Fairest Of All Book Reviews

Secrets ruin lives, and lies protect those secrets…

Wanting to escape her life in New York City before starting medical school in the fall, Anna Dillon convinces her best friend Dante to travel with her to Thailand on a medical mission. While volunteering in a coastal village recently ravaged by a tsunami, Anna meets Jude Grayson. They share an instant attraction that leads to a brief, passionate affair. When she has to rush home for a family emergency, he promises to stay in touch.

But Jude never calls, and Anna tries desperately to forget him.

Five years pass, and Anna finally moves on with Dante after giving up hope that Jude will ever return—until they come face to face again in a chance encounter. Reeling, Anna discovers the life-altering secret of why Jude never contacted her—and why they can’t be together. But the passion that ignited between them on an exotic beach years ago never died, making it impossible to stay away from each other.

And Dante? Anna discovers that the friend she grew to love—and trust—has a secret of his own.

Christine Brae is a full time career woman who thought she could write a book about her life and then run away as far as possible from it. She never imagined that her words would touch the hearts of so many women with the same story to tell. That’s what happened with her first book, The Light in the Wound, published in July, 2013. Her second book, His Wounded Light was released in December, 2013.

Christine’s third book, Insipid, is a standalone that was released in June, 2014. Christine’s fourth book, In This Life was released in January, 2016 and has been optioned for film and TV rights by Adrian Bellani.

When not listening to the voices in her head or spending late nights at the office, Christine can be seen shopping for shoes and purses, running a half marathon or spending time with her husband and three children in Chicago.

Now Available! The Season: Kaufman 

by Nicole Edwards

The SEASON: Kaufman (Austin Arrows, 2) Chapter 1

Noelle

Thursday, October 6th

“I MADE AN EXTRA CHICKEN breast. You want one or two?” I chuckle, can’t help it. “Seriously. One or two? Can I possibly ask a dumber question?”

That unladylike snort … yeah, that was me.

While I fork my chicken breast onto my own plate, I don’t bother waiting for a response. I know what the answer will be. Two. Always two. Extra protein is never a bad thing.

After adding a heaping spoonful of steamed vegetables to my plate, I grab my wineglass and head to the table. I’m starving because I missed lunch today. That sometimes happens with my job. There are days that’ll go by when I’m bored to tears, standing behind the bar, and others when I can hardly stop long enough to take a breath. Sometimes I’ll snag some fried pickles if I get a chance. Today was the lack-of-breath kind of day. Go, go, go. All day long.

As I step out of my small galley kitchen, a knock sounds on my door. My bare feet squeak on the linoleum as I come to an abrupt halt. I manage to do that fancy lift and tilt thing to keep my wine from sloshing over the edge.

Disaster averted.

“Noelle! Honey, it’s Mom and Dad!”

Or not.

“Crap, crap, crap.” I glance between my front door and the small, two-seat table in my breakfast nook currently set up with, nope, not one but two place settings. For the record, two is not a good number when the single girl’s mom comes banging on the door.

“Open up, Noelle! We thought we’d surprise you!”

Okay, well, I have to say my parents definitely accomplished their goal, because I am completely befuddled as I stand here debating what I should do. To a normal person, it might be a no-brainer. Open the door, let the ’rents come on in.

I’m not so sure this situation is going to qualify me as normal.

To answer or not to answer? That is the question.

On the other hand, I could be as quiet as possible and pretend I’m not home. Which, with my luck, won’t work. The fact that all the lights in my apartment are blazing and my baby blue Prius is parked directly in front of my window doesn’t help my cause any. Since no one else in the world drives a baby blue Prius, I can’t very well hide it.

Crap.

But I could’ve gone out with friends, right? Could I be so lucky that they’d think that? It is a possibility. Maybe. Or, better yet, maybe they’ll think I’m at the Penalty Box. I tend to work a lot.

Yes, that’s definitely more logical.

Except, yep, you nailed it, the car is here.

Then again, if I weren’t so pathetic and didn’t choose to spend all my free time at home—unless I’m at my best friend Ellie’s—it might be an easier sell. They know me. I’m not the going-out type. Plus, they’ve probably already stopped by the bar to see if I’m there. They know that I much prefer a microwaved dinner at home, especially on a rare evening that I don’t spend waiting tables and slinging beer because I choose to.

