Consolation Prize
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?
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
Excerpt:
Julianna Radcliffe
Excerpt:
“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?”
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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.
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