Fairest Of All Book Reviews

Title: Ten (My Brother’s Best Friend)

Author: Ker Dukey

Release Date: December 20, 2015

Cover Design: Pink Ink Designs

Photographer: Clyph Jean Philippe

Model: Kyle Nelson

Amazon US / Amazon UK /  Amazon CA / Amazon AU 

Instagram / Facebook / Newsletter / Twitter / Goodreads / Amazon /Tsu 

We came from nothing and were given a second chance at life, and life was pretty good until it tipped on its axis and my world came tumbling down around me.

My Baby Sister is missing…

Stolen…

Lost…

I’ve never felt this helpless before now, the vacant hole inside me expanding with each passing second of not knowing where she is.

What’s she going through?

Is she hurt?

Suffering?

Alive?

The more I learn of her disappearance the more fear implants itself inside my heart, hardening – darkening.

The world is a depraved place, full of evil lurking behind normality.

Behind smiles.

Behind deception and facades.
She needs me and I will do whatever it takes to find her.

Whatever.

Whatever.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Katy Regnery

Marrying Mr. English: The English Brothers #7 (Part 2)

December 18, 2015

Blurb

You’ve all met the children and Eleanora and Tom English…but how exactly did down-on-her luck waitress, Eleanora Watters, meet trust fund hottie, Tom English?

You won’t want to miss this Christmas novel that tells the story of how Eleanora met Tom, while he was visiting Vail in the 1980s.

Amazon (Kindle) : http://www.amazon.com/Marrying-Mr-English-Part-Blueberry-ebook/dp/B015L2UR1S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446208981&sr=1-1&keywords=marrying+mr+english

Apple: http://ow.ly/SRr9i

Barnes & Noble : http://ow.ly/SRqZ6

Kobo: http://ow.ly/SRr6d

Excerpt

Eleanora and Tom walked back up the driveway toward Tom’s car, their hands bound together as gleaming white gravel crunched under their feet. Eleanora’s mind was spinning from the decision they’d just made together: Tom had turned down fifteen million dollars—an almost unfathomable sum of money—so that he could give their two-day marriage a chance.

It felt foolish and reckless, and his impetuousness frightened her.

It also made her heart swell with tenderness and her body tremble with longing.

Eleanora had never been anyone’s first choice for anything. How in the world did she find herself here—with a man who had, literally, chosen her over diamonds and gold?

Looking up at the austere exterior of Haverford Park, she gulped, counting the sparkling windows nervously as she wondered if Grandfather English was watching them and hoping he wasn’t. He was a hateful, hurtful old man who’d 

judged her before knowing her, and she couldn’t wait to get back into Tom’s car and leave Haverford for good.

She’d just asked him, What about the money? How can you do this? How can you turn it down for me? And he’d sweetly—and resolutely—answered, I want you more.

Clutching his hand more tightly as they approached the car, she made him stop and face her, ignoring the tears that blurred her vision.

“Are you sure, Tom?”

He glanced up at the old house, narrowing his eyes and tightening his jaw before looking down at her upturned face with such gentleness, she couldn’t keep the tears from spilling over the edges of her eyes.

He nodded, using his thumbs to swipe at the wetness before it could wind down her face.

“Positive.”

A quiet surge of pure joy lifted her heels from the ground as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to kiss her. His arms— so strong and so certain, it twisted her heart—pulled her against his solid body, her thrift shop coat colliding with his carmel-colored cashmere.

The kiss lasted only a moment before Tom rested his cold cheek against hers, still clutching her tightly.

“We’ll be okay, sunshine. I promise.”

“You don’t know what it’s like,” she said softly, looking over his shoulder at a tennis court and a swimming pool in the distance, “to be poor.”

“We won’t be poor,” he said. “I have some savings, and as soon as I get a job, we’ll have a decent income too.”

“You don’t know what it’s like to be alone,” she pressed on, fearful for him, “without family.”

“Believe me, a crotchety grandfather, an ineffective father, and a kid brother I barely know don’t constitute a family. Somehow I think I’ll get by.” He leaned back, grinning at her. “Plus, I have you, baby. You’re my family now.”

She clenched her eyes shut against the welcome sweetness of his words, rubbing her cheek against his soft shoulder as tears ran over the bridge of her nose and plopped onto his expensive coat.