Another knock makes my heart skip a beat.

“Stay calm. It’s cool.” I’ve been telling myself that far too much lately.

“Noelle! Are you all right, honey?”

Knowing my grumpy upstairs neighbor is likely going to have a cow any second now, I rush to the front door, unlock the deadbolt, and turn the knob. Instantly, Marie Dexter barrels into me, pulling me into her arms, crushing my face to her generous bosom.

My mother smells like roses. A sweet, familiar scent that makes me hug her back, despite the inconvenient timing of her arrival.

“Hi, Mom,” I say, my words muffled against her boobs.

She pulls back to look at me. “What took you so long? I was getting worried.”

My dad slips past my mother, giving me a knowing smirk. Ed Dexter loves when Marie goes all motherly on me. Come to find out, when my sister and I aren’t around, he gets to be the one Marie mothers. Not that he minds. They’ve been married for thirty-six years, so he’s used to it, or so he says.

“Ooh. You got new curtains.” My mother gently pulls away to admire the floor-to-ceiling cream sheers hanging on the wide front window.

I follow her gaze, glaring at my car sitting right there. Traitor.

I focus on the comforting hand my mother has on my arm. Always keeping me close, that woman.

I’m the oldest—my sister, Julie, who is seven years younger than me, was an oops baby—which should’ve meant my mother didn’t coddle me quite so much. That isn’t the case. Never has been. I’m not sure if it’s because there’s such a huge age gap between me and Julie, but whatever the reason, my mother likes to baby both of us equally. I’m thirty-four. You’d think she would’ve toned it down by now. Nope. In fact, I think she might be getting more motherly.

Honestly, she’s been this way since I was little. And, truthfully, I was the normal kid. The kind who wanted to do nothing more than be outside. Yep, totally me. Right up until sixth grade, when we moved to Austin, next door to the girl who would quickly become my best friend in the world. Either there was something in the Texas water or someone injected me with a doofus hormone, because upon moving here, I became stupid, which translates to: boy crazy. I think my mother worried about me more then. That lasted about two years. Three tops. When it became glaringly obvious that Tony Something-or-other wasn’t going to fall madly in love with the short, frumpy girl with glasses and braces, I decided to focus on my schoolwork and left the flirting with boys up to my best friend, Ellie. She was much better at it than me.

Luckily, I’m not so frumpy anymore, and I’ve shed the braces and glasses. Sure, I’m still short, and my boobs never did really develop, but that no longer bothers me. I’m me. That’s what matters.

What does bother me is the fact that Mom and Dad pop in unannounced all the freaking time. Of all nights, why did it have to be now?

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Coming Soon!

Naughty Holidays 2016!

ON SALE FOR $0.99 WHILE ON PRE-ORDER!

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My world was rock solid.

Until I saw her.

This new stand-alone The Revolution is LIVE!

Free on Kindle Unlimited!!

#Kaziscoming

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The Resistance (Book One)

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Blurb

My world was rock solid.

Until I saw her.

Lara Kessler showed up as if heaven sent her to me, and suddenly my priorities changed. Love is funny like that. One minute you’re living the dream, then BAM! Half my soul shows up backstage wearing a purple shirt and sexy skin-tight jeans, making me realize what I’ve been missing all along. Loving her means exposing a life I’ve tried to bury.

My heart had lost its beat.

Until I saw him.

Kaz Fabian caught my attention the moment I laid eyes on him. Love is funny like that. The famous guitarist was every woman’s fantasy—great face, chiseled jaw, cut biceps. The rock star was pure sex on and off stage, but his charm and charisma won me over. Loving him means burdening him with a life I’ve tried to leave behind.

With her future dim and his past in the spotlight, can they overcome their fate or will they just be another tragic love story?

Review

“Love is funny like that.”

This statement may seem simplistic, but everyone knows that a deep, soulful love is far from easy, and in order to have it, there are times of darkness and sadness, and when love tries to exist and grow amongst the backdrop of fame and paparazzi as well as an ex hellbent on reclaiming what he lost and a bevy of secrets that are best kept hidden, even a love developed over time would be difficult, but what makes things even more difficult is when a love starts out like Kaz and Lara’s did.

