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By: Jessica Lemmon
Releasing
October 25, 2016
Forever
Forever
In The Billionaire Next Door (Billionaire Bad Boys #2) by Jessica Lemmon, after being screwed over by her now ex-boyfriend and not getting the promotion that should have been hers, Rachel Foster decided to toss in her marketing job and become a bartender instead. She's enjoying the freedom, and isn't in the market for another man yet. But the moment she lays on Taggart Crane, she can't helped but be intrigued, even if their first meeting leaves Tag with the wrong impression of why she's apartment sitting for an older man in the hotel Tag owns.
Taggart 'Tag' Crane could have any woman he wants, but he has one hard and fast rule -- he doesn't do commitment. So, the fact that Rachel isn't impressed by his charms or his Billionaire status has him working extra hard to win her over. With business in the Guest & Restaurant services department of Crane Hotels not doing as well as expected, Tag needs to find a way to turn things around and Rachel may be his only hope. Can he convince her to help and at the same time convince her that his standpoint on happy ever after has begun to change?
Having absolutely loved Tag as a secondary character in the first book of this series called The Billionaire Bachelor, I couldn't wait to discover more about him, and I've got to say that story was everything I'd hoped for and more. Right from the beginning, this book was highly entertaining, fast-paced and I loved how it started. Rachel doesn't know how to tell her parents the truth of what's happened in her life recently, and so she needs advice. But is the person that offers it giving her the right advice?
As for the dialogue, it was intense due to the main characters back stories, especially that of the heroine. She has major trust issues after what her ex-boyfriend did, yet she gives Tag the benefit of the doubt because of all that he does by trying to win her over. Then there's what happens to Tag's brother that brings the Crane family even closer together. Eli needs them so much, and it's up to Tag and his other brother Reese to stop him from pushing everyone away, which isn't easy. However, there were some light-hearted moments that had me smiling or laughing. The tight friendship Tag has with Lucas was the best. The way Lucas teases Tag about his love life, whether he's found the one and the advice he gives the hero made me really like Lucas.
Both the main characters were riveting, and I looked forward to every moment they conversed. Rachel is strong, brave and I liked how determined she is not to rely on anyone. She needs to move forward with her life after the disaster of her last relationship, and the best way to do that is by not accepting favors from anyone and doing everything possible to get her life back on track. By the way of finding a new job and a new apartment all on her own. While Tag, he's confident, charming and I liked how determined he is to prove he has what it takes to turn things around for Crane Hotels when it comes to their Guest & Restaurant services department. He needs to make every effort to please the Hotel's board members and hiring Rachel is the best decision he's ever made, which is proven with the ideas she comes up with.
Overall, this was an incredible addition to the Billionaire Bad Boys series for Ms. Lemmon where the strong chemistry between Rachel and Tag exploded onto the pages in a nicely-detailed romance. The way this story ended was perfect, as Tag proved his love for Rachel by doing something that he normally avoided. Luckily, everyone at a certain event that he'd normally never attend with a date was charmed by his speech. I would recommend The Billionaire Next Door, if you enjoy sexy Billionaires or a heroine determined to move forward with her life after an ex-boyfriend's betrayal.
OVERALL RATING:
OVERALL RATING:
BLURB:
Can't Buy Me Love
Can't Buy Me Love
It's Tag Crane's job to be the life
of the party. Traveling from one exotic locale to another is just part of
running the luxurious Crane Hotel empire. But even paradise isn't perfect.
Devising a new business strategy is keeping Tag up at night-and so is the Great
Dane barking at all hours in the apartment below his. To muzzle the problem,
Tag charges downstairs . . . right into the most beautiful, blond distraction
he's ever seen.
Dog-sitting by day, bartending by
night. It's not exactly the life Rachel Foster dreamed of. But when Tag Crane
rushes in, all mountain-man shoulders and obscenely sexy smile, needing her
help for the Crane Hotels, it's a fantasy come true. What's the harm in a fun
no-strings fling? Only a fool would give her heart to a billionaire player like
Tag-until suddenly the one man who can't be caught is the one flirting with
forever . .
“This is so
much colder than a cab,” Rachel said through chattering teeth. The bar was
probably fifteen blocks from the apartment. What was she thinking agreeing to
walk? She couldn’t feel her nose.
