Advanced Reading Copy
Published: September 24th, 2013, Harlequin HQN
My rating: 4 of 5 ⭐
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Back in town after leaving Vegas behind her, along with some bad choices and false accusations, security expert Charlie Allington is hoping that the new resort going up in Jackson Hole will be her opportunity to try for a better future. The wife of the owner, an old girlfriend from school, is reminding Charlie constantly how lucky she should count herself to have been given such an opportunity, and she is not doing it in a very nice way. In fact, Charlie feels downright unwelcome. That is, until she bumps into another old friend from her school days, this one she used to have a crush on!
School had always been a curse for Walker Pearce, but Charlotte Allington made his hours in the library a bit more bearable. She had always been a sweet and smart girl, and would patiently tutor him for hours. Still, all he would ever be good for was cowboy, but that didn't matter to him. He enjoyed it, and he was good at it, he just would never be good enough for the likes of her. But boy, had she changed.......no longer a good little girl, Charlie sure had turned a little wild, and turned him on a lot!!
Charlie is all for having a bit of fun and if that can include the delicious Walker, whom she has had fantasies about since high school, she is not going to pass up on that opportunity! She knows his reputation, he likes to play and then set his women loose, so she won't cling even though she knows full well that her heart is at risk. But with the strange goings on at her new job, she can sure use the stress relieve that Walker provides.
Hardly believing his good fortune, Walker is amazed at the passionate woman Charlie has become. In fact, he can't seem to get enough of her, nor can he stop thinking about her and it is starting to bug him when she keeps referring to him as 'just' a friend, obviously not wanting anything from him but a convenient fuck. Walker is not clued in that Charlie is simply trying to protect her heart.
Signals are crossed and when outside parties decide to throw in their skewed stories, it'll be a miracle before these two can get anything straightened out!
*****
Seriously hot and seductive story, with some hilarious secondary characters!
Kind of refreshing, reading about characters who are NOT billionaires, or rockers, seals or bikers, but just a couple of ordinary folks, down on their luck and in particular on their self-esteem. Completely sexy though.....with a slight kinky edge, a lot of good open fun and a sense of adventure.
Charlie had been on top of the world, or so she though, but had been brought down by betrayal and lack of good judgement on her own part, and that made her insecure, vulnerable and made her feel less worthy. But it didn't kill her fighting spirit, nor did it break her steel core. But never had she had a soft place to fall like Walker before.
For Walker it was really a revelation. His whole life he had been told, and readily believed, that he was worthless, so he never expected more of himself, and neither did anyone else, except perhaps his brother. Not until Charlie placed much higher value on him than he ever saw in himself. At first he felt it as an insult, that he wasn't living up to HER standards, but eventually he understands that he is not living up to HIS standards. He has just been setting them too low all his life, and no one had ever called him on it, before Charlie.
The background banter in this book is too funny. The lewd comments by Raylene, the landlord, are hilarious and the raunchy 'back and forth' when the 'girls' congregate had me laughing out loud!
Victoria Dahl, for a woman who is famous for her elaborate sexual scenery, you do funny damn well too!! The combo in this book worked really well.
✨A steamy, sultry, snicker-inducing delight of a story!✨
**ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Harlequin HQN in return for an honest review.**
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