Kaz and Lara’s relationship starts in the midst of chaos, ensconced in a mess that is far from over and, at times, seems too challenging to endure, but that doesn’t stop them from taking a chance on finding true love – the kind that they’ve both never had but now seem to be ready for with each other.

But regardless of how deep their feelings may be for one another, Lara is not completely free from her last relationship and even with how patient of a man Kaz is, the blowback of Lara’s issues with her ex has the possibility of destroying Lara and Kaz before they even really get started, and with that destruction, secrets have a way of coming out, causing other difficulties that must be addressed.

When I started The Revolution, I really didn’t remember Lara, maybe because I was so focused on Rochelle and Dex working through their issues, but even without that prior knowledge, S.L. Scott allowed me to understand that the attraction she has for Kaz is not something new; in fact, it’s always been there – their timing was just off. So the fact that Lara starts a relationship soon after breaking up with her ex didn’t bother me. What I struggled with, though, was the fact that she kept making excuses for her ex regardless of how bad things got, and for someone who really didn’t seem that invested in the relationship as well as the feeling that their break up should have happened a while ago, I just couldn’t wrap my head around why it was so difficult for her to let go and to truly see how bad things were before they got extremely out of hand. Don’t get me wrong, Scott portrays Lara’s ex in a way that’s clear that he would come after her despite their break-up, but in a way, it felt like Lara was protecting her ex, even while she was protecting herself and Kaz.

I’m a huge fan of S.L. Scott’s Hard to Resist series. Each story can be read as a standalone, and they all are emotional and steamy reads with rock gods who easily seduce readers as we witness the different members of The Resistance find the right woman to heal their demons and stand by their side.

While The Revolution wasn’t my favorite of the series, I still enjoyed Lara and Kaz’s story and the solidarity amongst Kaz’s band as well as how the women stuck together to not only support their men but each other.

A complimentary copy was provided for an honest review.

3.5/4 Poison Apples

Excerpt

The woman I’ve fantasized about is finally in my bed. The one who’s starred in my dreams and I’ve imagined when fucking others. She’s here, lying next to me and I can’t sleep.

My chest hurts while watching her. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and equally the most fascinating. She teases and jokes, flirts… and she trusts me. She trusts me with her life. That’s what brought her here tonight. I would do anything for her and she knows it.

I sit up and scrub my hands over the way-too-long scruff that covers my face. She stirs beside me, making me want to stay. I really should, but I just can’t stay here any longer…

A promise is a promise and all that. But some promises are worth breaking. This is one of them.

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Meet S.L. Scott

New York Times and USA Bestselling Author, S. L. Scott, was always interested in the arts. She grew up painting, writing poetry and short stories, and willing her days away lost in a good book and the movies.

With a degree in Journalism, she continued her love of the written word by reading American authors like Salinger and Fitzgerald. She was intrigued by their flawed characters living in picture perfect worlds, but could still debate that the world those characters lived in were actually the flawed ones. This dynamic of leaving the reader invested in the words, inspired Scott to start writing with emotion while interjecting an underlying passion into her own stories.

Living in the capital of Texas with her family, Scott loves traveling and avocados, beaches, and cooking with her kids. She’s obsessed with epic romances and loves a good plot twist. She dreams of seeing one of her own books made into a movie one day as well as returning to Europe. Her favorite color is blue, but she likens it more toward the sky than the emotion. Her home is filled with the welcoming symbol of the pineapple and finds surfing a challenge though she likes to think she’s a pro.

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The Queen of Paranormal Romance, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Gena Showalter, returns with THE DARKEST TORMENT, the eagerly anticipated twelfth novel in her Lords of the Underworld series, now available in paperback on November 22, 2016!

Order your copy today!

Order THE DARKEST TORMENT here!

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THE DARKEST TORMENT Synopsis:

Can Beauty tame her Beast?

Driven to his death by the demon of Distrust, Baden spent centuries in purgatory. Now he’s back, but at what cost? Bound to the king of the underworld, an even darker force, he’s unable to withstand the touch of another…and he’s quickly devolving into a heartless assassin with an uncontrollable temper. Things only get worse when a mission goes awry and he finds himself saddled with a bride—just not his own.

