Persuasion Skills by Laurel Cremant
Blurb:
In
the aftermath of a major health scare, Pepper Holts makes the relief-inspired
decision to seize the day. Unfortunately, most of her “seizing” involves a bit
of merlot and her best friend's pants! After a shared night of passion she
realizes that her feelings for Jax are a lot more complicated than she ever
thought.
Jax
has finally realized that his allergy to marriage has nothing to do with the
institution itself, and everything to do with the women in his bed—or more
specifically, the one woman not in his bed. Her reaction to their one night
together has him scrambling to regroup. So he does what he knows best—he
disappears, and he thinks. The plan?—convince Pepper into staying with him at a
secluded cabin for one week. One week of pretending to be a happily married
couple to show her how great they could be together.
EXCERPT. . .
Marching into the main room, she
confronted her friend-come-raving-lunatic.
“Forget Misery. You’re in
definite Psycho territory here!”
A tint of red darkened his cheeks. At
least he had the decency to blush. His show of embarrassment gave her hope that
there was still a chance to reason with him.
“I know it looks bad”
“Looks bad? Looks bad? Jesus,
Jax, you bought a closet full of clothes!”
“I didn’t want you to get cold. You’re
such a Miami girl.”
“And my shampoo?”
“I wanted you to feel at home.”
“And the drawer filled with lingerie?”
He grinned at her. Stupid, sexy
dimples.
“Okay, that one was more for me than
you, but you can’t blame a guy for being hopeful.”
She stared at him and tried to take
deep, calming breaths.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
“What exactly is your grand plan
here? What are we supposed to accomplish trapped up on this mountain?”
He planted his arms across his chest
and gave her a long, unreadable look.
“We live here for one week, like a
real married couple,” he said finally.
She opened her mouth to retort, but
he cut her off.
“Consider this a trial run. If at the
end of the seven days, you’re not convinced we’ll be amazing together, I’ll let
you walk away, and I’ll drop the whole thing.”
“I can’t just not go back to Miami, I
have work—”
“I called your assistant this
morning. She’s cleared your schedule for the next week.”
“My family—”
“All think you’re on a much-needed
and overdue vacation. They say ‘Hi,’ by the way.”
Her left eyelid trembled. Was it
possible to develop a chronic tick in a matter of minutes?
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
“And how exactly is a real couple
supposed to live?”
“We do the things any other
vacationing couple would do. We spend time with each other, go on walks, have
romantic dinners.” He sent her a heavy lidded gaze. “We sleep together,” he
said huskily.
Her body heated at his words, and her
mouth went dry at the thought of being in a bed with him again. She let her
gaze drift to his crotch and bit back a moan. He was most definitely aroused.
As if sensing her gaze, she could
swear she saw his cock thump against his zipper.
She drew her gaze away from the
hypnotic view as he made his way towards her with long, smooth steps.
“I’m not having sex with you again,”
she said shakily. “That’s what got us into this mess to begin with. If we hadn’t
slept together in the first place, you wouldn’t be proposing marriage right
now.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He
placed a hand on her lower back and drew her into his warmth.
The look in his eyes had her catching
her breath. Crazy Jax she could handle. Aroused Jax was a whole other story.
He leaned down and nuzzled her throat
with his nose before whispering in her ear.
“The sex only helps prove my point,
but I’ll make you a deal.”
Her stomach quivered at the feel of
his lips at the flesh of her ear. She cleared her throat before responding.
“Does it involve you coming to your
senses?”
The rumble of his chuckle vibrated up
his chest and against her sensitive nipples as one of his hands smoothed down
her back and squeezed her ass.
“No, but it should put you at ease.”
His meandering hand was making it
hard for her to concentrate. All she could do was snort in reply, silently
begging her hips not to give in and rub against him.
“For the next seven days, we get to pet each
other as much as we want, fondle and taste to our heart’s content, but I won’t
fuck you, Pep,” he said while nibbling at the soft skin of her throat.
It took a minute for her lust-addled
brain to process his statement.
“But you said—”
He lifted his head and placed a soft,
too-short kiss on her lips before stepping away.
“I said we’ll sleep together.
Before we have sex again, I want you fully willing to be my wife and nothing
less,” he said, a serious expression flattening his lips.