“Let’s go,” he rumbled near her ear. “I want to be alone with my family.”

Part 1 is part of the 12 Christmas Romances To Melt Your Heart collection that benefits the Autism Society of America

Amazon: http://ow.ly/S9r43

Apple: http://ow.ly/S9rjp

Barnes & Noble: http://ow.ly/S9r1g

Kobo: http://ow.ly/S9qYE

About Katy Regnery

Find Katy Regnery Online

 Title: Unrequited

Series: Fallen Aces MC #1

Author: Max Henry

Genre: MC Romance

 

Max is the author of the suspense filled, and highly emotive Butcher Boys series. She writes uniquely dark romance, featuring damaged alphas and the women who help them achieve balance in their lives.

Originally born and bred in Canterbury, New Zealand, Max now resides with her family in beautiful and sunny Queensland, Australia. Life with two young children can be hectic at times, and although she may not write as often as she would like, Max wouldn’t change a thing.

In her down time, Max can be found at her local gym, brain-storming through a session with the weights. Or, she may be out bumping, and jostling her way along a dirt track with the family in hubby’s 4WD.

Lawless is book three in the King Series and is Bear and Thia’s raw and gritty tale!

NOW AVAILABLE

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1NGbEpb

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1SIGSQO

iBooks: http://apple.co/1QcsC1R

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1HQU3im

Paperback Amazon: http://amzn.to/1YsctJZ

Blurb

Thia is prim and proper.
Bear is leather and lawless.
It will never work between them.
It’s a lie they almost believe.

Review

T.M. Frazier continues to mesmerize me with how she takes twisted and fucked up situations and makes them beautiful – not in the worldly sense – but in the idea that two tortured souls finally find someone who takes them for who they are and fights regardless of how much the other is pushing against them.

Both Bear and Thia have suffered at the hands of cruel and merciless people – they’ve had to grow up way too soon and rely on themselves for everything, and even if Bear made the conscious choice to join the Beach Bastards, he was also pulled into the darkness and consumed by his tasks and freedom.

Women. Booze. Blood – that’s been Bear’s lifestyle for many years, and now that he’s no longer a member of his club, he’s lost who he is and what he stands for and his torture at the hands of his enemy left him even more fucked up than he already was by taking off his cut. But if there’s anyone who can build Bear back up and give him something to believe in, it’s the girl he made a promise to seven years ago – a promise he never intended on keeping – but now, it’s the only promise he wants to keep, even if that means putting his life on the line to save hers…even if it means letting her go when all he wants to do is keep her and claim her.

When Thia Andrews’ life turns to devastation, there’s only one person she can go to – the person who told her that if she ever needed help that all she had to do was seek him out. But that search puts Thia in an unimaginable situation – one that will leave her scarred and tortured, hoping for a way out of her nightmares with the man she’s always held on to since she was 11 years old.

As Bear struggles to balance his life between being a man and being a biker, he realizes that the ruined lone wolf no longer wants to be alone because he’s found someone worth fighting for…worth dying for and now he’s ready to fight another kind of war – one that he doesn’t know if he can win but he’s going to work like hell until the very end because Thia’s worth it.

T.M. Frazier, you are the Queen of the cliffhangers, but I’m able to patiently wait because I know that the payoff will be worth it because you have a gift of taking fractured souls and solidifying their parts in a way that they no longer feel incomplete. It may take them time and they will undoubtedly suffer, but in the end, it’s what allows them to survive.

A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

5 Poison Apples

Excerpt

“I’m going to remember this as the worst time in my entire life. The very worst.” She shook her head. “There is nothing I can do to change that.  Girls my age are playing sports, going to dances and parties, kissing boys.  And that’s never been me.  I’ve had a full time job at the grove and a part time job at the Stop-N-Shop. I’ve done nothing over the last few years except work my ass off and watch my family fall apart. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse…now all this.”  She waived around to the house and to me and let out an awkward laugh. She took another hit off the bowl, passing it back to me.  Her coughing much less than it was on her first try.  

“Ti, how old are you?”  I asked, clearing my throat as I ventured into territory I knew I shouldn’t.  She was a pistol, even if she was a sad one, but there was a wave of innocence about her that had me both feeling bad for her and salivating for a taste of her.   

This is for her, not you. I told myself.  It was only a partial lie.  