Famed dog trainer Katarina Joelle is forced to marry a monster to protect her loved ones. When she’s taken hostage by the ruthless, beautiful Baden immediately after the ceremony, she’s plunged into a war between two evils—with a protector more dangerous than the monsters he hunts. They are meant to be enemies, but neither can resist the passion burning between them…and all too soon the biggest threat is to her heart.

But as Baden slips deeper into the abyss, she’ll have to teach him to love…or lose him forever.

Includes Q&A featuring J. R. Ward, Jeaniene Frost, Nalini Singh and more!

Check out this exclusive graphic teaser we have for THE DARKEST TORMENT!

Add it to your Goodreads Now!

About Gena Showalter

Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of over fifty books, including the acclaimed Lords of the Underworld and Angels of the Dark series, and the White Rabbit Chronicles. She writes sizzling paranormal romance, heartwarming contemporary romance, and unputdownable young adult novels, and lives in Oklahoma City with her family and menagerie of dogs. Visit her at genashowalter.com.

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Title: Finding Nirvana (Black Shamrocks MC, #5)

Author: Kylie Hillman

Genre: MC Romance

Release Date: October 25, 2016

Synopsis

It’s said that only in our darkest hour do we find light. That may be true for the lucky ones. When your light has been extinguished and pitch-black bleakness has taken hold, you could be excused for doubting that it can it ever be reignited.

In the past when people mentioned Joel O’Brien, they talked about “the quiet one”. The boy who was the family’s voice of reason and their go-to guy for wisdom well beyond his years. Nowadays, they whisper about the “crippled one”. The man who radiates darkness, who wallows in his self-pity, and refuses to find a way to deal with the injuries he sustained during the war that threatened to engulf the Black Shamrocks MC.

Sascha Koswalski is the light of her family’s life. With a smile that could brighten the day of the most hard-hearted, the single mother uses her innate exuberance to help lessen the pain that afflicts her physiotherapy patients. She’s yet to have a patient who doesn’t respond to her sunny nature and skilled hands.

Until Joel. The stubborn, angry man might be the one patient she fails. Unable to crack his protective shell, Sascha is on the verge of giving up when Joel saves her from a life-threatening situation. Buoyed by the knowledge that there is a man filled with hope hiding underneath his cold veneer, can the physiotherapist rehabilitate more than his broken body? Will she be the light that reignites his belief in himself and sets them both on the path to FINDING NIRVANA?

DISCLAIMER: This book contains depictions of graphic situations and is not suitable for all readers.

Purchase your copy today!

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About The Author

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Synopsis 

Blurb:

Two love-matches made.
One to go.

Even though two of his best friends have settled down, Wes Lancaster is determined not to get sucked into some siren’s web. As owner of the professional football team the New York Mavericks and wildly successful BAD restaurant, his lifestyle is full as it is.

Well, it was, until Winnie Winslow, the new, sexy, stiletto-wearing Team Physician trash-talks him in the locker room without batting an eye.

Now he can’t stop himself from wanting her.

The only girl in her parents’ brood of five, she’s as outspoken as she is beautiful and the kind of woman who holds her own—and then some.

Always competitive at heart, if he’s going all in for love…
Wes sure as hell wants a Win-Win.

Prepare to get a little dirty because this one might go into overtime.
Game. On.

Review

2 down and 1 to go, and this time around, the bad boy billionaire is kid-phobic, anti-family, opposed to commitment, and a many woman kind of man.

But Wes Lancaster has met his match in Winnie Winslow because she knows just how to rile up the unflappable, unemotional man; so much so that it has Wes questioning the freedom that he’s always wanted out of life, which is unheard of for a man who has spent his entire adult life driven by business and opportunities.

Despite Wes and Winnie’s need to maintain a professional working relationship, the verbal foreplay and sexual tension that surrounds them is something that neither of them can back down from, and the physical release that they provide for one another has never been better with anyone else. But can their plan of foreplay, fucking, and football be enough to keep Wes around or will he walk away from this chance to go from a me to a we because that’s what he’s known for and the risks have never been greater than now because Winnie and her daughter are a package deal.