“But
cleaner,” Tag said. She was currently taking two steps for every one of his,
given his gait was longer than hers, even at a leisurely pace.
“I do
better when it’s a nice, even seventy degrees.” She buried her chin in her
scarf as she watched her boots cut through the gathering snow. “I guess it’ll
be a few more months until we see milder temps.”
God. She
was hopeless. Walking down the sidewalk next to a gorgeous guy and talking
about the weather. But Tag didn’t balk.
“I like
extremes,” he said, as if this was perfectly acceptable conversation. “If it’s
hot, I like it really hot. If it’s cold, there’d better be snow or it’s a
waste. I like the ocean because you can’t see the end of it. If I’m in a
forest, I prefer one filled with massive sequoias.”
“Because
you can relate to them,” she teased. “Giant.”
He turned
his head and smiled and she admired straight, white teeth surrounded by a
golden brown beard. He’d pulled his hair down and the light brown waves fell
haphazardly over his black coat. Which was so sexy she couldn’t think.
Especially since there were snowflakes in the strands. Not that she could blame
them. Nestled warmly in those locks wasn’t a bad place to imagine being.
Again, she
wondered at her attraction to him. Though he did kind of look like Thor, and
while she wasn’t a die-hard comic book fan, she could appreciate the actor in
the movie.
“How tall
are you?” she asked, mostly to stop her inane train of thought. The more she
was around him, the less she understood her basal reaction to him.
“Just under
six-six. You’re what? Five-five?”
“Yeah.
How’d you do that?”
He shrugged
and looked ahead, but she didn’t doubt how he’d done it. He’d likely honed his
carnival skills and was stellar at guessing weight and height. It wasn’t hard
to imagine him using his intuition to figure out a woman’s weak points so he
could attack where she was most sensitive. He’d probably had a ton of practice.
Was that
where her concern was coming from? That he’d find her weak spots and use them
against her? That’s what Shaun had done, she thought with a token amount of bitterness.
“How’d I do
what?” A puff of air came from his lips, buried in his beard. She’d never liked
facial hair. Until now, apparently.
“How’d you
guess my height?” she shot back, feeling peeved more with herself than him.
Lack of sleep, or maybe too much, she wasn’t really sure what to blame her
reaction on now. “How’d you know I was a businesswoman before? I’m a great
bartender, by the way. I was a bartender for longer than I worked in
marketing.” She pushed her hands deeper into her pockets, lamenting not
bringing her gloves with her. Her hands were freezing.
“Just
observant. I’m good with people,” he said.
She
absorbed that for a few seconds.
“What
exactly do you do in Guest and Restaurant Services?” She air-quoted those
words, which brought her bare hands from her pockets. He noticed.
“Where are
your gloves? Do you realize it’s February in Chicago?”
“I forgot
them.”
Tag stopped
walking, a deep sigh working its way from his wide chest as he tugged off his
gloves.
“I’m fine.”
But he wasn’t listening. Once he’d had his baseball-mitt sized gloves off, he
lifted her smaller, freezing hands to his mouth, cupping them in his palms, and
blew on them to warm her fingers. He did this the way he did everything else.
Slowly.
Intentionally.
And looking
right at her.
He brushed
his lips over her knuckles as a drove of chills shot down her spine and legs.
She became fascinated by how soft his beard felt against her freezing skin, and
then those chills were replaced with heat. Pooling in her belly, between her
thighs, and infusing her face with color.
“Thanks,”
she muttered when he let her go. She stuffed her hands into his gloves—they
were warm, and after his personal attention, so was she. They finished their
walk to Crane Tower, and once they were in the lobby, she put that together
with Crane Hotels. “You’re pretty brand loyal aren’t you?”
“Honey, you
have no idea.”
A former job-hopper, Jessica Lemmon resides in Ohio with her husband and rescue dog. She holds a degree in graphic design currently gathering dust in an impressive frame. When she’s not writing super-sexy heroes, she can be found cooking, drawing, drinking coffee (okay, wine), and eating potato chips. She firmly believes God gifts us with talents for a purpose, and with His help, you can create the life you want.
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