by Bromberg, K
Outside, a car started in the back alley. It wasn’t the rumble of an El Camino, but the whirr of a new Camry.
“You mean Amilcar?” she said, eyebrows raised. “No, no. He’s a friend. A good friend, but you know… just a friend.”
“Ah. Right. Just checking.”
“Full disclosure. I wanted him here to meet you. He’s a first impressionist. It’s like a gift. One look and he knows.”
Every person who knew about what I was trying to arrange was a potential leak, and if my family found out, I could kiss Crowne goodbye. I didn’t know this Amilcar person well enough to trust him.
“You told him?” I asked.
“I said you and I are dating, if that’s okay.”
“And he gets an impression of everyone you date?”
“I wanted to make sure you’re not just trying to get laid.”
“I don’t need to go to this much trouble to get laid.”
“Or maybe you’re a serial killer.”
“I didn’t kill Millie. We just broke up.”
She laughed.
“Sit.” She indicated a worn couch and two chairs around a chest that served as a coffee table. “I’ve got a pot of water boiling. Or soda. I have Sprite. But…” She looked me up and down again, and I squinted at her as if that would help me discern what she was seeing. “I can get you a glass of milk if you want that.”
Milk?
“Whatever you’re having.”
I’d be fucked before I let her get milk out of the fridge just for me, because even though it didn’t matter what she thought of me as a man, I cared.
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The New York Times bestselling Games Duet
Adam Steinbeck will give his wife a divorce on one condition. She join him in a remote cabin for 30 days, submitting to his sexual dominance.
Marriage Games | Separation Games
* * *
Monica insists she’s not submissive. Jonathan Drazen is going to prove otherwise, but he might fall in love doing it.
COMPLETE SUBMISSION
* * *
Theresa Drazen is about to accept a proposition from the most dangerous man in Los Angeles.
COMPLETE CORRUPTION
* * *
Fiona Drazen has 72 hours to prove she isn’t insane, just submissive. Her therapist has to get through three days without falling for her.
FORBIDDEN
* * *
Margie Drazen has a story and it’s going to blow your mind.
THE SIN DUET
* * *
Contemporary Romances
Hollywood and sports romances for the sweet and sexy romantic.
Shuttergirl | Hardball | Bombshell | Bodyguard | Only Ever You
Acknowledgments
This is the space where I acknowledge my failings and apologize for any instance where you said, “Nope.” I encourage you to contact me with errors you’ve noticed. If you have experience on the subject (you are a medical professional or patient, lawyer or developer), I will make every effort to correct the text.
I’m not a lawyer, but Jean Siska is. Her help with this book cannot be overstated. If it seems like I know what I’m talking about, it’s because she does. I did contract the calendar for this sort of legal action because I needed to. If you find other inaccuracies, don’t call Jean. That’s me.
The timeline. Shoot. Me. Now. I’m not a fertility doctor, nor have I ever been a patient of one. Not that it matters, because if you take the Clomid through days three and seven without a trigger shot, you get your IUI on days ten to sixteen, which is staggeringly unhelpful. With a trigger shot means there’s a two-day window where your eggs will drop, which is less staggering but still not helpful. I need rules. I need to fill out a calendar. But the human body isn’t into accuracy, nor is the medical profession.
So, I did what I always do. I researched the hell out of the thing and fudged the text, because in weighing the emotional trajectory against factual accuracy, emotions win every time… as long as they don’t take readers out of the story or put Olivia in the doctor’s office constantly.
For those of you who have undergone these treatments, you are goddesses and paragons of patience. You have my utmost respect. This process is not for the weak.
Thank you to my Facebook fan group for keeping my head above water during a difficult year. You’ll never know what you did for me and I hope I can repay you with more books in less time.
You really should preorder Logan’s book right now.
The V Card
Lauren Blakely & Lili Valente
When you think about how easy it is to lose keys, phones, sunglasses, and your dignity on social media, you might figure it'd be a cinch for me to ditch my V Card.
You'd be wrong.
At 25, I run a successful business, live in a fantastic apartment, and have fabulous friends to go out with any night of the week. And yet I'm still a card-carrying member of a club I don't want to belong to anymore. Good thing I know just the man for the deflowering job—my brother’s business partner and best friend.
Graham is charming, smart, and, I’m told, oh-so-skilled in the sack. As long as I keep my eyes on the prize, there’s no way this pluck-the-flower project could possibly complicate matters.
* * *
Work and pleasure. As the CEO of a fast-growing company, I've been enjoying both to the fullest. What do I do when the board throws me for an unexpected loop so I can keep my business in my hands? I enlist the help of my best friend's little sister since she holds a big stake in the company. But then I learn there's another big stake she wants.