From the very beginning of Max Monroe’s Bad Boy Billionaire series, readers have gotten an insider’s look as Georgia and Cassie tapped and banked their way into a forever kind of relationship with two men who thought they were immune to love, and now that the last man’s standing, Winnie looks to score with the charming and playful owner of the New York Mavs as long as Wes doesn’t self-destruct and wind up walking away from the best pair of females he’s ever had in his life.

Scoring the Billionaire is a perfectly swoonworthy and steamy addition to Max Monroe’s laugh out loud series. The writers definitely know how to balance angsty scenes with moments of hilarity, and the way they’ve developed their leading men and women as well as the relationships that exist between them allow readers to take the journey with the characters and experience every panty melting, side splitting, tear jerker moment that makes the couples who they are and showcases the bond of friendship for both of the trios who have each other’s backs regardless of the situation.

4.5 Poison Apples

Love. Never. Dies.

Find out why in Preppy by T.M. Frazier

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Blurb

Samuel Clearwater, A.K.A Preppy, likes bowties, pancakes, suspenders, good friends, good times, good drugs, and a good f*ck.

He’s worked his way out from beneath a hellish childhood and is living the life he’s always imagined for himself. When he meets a girl, a junkie on the verge of ending it all, he’s torn between his feelings for her and the crippling fear that she could be the one to end the life he loves.

Andrea ‘Dre’ Capulet is strung out and tired.

Tired of living for her next fix. Tired of doing things that make her stomach turn. Tired of looking in the mirror at the reflection of the person she’s become. Just when she decides to end it all, she meets a man who will change the course of both their lives forever.

And their deaths.

For most people, death is the end of their story.

For Preppy and Dre, death was only the beginning.

This is the fifth book in the King Series and it’s meant to be read after Soulless.

About the Author

T.M. (Tracey Marie) Frazier resides in sunny Southwest Florida with her husband and three feisty fur kids.

She attended Florida Gulf Coast University where she specialized in public speaking. After years working in real estate and new home construction, she decided it was finally time to stop pushing her dreams to the back burner and pursue writing seriously.

In the third grade she wrote her very first story about a lost hamster. It earned rave reviews from both her teacher and her parents.

It only took her twenty years to start the next one.

It will not be about hamsters.
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Marriage Games by CD Reiss

Series: Games # 1

Release Date: October 25^th

Genre: Contemporary Romance

“Marriage Games is one of the most powerful novels I have ever read. CD Reiss gets into the soul of her hero and heroine and never lets go. A strong, clear picture of the psychological and emotional challenges of a D/s relationship, especially in a marriage. Why it works and why it might not. Can’t wait for the next one.” ―Desiree Holt, USA Today bestselling author

Synopsis

THIRTY DAYS

That’s all Adam Steinbeck demands of his wife.

Thirty days in a remote cottage, doing everything he demands. After that, he’ll sign her divorce papers and give her complete ownership of their company.

THIRTY DAYS

That’s how long he has to rediscover the man he once was. The Dominant Master he hid when he fell in love with her five years ago.

THIRTY DAYS

She wants the business they built badly enough to go to the cottage for a month. Cut off ties to the world and do his bidding. She can submit to him with her body, but her heart will never yield.

She thinks this is his pathetic attempt to repair their marriage.

She’s wrong.

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About the Author

CD Reiss is a USA Today and Amazon bestseller. She still has to chop wood and carry water, which was buried in the fine print. Her lawyer is working it out with God but in the meantime, if you call and she doesn’t pick up, she’s at the well, hauling buckets.

Born in New York City, she moved to Hollywood, California to get her master’s degree in screenwriting from USC. In case you want to know, that went nowhere, but it did give her a big enough ego to write novels.

Critics have dubbed the books “poetic,” “literary,” and “hauntingly atmospheric,” which is flattering enough for her to put it in a bio, but embarrassing enough for her not to tell her husband, or he might think she’s some sort of braggart who’s too good to chop a cord of wood.

If you meet her in person, you should call her Christine.

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From USA Today bestselling author Meghan March comes another dangerously sexy alpha hero…

The only permanent thing in my life is the ink I put on my clients.

I drift form city to city, in and out of beds, from one tattoo shop to the next.

Every time I start to put down roots, I rip them up.

Until New Orleans.

Until her.

She’s everything I’m not.

Full of fire and life. An innocent where I’m a sinner.

I want to consume her. Protect her. Keep her.

