Consolation Prize
Forbidden Men, #9
Forbidden Men, #9
by Linda Kage
Released November 17th 2016
Self-Published
Self-Published
Blurb
Don't you just hate it when someone destroys all your carefully made plans?
Don't you just hate it when someone destroys all your carefully made plans?
I mean,
I had goals: college to graduate in one semester, a future I was working hard
to reach, and an image of myself I wanted the world to see. My life was stacked
into these precisely placed blocks. But then Colton Gamble came along and
knocked them all askew.
I hated
how he messed everything up, how he could hog all my attention whenever he was
around, how he made my pulse quicken--but only because he ticked me off...not
because I was attracted to him. Oh! And I hated how he knew how attractive he
was too, the shallow, full of himself, doesn't take no for an answer, too-flirty,
too cocky, extremely irritating jerk.
The boy
had all the qualities that turned me off. Or so I thought.
One
night he wasn't quite the brainless, over-confident jerk I usually took him
for.
One
night, he took care of me when I was at my lowest. He opened up to me and made
me open up to him.
Now I'm
learning maybe he's not what I first thought he was. And maybe I'M not what I
first thought I was. Maybe it’s okay to rearrange a couple of my perfectly set
blocks. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll stop worrying about what I’m afraid everyone
else will think and finally reach for something I really want. It’s possible
some of my plans need to be destroyed, and Colton Gamble is exactly the kind of
mess I need in my life.
What do
you think? Should I give him a try?
Desperately
seeking your advice,
Julianna Radcliffe
Julianna Radcliffe
Buy
Links:
“Juli
can’t stop staring at you tonight.”
“Juli?”
That name perked me to immediate attention. “Julianna’s here?”
I
followed Asher’s gaze to a dimly-lit table in the back corner that bordered the
dance floor. It was empty save for one individual, one of the loveliest
individuals to grace the planet.
I have
no clue how she did it, but Julianna Radcliffe always managed to look equal
parts disdainfully untouchable and wet-dream sexy.
Tonight,
her dress was pure sin. She wore a long, strapless light gray number that had a
front slit, exposing a perfectly toned leg most the way up her thigh and a
bustier top that hugged proud, ample breasts. The paleness of her dress made
the tone of her skin appear even darker than usual, which made my stomach knot
with tension because I yearned to investigate all that dark-dark skin, see how
it felt under my hands, how it tasted against my tongue, how it trembled when I
stroked it.
Yet I
knew without a shadow of a doubt there was no way that would ever happen,
because that lady right here was a ball breaker. You could tell it by the
straight-backed, poised way she held herself, as if she might as well be behind
a boardroom table, doling out punishments to her inferior insubordinates, and
by the way she had no tolerance for stupidity or players. I swear, her stare
alone could shrivel a guy’s family jewels to impotent nothingness. I usually
had the itching urge to cover my junk whenever I talked to her.
And yet
she was an irresistible challenge to idiots like me. Not just because she was
model-worthy stunning, which she was. Nothing on her was ever out of place; it
always struck me with the urge to mess her up…in the best ways possible. But
because I felt the need to be the exception to the rule, the one who got past
her defenses and scaled that impossible mountain.
Brandt
groaned.
I
glanced at him, forcing my brain back to the problem at hand, that being
Julianna and her inability to take her eyes off my newly married brother.
“Hasn’t it been months since you and she were over?” I asked, confused.
He sent
me a sharp glance. “Over? We never started. There’s nothing to be over. Juli
and I didn’t even finish the one date we went on.”
Asher
sniffed. “Well, it looks as if she’s still willing to finish it.”
“Dammit.”
Brandt glanced toward his wife. “I hope Sarah doesn’t see her watching me. I
don’t want anything upsetting her on our wedding day.”
Asher
shook his head. “So, why’d you even invite Juli?”
“I work
with her.” Brandt moodily tugged at the collar of his tux.
It
seemed odd to me that someone so classically beautiful worked in a nightclub as
a bartender. To me, Julianna clearly belonged on a runway, displaying the
latest fashion, or—
“It
would’ve been strange to invite everyone else and leave her out. Besides, we’re
still friends. She’s probably my favorite coworker.”
“Hey,”
Asher muttered, offended since he occasionally bartended at Forbidden with
Brandt too.
Brandt
rolled his eyes. “You don’t count.”
But
that only seemed to confuse Asher more. “Why don’t I count?”
Ignoring
him, Brandt brought his hand up to his mouth so he could chew on his thumbnail.
“We need to distract her somehow. Someone needs to...” Trailing off, he turned
slowly toward me, and the intent in his gaze was pretty damn clear.
I
paused mid-sip. “Wait, what? You can’t possibly want me to distract her?”
Buy Links:
Author Info
Linda
Kage grew up on a dairy farm in the Midwest as the
youngest of eight children. Now she lives in Kansas with her husband, daughter,
and nine cuckoo clocks. Her life's been blessed with lots of people to learn
from and love. Writing's always been a major part of her world, and she is so
happy to finally share some of her stories with other romance lovers.
Author Links:
Hosted by
Presented by
No comments:
Post a Comment