The one between my legs.
I can do this. Seven nights to teach her everything I know in the bedroom. There's no way I'll fall for her, even though she’s earning top grades in every single sinfully sexy lesson. And turns out I’m learning something too. The trouble is I don’t have the answer key to what to do when I fall hard for her.
And that throws a whole new hitch in my plans.
Also By Lauren Blakely
Big Rock Series
Big Rock
Mister O
Well Hung
Full Package
Joy Ride
Hard Wood
One Love Series dual-POV Standalones
The Sexy One
The Only One
The Hot One
Sports Romance
Most Valuable Playboy
Most Likely to Score
Standalones
The Knocked Up Plan
Stud Finder
The V Card
Wanderlust
Come As You Are
Part-Time Lover
The Real Deal
Unbreak My Heart
Far Too Tempting
21 Stolen Kisses
Playing With Her Heart
Out of Bounds
Unzipped
The Heartbreakers Series
Once Upon a Real Good Time
Once Upon a Sure Thing
Once Upon a Wild Fling
The Caught Up in Love Series
Caught Up In Us
Pretending He’s Mine
Trophy Husband
Stars In Their Eyes Duet
My Charming Rival
My Sexy Rival
The No Regrets Series
The Thrill of It
The Start of Us
Every Second With You
The Seductive Nights Series
First Night (Julia and Clay, prequel novella)
Night After Night (Julia and Clay, book one)
After This Night (Julia and Clay, book two)
One More Night (Julia and Clay, book three)
A Wildly Seductive Night (Julia and Clay novella, book 3.5)
The Joy Delivered Duet
Nights With Him (A standalone novel about Michelle and Jack)
Forbidden Nights (A s
tandalone novel about Nate and Casey)
The Sinful Nights Series
Sweet Sinful Nights
Sinful Desire
Sinful Longing
Sinful Love
The Fighting Fire Series
Burn For Me (Smith and Jamie)
Melt for Him (Megan and Becker)
Consumed By You (Travis and Cara)
The Jewel Series
A two-book sexy contemporary romance series
The Sapphire Affair
The Sapphire Heist
Also by Lili Valente
Standalones
The Hunter Brothers Series
The Baby Maker
The Troublemaker
The Heartbreaker
The Bad Motherpuckers Series (Standalones)
Hot as Puck
Sexy Motherpucker
Puck-Aholic
Puck me Baby
Pucked Up Love
Puck Buddies
Sexy Flirty Dirty Romantic Comedies (Standalones)
Magnificent Bastard
Spectacular Rascal
Incredible You
Meant for You
The Master Me Series
(Red HOT erotic Standalone novellas)
Snowbound with the Billionaire
Snowed in with the Boss
Masquerade with the Master
Bought by the Billionaire Series
(HOT novellas, must be read in order)
Dark Domination
Deep Domination
Desperate Domination
Divine Domination
Kidnapped by the Billionaire Series
(HOT novellas, must be read in order)
Filthy Wicked Love
Crazy Beautiful Love
One More Shameless Night
Under His Command Series
(HOT novellas, must be read in order)
Controlling her Pleasure
Commanding her Trust
Claiming her Heart
To the Bone Series
(Sexy Romantic Suspense, must be read in order)
A Love so Dangerous
A Love so Deadly
A Love so Deep
Run with Me Series
(Emotional New Adult Romantic Suspense.
Must be read in order.)
Run with Me
Fight for You
The Lover’s Leap Series
A Naughty Little Christmas
The Bad Boy’s Temptation Trilogy
The Lonesome Point Series
(Sexy Cowboys written with Jessie Evans)
Leather and Lace
Saddles and Sin
Diamonds and Dust
12 Dates of Christmas
Glitter and Grit
Sunny with a Chance of True Love
Chaps and Chance
Ropes and Revenge
8 Second Angel
Chapter 1
Graham
Julie Andrews twirls in a field of flowers, her arms spread wide like she’s going to hug the world, while the Alps rise majestically behind her.
“That’s the one.” I point to the light-blue T-shirt with the caption—Look at all the fucks I give!—scrawled in cursive above the famous image from The Sound of Music.
It’s the perfect T-shirt for CJ.
One, she loves musicals.
Two, I’m always telling her she needs to give far fewer fucks. Shake off the little things. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Hell, look at me. I give so few fucks I’m practically a Zen master.
Although, for the record, the fucks I do give result in pure pleasure for the giver and the receiver.
“Would you like me to model that for you?”
I blink up at the unexpected offer. The curvy saleswoman bats her eyelashes suggestively. “It looks like it might be just my size,” she says, those baby blues drifting down to where she wants me to look.