But first, I have to escape from beneath these shadows.

Beneath These Shadows is a STANDALONE romance set in the world of the Beneath series. You DO NOT have to read any other books in the series to enjoy it.

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Excerpt

“You ever broken the law before this, Eden?”

I expected a quick and unequivocal no, but it didn’t come as fast as I thought it would.

“I don’t think so. I mean, I’m sure I have by accident sometime. I’ve jaywalked. But I’m not some kind of criminal.”

Well, that makes one of us, I thought.

My anger from earlier started to fade and be replaced by the heat of the knowledge that Eden’s naked tits were only inches from my chest, separated by water I could see right through. Last time I’d seen them under her pink bra, she’d been too fucked up for me to take advantage . . . but tonight she was completely sober.

I raised my gaze from her chest, expecting her cheeks to be red when she realized I was staring at her nipples, but she wasn’t watching my face. She was staring down at my body.

“Like what you see?”

That got her attention.

Eden jerked her head up to meet my eyes, and the blush colored her skin like I’d timed it.

“You’re . . . big.”

A booming laugh broke free from my throat at her unexpected response, and her cheeks flamed even brighter.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I mean . . . everywhere. Not just, in the . . .” She looked down, then jerked her gaze back to mine. “I’m going to shut up now.”

That kind of awkward and fumbling response couldn’t be faked, and protectiveness rose in me again. Eden was no con artist. She was a girl who couldn’t even say the word cock without turning red.

“Ain’t no shame in my game.”

She reached out a hand and covered my lips with her fingers. “Stop. You’re just making it worse. I wasn’t checking out your . . . package. I mean, I did before you got in the pool, but that’s only because I thought you’d have underwear on because who doesn’t wear underwear?” The babbling continued, and so did my laughter.

Hell, I hadn’t laughed this much since Delilah had given in to a customer’s request and tattooed a flexing veined eggplant cartoon on a client so he could send pictures of it instead of dick pics.

Eden pulled her hand back and covered her face. “I’m going to stop talking now. I seriously can’t be trusted to say anything that’s not completely humiliating when you’re standing this close to me naked.”

“I disagree, and since I’m not ready to get out and put my clothes on, you’re going to have to deal with it.”

She mumbled something under her breath.

“Come again?”

Eden pressed her lips together for a beat before saying, “I don’t know how to deal with it. This isn’t something I’ve ever dealt with before.”

A crazy thought popped into my brain. “Are you a virgin?”

If there was a red brighter than fire engine, that was the color of Eden’s cheeks. “No! Of course not. Really. I’ve touched a dick before. I mean, just the one, but it still counts. Well, I didn’t really touch it. Except, you know, inside me. Oh my God, I’m just going to shut up now.”

Realization dawned on me as her babbled protest silenced. “You’ve had sex with one guy? Once? How old are you?”

Eden turned to bolt, but instead smashed her tits into my arm. I stepped close enough so that only an inch of water separated us.

Her gaze went skyward. “This is so humiliating.”

That’s where she and I had differing opinions. “Why? Because you haven’t fucked every guy you’ve ever met? What’s wrong with that?”

Eden’s gaze snapped down to mine and her brows drew into slashes. “Hey, whoa now. You can toss that double-standard crap right in the trash. What if I had screwed every guy I ever met? Would that make me less of a person? I mean, it’s not like you probably haven’t been with dozens and dozens of women. I’m not judging you. Except for maybe that Kitty girl. I mean, really? You’ve got to have some standards.”

My laughter boomed out again across the courtyard. “Cupcake, just because I can get most any pussy I want, doesn’t mean I do it.”

“Still, double standards are—”

When she started on another tirade, I decided to silence her the best way I knew how.

I leaned down and covered her lips with mine.

Meghan March has been known to wear came face paint and tromp around in woods wearing mud-covered books, all while sporting a perfect manicure. She’s also impulsive, easily entertained, and absolutely unapologetic about the fact that she loves to read and write smut. Her past lives include slinging auto parts, selling lingerie, making custom jewelry, and practicing corporate law. Writing books about dirty talking alpha males and the strong, sassy women who bring them to their knees is by far the most fabulous job she’s ever had. She loves hearing from her readers at meghanmarchbooks@gmail.com.

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