She searched his eyes, but his gaze
didn’t waver. She grasped at the last life-line she could find.
“I don’t think I can be what you
need, Jax.”
“And what exactly do you think I
need?”
“I’m not exactly a submissive kind of
woman,” she said.
She frowned as he snorted at her
statement.
“No shit.”
“I’m serious, Jax. I don’t think I
can be the type of woman you seem to want. Our night together was good—”
“Amazing,” he said firmly. “It was
amazing.”
“Whatever, fine amazing,” she said,
not wanting to go down that road at the moment. “But I’m not wired to be bossed
around and told what to do. You want a submissive woman, and I’m just not that.”
He shook his head sadly at her. It
hurt to see his look of disappointment, but it was what she expected. She
wouldn’t take her words back because they were the truth. As much as she
enjoyed him dominating her in bed she knew that the bedroom was as far as she
would allow it.
“Pep, if I wanted a submissive woman,
we wouldn’t even be here right now.”
“But—”
“Do I want to tie you down and fuck
you senseless? Hell yeah. I can’t wait to see you bound and spread-eagled for
me again.”
He reached up and cupped her heated
cheeks, tilting her face up to meet his gaze.
“And I can’t wait to see your nipples
in pretty little clamps, tight and hard just begging to be sucked.”
Her breathing was way past erratic,
but she couldn’t look away from his heated gaze.
“But that’s where it ends. It stays
with sex. I like your kick-ass attitude, Pep. I don’t want a woman who isn’t
willing to argue and fight. What I prefer in the bedroom doesn’t extend to the
rest of our relationship.”
Her heart sank as she saw her chances
of surviving the next week with her heart unscathed deteriorate in a pile of
ash.
“I don’t want to change who you are,
Pep. I just want to prove that we work together. Give this week a chance,” he
said.
A heavy sigh worked its way past the
lump in her throat.
“You’ve got yourself a deal, Mr.
Grey,” she told him.
It almost hurt to see his answering
smile of relief.
“Well, Mrs. Grey, I think it’s
time for lunch. How ’bout I fix you a grilled cheese sandwich and then we head
out for a walk?” He pulled her back in for a hug.
She laid her head on his chest and
breathed in his scent. She had a fleeting thought that traipsing around in the
woods with him sounded like fun. Apparently, insanity was contagious.
“Yeah, sure. Why the hell not?”
BUY LINKS:
ABOUT LAUREL CREMANT
Laurel is a romance author, who like
most writers loves to read. Her first love (pun intended) has always been
romance. From the sappy YA romance novel to the more risqué erotica novels,
Laurel is a sucker for a good love story.
Laurel writes paranormal and
contemporary romance and is a self proclaimed, out of the closet nerd. She
admits that she can't seem to avoid adding a bit of "nerdology" or
"geek-dom" to all of her books. Living in Miami, she also admits that
she can't seem to avoid giving her heroines gorgeous shoes, "In Miami,
we worship everything strappy, open toed and just plain hot!"
AUTHOR WEBSITE &
LINKS
Persuasion Skills is a fun, romantic and
sensual read that many fans of the genre will enjoy their time reading.
Pepper lives her life, her business, which she is partners with her best friend in and she loves her best friend. Never willing to lose what they have because she cherishes their friendship so much. She continues to keep her feelings to herself. But how much longer can she continue to hold back?
Jax finally wakes up after a life time of being against the biggest commitment of life, marriage. He also has come to realize that the love he feels for his best friend is much more than friendship…
I LOVE IT when two people that are the very best of friends become much more. It’s more personal, real and rare when it happens. Good job Laurel! Now I just have to sit here and wait for more from you ;)
Pepper lives her life, her business, which she is partners with her best friend in and she loves her best friend. Never willing to lose what they have because she cherishes their friendship so much. She continues to keep her feelings to herself. But how much longer can she continue to hold back?
Jax finally wakes up after a life time of being against the biggest commitment of life, marriage. He also has come to realize that the love he feels for his best friend is much more than friendship…
I LOVE IT when two people that are the very best of friends become much more. It’s more personal, real and rare when it happens. Good job Laurel! Now I just have to sit here and wait for more from you ;)