“Seventeen,” She said, sniffling.  “Eighteen soon.”  

“You ever been kissed?” I asked, her eyes met mine. “And not a peck on the cheek or a brief smack of the lips, but a real fucking kiss? One that leaves you without air in you lungs and your thighs pressing together in search of more?”  I said, my voice coming out deep and strained.  My cock coming alive at the thought of tracing my tongue along her pump lips.  

“Why?” She whispered, and as soon as the words left her mouth I knew there would be no coming back from what I was about to do.  

I pushed off the fire pit and pulled her up off the chair, pressing her tits into my chest and my straining cock against her stomach.  I tipped her chin up and looked into her confused emerald greens. She followed my thumb with her eyes as I traced her bottom lip.  There were too many lines marring her face, questioning what it was I was up to.  I knew she would try to pull away at any second, try to stop me.  But it was too late for that.  

I was beyond stopping.  

Just one taste.

“Answer the question,” I pressed.  

“No,” she said with a slight shake of her head, and before she could try to argue, I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers.

I was already going to hell.

Might as well enjoy the ride there.  

The finale to Bear and Thia’s epic love story.

Pre-order Soulless (Book Two) Lawless Series

Releasing February 23rd!

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1U0xEAg

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1NKiPfZ

GIVEAWAY

Signed Copy of Lawless (2 Winners)

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

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.

Stalk Her: Website, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Goodreads.

Holly Woods is going to hell in a handbasket—but this time, Satanists aren’t to blame. Halloween is.

Nonna doesn’t understand why there are skeletons and demons everywhere. Mom is threatening to stitch a devil into Nonna’s pillowcase if she doesn’t shut up. Bek is bumbling over a date with Jason, the handsome FBI agent who conveniently got himself relocated to Austin, and I… Well. I’m considering running away to a town without the crazies.

Nothing new here.

Everything is going smoothly—too smoothly—and I can’t shake the feeling that something is about to happen. Drake insists I’m being paranoid… But when a body turns up at the Holly Woods Halloween party, we have a whole lot more than a murderer to worry about.

Because the prime suspect is his mom.

And it’s my job to prove she’s innocent.

(Tied Bond is the fourth full-length book in the Holly Woods Files series and does not stand alone.)

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1Uusayc
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1NvbIsB
iBooks: http://apple.co/1Qr3Ga1

Author Bio

By day, New York Times and USA Today bestselling New Adult author Emma Hart dons a cape and calls herself Super Mum to two beautiful little monsters. By night, she drops the cape, pours a glass of whatever she fancies – usually wine – and writes books.

Emma is working on Top Secret projects she will share with her followers and fans at every available opportunity. Naturally, all Top Secret projects involve a dashingly hot guy who likes to forget to wear a shirt, a sprinkling (or several) of hold-onto-your-panties hot scenes, and a whole lotta love.

She likes to be busy – unless busy involves doing the dishes, but that seems to be when all the ideas come to life.

LINKS:

Newsletter:  http://eepurl.com/YQvfn

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/EmmaHartBooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmmaHartAuthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6451162.Emma_Hart

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/Emma-Hart/e/B00A3QSV0M/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1410362990&sr=8-2-ent

Title: Degrees Of Being Boss

Author: Rayven Godchild

Genre: Erotic Romance

Release Date: December 18th

Synopsis

Zephyr Winston is a man in no rush to kick his social life back into gear after his ex’s betrayal. So when he rescues Bailey Haven from a Russian hit man, he’s surprised at the intensity of his attraction to the older woman.

With her husband, her perfect sub, dead two years, Bailey has no interest in doing more than running Club Precedent and mentoring Domme/sub couples. But her best friend’s death sparks a domino effect that brings Bailey’s path into a collision course with Zephyr. When the two meet, their chemistry is undeniably potent. They go head to head, Domme and Dom, but quickly learn there are many degrees to being boss.

Passions ignite when Dom and Domme collide and they discover there are many degrees to being boss.

