to know who you are underneath all the bullshit. Underneath the asshole persona, who are you?”
Bethany Bazile reads, writes, and lives in the Northeast with her husband and two amazing kids. Her passion for writing was born from a love affair between books and music. She loves books that draw her in and won’t release her until she’s inhaled every word, panting with excitement. Then she realizes the sun came up, but the loss of sleep was so worth it. When she isn’t reading, she’s conjuring up steamy love scenes and hot romance stories to share with fellow romance lovers. She can’t function without her cup of coffee and operates on a vampire-like time-frame.
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