Holy hell. That’s an eyeful. But of course, I’m only noticing her impressive rack because I want to get a look at her name tag. Ahem . . .
Olive.
I scrub a hand across my jaw. Damn, this shirt would look excellent on Olive.
Just have her try it on, the naughty devil on my shoulder whispers, determined to knock me off the wagon.
But that’s not happening. Not today, or any day in the near future.
I fish a fifty from my wallet and set it on the counter, calling on my best Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2. Just the fax, ma’am. Damn, he was cool in that film. In every film.
“Just the shirt, ma’am,” I say, flashing her a lopsided grin that has, admittedly, been known to melt panties.
“Ma’am?” She giggles. “You’re making me feel old.”
I swallow the teasing response on the tip of my tongue and slam on the charm brakes. Must. Stop. Flirting. I’m on the straight and narrow now. No distractions. Just laser-focus, like Bruce Willis disarming terrorists and saving Christmas.
“And can you wrap it up, please?” I ask, since CJ deserves the best. I can’t just waltz into brunch, ask her to pretty please with sugar on top help me save my company, and hand her a T-shirt in a plastic bag. Pfft.
The least I can do is gift wrap my request. Besides, I pride myself on excellence in gift-giving.
I check the scores for the Portland Badgers, my favorite hockey team, as busty Olive who I’m not going to hit on—not going to hit on, not going to hit on—wraps soft pink paper around the shirt, tying it with a silky white bow before slipping it into a pink gift bag. Perfect for a woman like CJ. Pink is her color.
I thank Olive and head out of the boutique, the midmorning sun of a gorgeous spring day in Manhattan shining brightly above.
My driver, Gary, waits for me at the curb of this cobbled street in the Village, and I remind myself to give him an even bigger tip, since he never idles. The dude always turns off the engine while he waits for me, treating the earth right.
That’s worth every penny of a tip.
Another thing worth every penny is having a town car at my disposal.
New York can suck it without a driver.
I can’t believe there was a day when I didn’t have this. Growing up with jack shit, my shoes held together by duct tape, I was lucky to have bus fare. I won’t ever forget how lucky I am to have all this now, and to take care of my family, too, so their shoes are whatever kind they want.
I slide onto the cool leather seat, and my phone dings with a note from my good friend Luna, thanking me for recommending she see the newest Zach Galifianakis flick. Apparently, she laughed all the way through. I’m sending a quick you’re always welcome, when another text lands. This one is from Lucy.
My shoulders tense, and I tell Gary to head to Ruby’s Kitchen on the Upper West Side, a farm-to-table place that has the best eggs in the city.
“Of course, Graham. Did you find what you were looking for?”
“I did. A perfect gift for CJ.” A smile crosses my lips as I think of CJ and her nerdy addiction to novelty T-shirts, but the grin erases itself when I glance back down at my phone.
Lucy. Lush, but loony Lucy.
I really should block her number.
But if I did that, she would show up on my doorstep, crazy leaking out of every pore, and I would need a damned crowbar to pry her off of me. Briefly, I wonder what Bruce’s John McClane would do in a situation like this, but then decide he wouldn’t let it happen in the first place.
Just the fax, ma’am, and yippee-ki-yay-motherfucker.
Lucy: Hey there, G-Man. What are you up to?
I roll my eyes at the nickname I can’t stomach then fire off a quick reply.
Busy.
Nothing shuts down a textual flirt attempt like a one-word reply. I’ll just keep Die Harding it through the day, like John McClane would if he were the badass CEO of a sexy-as-sin lingerie company.
I delete the text and shove the phone into the pocket of my jeans.
Ex-girlfriends have a way of coming
out of the woodwork at the least opportune times, proving my long-standing belief that any relationship that lasts for more than a few weeks is a Big Mistake. Gigantic with a capital G.
Lucy, for all her sexy curves, filthy mouth, and willingness to tackle any challenge in the book on exotic sex positions, is proving to be the biggest mistake of them all.
The trouble is, I’ve always been a sucker for the crazy ones. They’re just really good in bed.
Okay, fine, that’s a lie.
I’m a sucker for all the ladies. Blond, brunette, redhead. Crazy, sane, smart. I love women. We’ve had a solid mutual appreciation society going on for years.
Until Lucy came along, and the focus-sucking vortex of her growing obsession with me served as a stark reminder that I don’t have time for distractions in any shape or form. I don’t have a minute to spare on a romantic relationship. Not with my business at stake. My industry is in a massive state of flux, and I need to concentrate on keeping the company train rattling along at full speed.
That’s why I’m seeing CJ.
She’s my secret weapon, the key to making sure Adored moves in the right direction, despite the suitors waiting in the wings for my baby, doing their best to tempt my shareholders.