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Excerpt

For the briefest moment, heat flushed her cheeks remembering how she shifted uncomfortably in her chair when Shadow Man — Zephyr—- bound Sharp Nose then yanked his head back with such fierce control. In certain role play games, she’d done the same to Chief. She’d loved it. So had he. Yet, for the first time, she wondered what it would be like to be on the receiving end. She shook her head. She was Boss. And that was that.

sensual blond woman in lingerie with tied hands lie down, studio shot

About Rayven Godchild

Rayven Godchild is an author of erotica/erotic romance short stories, novels, and novellas, as well as a lover of chocolate and wine. She’s shared the sensual secrets of a very naughty boy in the Confessions of a Sex Fiend series. Although the addicting tales are available in a a boxed set, they can be found by their separate titles of Tasting Cherry, A View to Ecstasy, Retreat Bound, and Bound to Collide.

Secret Lilies is a steamy suspense romantica that was originally released at a tumultuous point in Rayven’s life but has had new life breathed between the pages. BOSS, a DEGREES OF BEING novel, is coming soon.

Here are some places you can find Rayven:

Twitter | Facebook

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Are you ready to submit in Subordination by Katie Ashley!

NOW AVAILABLE

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1mpQbuS

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1NrvMOW

Blurb

When Sophie Jameson first became a domme at Club 1740, it was more out of financial necessity than it was for personal pleasure and sexual exploration. But over the years as she rocked her leather corsets and boots while wielding every crop and flogger imaginable, she grew to love the thrill and adulation that her clients brought her. But all along, her path in life and her heart was with a different profession—one she was planning to embark on at the summer’s end.

And then he changed everything. Tall, dark, impossibly built—William was the complete opposite of whatever image a male sub conjured up. After all the subs, Sophie finally felt true lust and desire. Although he was the proud stallion who needed breaking, he became the one to make her break all her rules and let down all her walls.

But it was just supposed to be for that one night, but an accidental encounter days later outside Club 1740’s protected walls had the two seeing each other in a different light—as simply Sophie and William, not Domme and sub. While they should have parted ways, they couldn’t. While they should never have gone back to her place, they did.

And that simple mistake has a serious price for both of them.

Excerpt

In the distance, a figure crested the hill on his way down from the mountain. Something about the man appeared familiar. Over the years of running at the park, I was used to seeing fellow running acquaintances. But as the incredibly built man grew nearer, my stomach lurched. Oh no, this wasn’t possible. I couldn’t literally be running into someone I’d been in a scene with the night before. In the five years I’d worked at 1740, I had never, ever run into a client.

We were within a few feet of each other when he gave a complimentary nod of hello. Then he literally skidded to a stop, sending bits of gravel flying around us. Just as I started to pass him, acknowledgement of who I truly was flashed on his face.

FUUUUUCK I screamed in my head. With everything I had in me, I raced ahead.

“Mistress Juliette?” he called.

Those two little words from his mouth send me tripping over a limb. As I sprawled onto the ground, my knees bumped along the uneven terrain. Once I came to a stop, pain raged all through my body, although it was excruciatingly centralized in my right ankle.

I rolled into a sitting position and brought my hand to my tennis shoe. “Fuck,” I muttered. It was to address both the pain and the fact that a shadow had crossed over me. A bulky shadow belonging to the only sub I had ever let myself go with.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Mistress.”

My gaze spun wildly around the clearing. “Stop calling me that!” I hissed.

“I’m sorry. Are you all right?”

Damn, that voice of his. Momentarily forgetting my ankle, I could feel myself growing wet just from the deep timbre, not to mention how sexy his concern was.

“No, actually, I’m not.” I jerked my gaze from my foot up to his handsome face. “My ankle is throbbing like a mother fucker, not to mention I’m mortified as hell I just busted my ass right in front of you.”

The corners of his lips fluttered, and I could tell he was fighting the urge not to laugh at me. Without a word, he knelt down beside me. “Let me take a look.”

I jerked my foot away from his overeager hands, which caused me to wince from the pain. “I think you’ve done enough already.”

Cocking his dark brows at me, he said, “My mistress’s health and well-being is always my upmost concern.”

I fought the urge to smack him and not so he could get off on it. “Here’s a newsflash for you. We are not in 1740 anymore, Toto, so this whole sub taking care of his mistress bullshit isn’t going to fly.”

“I’m not in to dog play,” he countered, with a wink.

“Yeah, well, last time I checked, you’re not sporting my collar, so I’m not your mistress.”

“Ouch, you really bring out the claws when you’re hurting, don’t you?” When I opened my mouth to lay into him again, he brought a finger over my lips. “Quit your bitching, and let me check out your ankle, okay?”

