From an author who never fails to delight with her characters’ effervescent banter and their quick, engaging wit, this book was everything I hoped it would be, and more. I was dazzled from the very first page, devouring chapters as fast as my eyes would let me, falling head over heels for these colourful, crazy, wonderful characters while my heart kept beaming with excitement from Ms Callihan’s every word. What starts out as an amusing case of will-they-won’t-they, bursting with sexual tension at every corner, quickly changes into a touching love story between two kindred spirits who have a lot more in common than they ever thought possible. I loved every moment and found myself devouring this book in a single sitting.
“I’ve never met a person I couldn’t manage.”
“Sophie Elizabeth Darling.”
As manager of the biggest rock band on the planet, Gabriel Scott’s carefully crafted persona of a polished, unemotional businessman has allowed him to keep the world around him at an arm’s length—including those closest to him—every aspect of his life a remarkable feat of self-control and ambition. Feared by everyone who’s ever had the displeasure of challenging him, Gabriel is a man used to getting his way, so the last person in whom he expects to find his match is a platinum-haired firecracker with the face of an angel and the tongue of a viper, sitting next to him during a long-haul flight. Over the course of seven hours at thirty-five thousand feet across the Atlantic, he finds himself lowering his defences and drawing comfort from a complete stranger, only to realise before long that he’d been snuggling up with a potential employee.
“I hate this.”
“Snuggling?”
“Weakness.”
When Sophie Darling finds herself suddenly upgraded to first class on her flight to London, she doesn’t expect to also find herself sitting next to the most gorgeous man she’s ever seen, but from the moment he looks her way, she is met with an ice-cold glare and an attitude to match. Annoyed by his easy dismissal of her and in the mood to toy with him, Sophie shows a very uptight Brit just what a nuisance she can be, only to discover beneath his tense veneer a man desperate to maintain control at all costs.
“Jesus,” I blurt out, lifting my hand as if to shield my eyes. “It’s like looking into the sun.”
“What?” he snaps, those laser-bright eyes narrowing.
“Just stop, will you?” I squint at him. “You’re too hot. It’s too much to take.”
“Are you quite well?”
“No, you’ve nearly rendered me blind.” I flap a hand. “Do you have an off switch? Maybe put it on low?”
“Lovely. I’m stuck next to a mad woman.”
Sometime during their long flight while pretending to be more to each other than they really are, the dynamic between them shifts, and once they reach their destination, they both reluctantly step out of their cozy little bubble of familiarity in favour of the reality awaiting them. But with Sophie’s new job putting them in each other’s lives on a daily basis, an easy but unexpected friendship gently forms between them, bringing comfort to them both and quickly becoming the very thing neither one them can live without.
“I am a cold man. Any happiness or warmth I’ve felt died… Until you. You are my warmth.”
Gabriel’s inner demons, however, run deep and denying his heart and body what it craves the most proves to be a lost battle from the start. Their every interaction turns into foreplay, every blurred line between them brings them one step closer to what they both desire above all else, until no amount of self-restraint can stop what was meant to happen all along.
“You want me to use your body for my pleasure?”
“As hard as you can.”
But Gabriel Scott is not a man who believes himself capable of loving a woman without eventually hurting her too, and while his every protective instinct tells him to stay away from Sophie, his little firecracker has very different ideas. She is determined not to let him face the world alone anymore, even when having his back means going head to head with Gabriel’s deepest fears.
“Sophie, I have no capacity for relationships. I’ve never had one, never wanted one.”
This was a surprisingly poignant story of two lonely people who at first glance seem to have very little in common, but whose greatest weakness becomes the very thing that brings them together. Each moment between them is brimming with magic, but their sexual chemistry is so hot it made me lightheaded at times. And I can’t even reminisce about the sex scenes without sweating. It was the perfect escape, the perfect way to spend a day with a group of beloved characters, and I already want more.
“You're staring.”
“Are you watching Buffy?”
He rolls his eyes. “Deal with it.”
“I'm just so… Are you sure I'm not being punked?”
A snort escapes him. “You're not famous, so no. I, on the other hand, have my moments of doubt that you aren’t here to punk me.”
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(standalone stories with interconnected characters)
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