Ivy knows Archer is nothing but bad news: Infuriating, arrogant…and completely intoxicating. But despite her best efforts, she can’t seem to keep away. When a stolen kiss leads to a night of heated passion, Ivy realizes she’s in trouble and in head over heels.
But in the light of day, everything seems clearer and Archer’s not so sure a one-night stand is all he wants. Concocting a plan to keep Ivy by his side, Archer might just be willing to lose this bet…and win the jackpot instead.
And what?
“Archer?” A woman’s voice calls from nearby, causing the both of us to look at each other. The slightly panicked look on his face indicates he knows exactly who this woman is.
“Who’s looking for you?” I ask.
“No one.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Clearly someone is, since I can hear her call your name.”
“She’s not important. I went on one dinner date with her, Jeff, and Cecily a long time ago. She had us married and planning for babies by the end of it,” he says irritably, glancing over his shoulder.
“What’s her name?”
He turns to me. “What?”
“Her name? The no one who’s looking for you?”
“I, uh . . . don’t remember.” He runs a hand through that sexy hair again, strands falling over his forehead, and I’m filled with the sudden urge to push his hair out of his eyes. Comb my fingers through it.
Stop!
I need to remember he’s a complete jackass. I should run. Right now. In fact, I’m fully preparing to let him know exactly how much of an ass I think he is when the woman’s voice sounds again, closer this time as she continues to call Archer’s name like some worried owner looking for her pet dog.
“We should—oh.”
He practically shoves me against the railing, the rough concrete scratching my back through the thin fabric of my dress and he immediately slips his arm around my waist, protecting me. Holding me. His chest is against mine, my breasts pressed flush to him, and I release a skittering breath, my mind hung up on having him too close.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, incredulous.
“Sssh.” He rests his hand over my mouth, silencing me. His palm is big and warm, his fingers long, and I swear his skin tastes the slightest bit salty, not that I’m licking him or anything.
Oh God, I think . . . no, I know I want to lick him. Desperately. Slip one of those long fingers in between my lips and suck. And that is just so, so wrong . . .
“Maybe she won’t find us,” he whispers, dipping his head so his gaze meets mine. “Stay still.”
I slowly nod, his hand still over my mouth, his eyes locked with mine. His touch gentles as he takes another step closer and I want to melt at his nearness.
“Archer, are you back here?”
I flick my eyes to the left and see the woman. She’s standing about fifty feet away, her head whipping this way and that, almost frantically searching, and I press farther against the ledge at the same time Archer steps into me. His arm is still around my waist, protecting me from the rough concrete, and he’s standing so close I can hardly breathe.
There’s a giant pine tree giving us cover, throwing shadows over the corner we’re standing in, and I don’t think the woman can really see us. She’s oblivious to the fact we’re not that far from her.
Which I’m thankful for. I shouldn’t be. I should be kicking Archer in the shins and letting the woman know he’s right here and then throwing him to the she-wolf. Let him deal with the poor soul he rejected God knows how long ago who still harbors a thing for him.
He’s a complete womanizer. I’d be wise to stay away from him.
My head tells me this. But my body is singing a completely different tune.
Our gazes lock, his thumb sweeps back and forth across my cheek so slowly I want to die. It feels so good. This . . . is not right. His nearness confuses me. The way he looks at me, touches me, it makes me want him.
Desperately.
My earlier thoughts come rushing back, when I was being all “woe-is-me” wishing for a random stranger to make out with in a dark corner. Being with Archer like this is the next best thing. He’s looking at me like he’s thinking the same thing I am. Which is scary.
Exhilarating. Exciting.
As I stare up at him, I see how absolutely perfect his lips are. How come I never noticed this before? And when his tongue darts out to lick them, why are my knees suddenly shaking?
Oh, this is bad. So, so bad.
The woman finally gives up and leaves and I slump against the railing, ready for him to move away from me. Ready for him to grab me by the hips and lift me up onto the concrete ledge so I can wrap my legs around him and beg him to do me.
Wait, what? I so can’t do that. Clearly, I’ve had too much to drink, if two glasses of champagne could be considered excessive drinking. Which it must be, because I am making absolutely no sense.
“Ivy . . .” His hand slips from my mouth to cup my cheek, his thumb drifting across the corner of my lips. “I’m sorry.”
His touch distracts me as I try to frown. He’s doing everything I longed for not even an hour ago. Touching my face, nestled against me in a dark corner where anyone could find us. “What are you apologizing for?”
He cradles my face with his big, warm hands and dips his head, his gaze locked on my mouth for a long, breathless moment before he lifts his lids, his dark eyes meeting mine. “This,” he whispers just before he kisses me.
Do you know one of the ways I can tell that I really love a book? My Kindle is practically bleeding blue from all my blue highlights. Let me tell you, for such a short book, Crave has an exorbitant amount of highlights in my Kindle! I love Karonica’s writing style. Her style makes me fall in love with the story and the characters. Let’s talk Crave, shall we? Who can resist a book where the main character is described as:
Gorgeous and sexy, intelligent and ruthless, women wanted to do him, men wanted to be him. And the arrogant jackass knew it.
An arrogant jackass, you say? I’m in! Crave tells the story of Archer Bancroft and Ivy Emerson. Stop right here. At this point, are you as in love with the main character’s names as I am? Yes? Okay, moving on… Archer always gets what he wants and he wants Ivy. The minor hiccup in this scenario is that Ivy is his best friend, Gage’s little sister. Archer knows this has bad written all over it but he can’t resist.
Serious girlfriends aren’t a consideration. None of them interested me enough to want to keep them around. With the exception of one woman and I absolutely cannot touch her. She’s too young, too sweet, too good, too everything I’m not. She’s so fucking tempting and so completely off limits, I’d be a damn fool to attempt anything with her.
Ivy is a heroine I love! She is not only beautiful but she is strong, capable, talented, and can go toe to toe with Archer. What I love about Ivy is that she too knows a relationship with Archer has bad written all over it…but…when the stars align, you can’t really stop fate.
It’s not fair how pretty he is. He has the strong jaw and lush mouth. The dimple that makes such a rare appearance that whenever I see it, I immediately want to lick it. My frown deepens. I should not be thinking about licking Archer’s face. What the hell is wrong with me?
I’ll be honest…Karonica had me at, “licking Archer’s face.” Are you dying to read Crave yet or what? Have I mentioned that it’s HOT. No, that wasn’t an accident with the caps lock button. I fully intended to use shouty capitals in explaining how HOT this book is!!! Archer says things like, “I want to fuck you right here. Against the wall.” Yep. THAT happened.
I cannot explain in words how much I love this book. The characters, the story, the HOT factor are all reasons to read Crave. Go! Buy it! Read it! LOVE it!!! Oh!, and Karonica, if you are reading this, I have a request: More! More! I want MORE Archer! Please and thank you☺
Stalk Monica Murphy:
Website: http://www.monicamurphyauthor.com/#
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