“Are you a doctor or paramedic in real life?”

He smiled, causing those delicious dimples of his to pop out. “No, not quite.”

“Then how do I know you’re actually qualified to look at my ankle and not just wanting to cop a feel of my foot?”

With a chuckle, he replied, “Don’t have a foot fetish either.”

As he slid my tennis shoe off, I hissed. “Answer the question.”

“Easy now,” he murmured.

“What qualifies you to look at my ankle?” I demanded.

“I used to be a football coach.”

“Professional?”

He laughed. “No, high school.”

“Oh,” I murmured.

“Yeah, you bandage at least one sprained ankle every game.” He glanced up at me. “Yours doesn’t feel sprained, but it’s definitely swollen. I have a first aid kit in my truck. I can bandage it for you.”

I eyed him suspiciously. As a submissive, I knew he truly subscribed to the code of conduct that his mistress always came first. But we weren’t in the club, and although club management did background checks that rivaled the FBI, he was still a stranger to me. Well, a stranger who I’d seen naked and bent over a spanking horse.

Knowing that I didn’t really have a choice, I huffed out a frustrated breath. “Okay, fine. I’ll let you take care of my ankle.”

“Try not to sound so excited about it, okay?” William said with a teasing expression.

About the Author

Katie Ashley is a New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon Best-Selling author. She lives outside of Atlanta, Georgia with her daughter, Olivia, and her two very spoiled dogs. She has a slight obsession with Pinterest, The Golden Girls, Harry Potter, Shakespeare, Supernatural, Designing Women, and Scooby-Doo.

With a BA in English, a BS in Secondary English Education, and a Masters in Adolescent English Education, she spent 11 1/2 years educating the Youth of America aka teaching MS and HS English until she left to write full time in December 2012.

Twitter  Facebook  Goodreads   Amazon Page

Distraction by Aurora Rose Reynolds from Becca the Bibliophile on Vimeo.

Fall in love with Maggie & Sven in Distraction by

Aurora Rose Reynolds

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1T03fkZ

RELEASE DATE:  Early 2016

Additional Books in the Underground Kings Series

Assumption (Book 1)

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1onxQI0

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1qaNWJ3

iBooks: http://bit.ly/1pdSccC

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1mmmHxQ

Obligation (Book 2)

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1EWf7QW

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1y2bxMH

iBooks: http://bit.ly/1DVAfDi

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1NnURKm

About the Author

Aurora Rose Reynolds is a navy brat who’s husband served in the United States Navy. She has lived all over the country but now resides in New York City with her Husband and pet fish. She’s married to an alpha male that loves her as much as the men in her books love their women. He gives her over the top inspiration everyday. In her free time she reads, writes and enjoys going to the movies with her husband and cookie. She also enjoys taking mini weekend vacations to nowhere, or spends time at home with friends and family. Last but not least she appreciates everyday and admires it’s beauty.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest

Now available for Pre-order!

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1jxIMYq

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1InTooo

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1QcYftH

iBooks: http://apple.co/1QcYmW7

Google Play: http://bit.ly/1lWuKkT

REEVE IS COMING!  

Meet Reeve & Emily in First Touch releasing December 29th!

Blurb

When Emily Wayborn goes home to visit her mom while on hiatus from her hit TV show, she receives a voicemail from her former best friend, Amber. Though the two were once notorious party girls, they haven’t spoken in years. Although the message might sound benign to anyone else, Amber uses a safe word that Emily recognizes, a word they always used to get out of sticky situations during their wild days. And what’s more chilling than the voicemail: it turns out that Amber has gone missing.

Determined to track down her friend, Emily follows a chain of clues that lead her to the enigmatic billionaire Reeve Sallis, a hotelier known for his shady dealings and play boy reputation. Now, in order to find Amber, Emily must seduce Reeve to learn his secrets and discover the whereabouts of her friend. But as she finds herself more entangled with him, she finds she’s drawn to Reeve for more than just his connection to Amber, despite her growing fear that he may be the enemy. When she’s forced to choose where her loyalty lies, how will she decide between saving Amber and saving her heart?

Excerpt

The room began to close in around me, blanketing me with acute heaviness. I drained my champagne in one swallow then set it on a waiter’s tray as I pushed through the crowd and out to the overflow area that had been set up in the parking lot. Once the chill night breeze hit me, I gasped in a deep breath, swallowing the air in long gulps, as though I’d been underwater and had finally reached the surface.

With Amber, I’d been a glorified hooker. In Hollywood, wasn’t I pretty much the same thing? I’d simply left one bed to move to another. I chuckled at the paradox. It deserved a laugh, at least.

Footsteps sounded behind me, and I stifled the last bit of humor threatening to escape. Without looking over my shoulder, I felt the air change. The hair at the back of my neck bristled and the sting of electricity huddled around me.

I turned, somehow knowing what I’d find—who I’d find.

He leaned against the concrete doorframe watching me with eyes that pinned me in my place. He was captivating and magnificent, his tux fitting him better than clothing had the right to fit a person, better than any one of the pretty men that filled the room beyond him. Those men, my peers, they were a sea of beautiful—calm and serene. Reeve was the ocean, dark and commanding and turbulent. They moved in gentle waves. Reeve stood still and set the world crashing around him.

That easily, the breath I’d just managed to get under control was knocked from my lungs.

He spoke before I could regain my composure. “What a coincidence that you’d be at the same event that I’m at.”

The boldness of his accusation shocked me into response. “I’m not following you, if that’s what you’re insinuating.” My pulse fluttered in fear, in excitement. In irritation. I didn’t like the way he agitated me. Maybe I’d deserved it at his resort, but this? This was my turf.

With a surprising display of fierceness, I locked my eyes to his. “I’m the one who belongs at this event. Not you.”

He laughed and the sound of it fueled my indignation. It also sent heat rushing up my thighs, heat that turned my rage inward as well as out.

Hands in his pockets, Reeve stepped toward me. “Calm down, Emily. I was only teasing. Of course you aren’t here because of me. Perhaps, I’m here because of you.” He paused long enough for panic to jolt through me with reminders of the ominous words he’d delivered to me the last time we’d seen each other. “Perhaps, this time I’m the one who’s examining.”

My anger stepped up another notch, overwhelming my unease. “Examining me? Like, why—to scare me? To see if I’m as fun to mess with when you’re outside the home field? How dare you? Come here, into my world and prod at me just because you feel like it. Proceed to make it your playground. How dare you?”

His lip curved into a chiding smile. “Now you know how I felt.”

I refused to acknowledge my humiliation, though the flush that swept down my neck more than likely gave it away. “Thank you for the lesson, Mr. Sallis,” I said, my voice surprisingly steady. “I assure you that I have more than gotten the point. You won’t be having to give me any further demonstrations.” I started toward the venue doors, praying I could manage the walk. High heels and weak knees did not make for a good combination.

I circled widely around him, wanting to keep as much distance between us as possible. But I could still feel the warmth pulsating off him like the driving beat of a dance club. It trembled through me, coming up from the ground, shaking me, gripping me. I fought through it, forced myself past him.

“Emily.” His address caught me mid-stride. Five more feet and I’d be back in the Expo. Just a few more steps…

I couldn’t help myself—I stayed. I didn’t turn toward him, though. That was my single act of restraint.

“What I did to you at the spa—”His voice was silk and stubble all at once. The texture of the sound, as much as the mention of the spa, was bait on a hook. I practically leaned into his next words. “It wasn’t very nice.”

I spun toward him. “You think?”

“I like my privacy. I was mad.” It wasn’t an explanation so much as it was a reminder. You provoked me, he was saying. You deserved it.

“So you made me think you wanted to kill me?” Admittedly, I had earned his admonishment. I hadn’t earned a death threat.

“Eh. I never said I wanted—”

I cut him off with a point of my finger. “You did. In every way you could without the specific words.”

He opened his mouth as if to defend himself further. Then his expression changed, his features darkened, his eyes gleamed. “Did it scare you?”

“What do you think?” A shiver ran down my spine. He knew he’d scared me. It had been his intent to rile me up, make me afraid. What I hadn’t realized was how much he liked that he had.

About the Author

Laurelin Paige is the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Fixed Trilogy. She’s a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however. When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead, or dreaming of Michael Fassbender. She’s also a proud member of Mensa International though she doesn’t do anything with the organization except use it as material for her bio.

STALK HER:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest