Engaging the Bachelor
by Cathryn Fox
Series: Pulse, #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: June 6, 2016
Pretending to date this doctor is a prescription for trouble…
Hot, Southampton doctor, Carson Reynolds isn’t the kind of man Gemma Carr should be playing with. But his offer of a fake engagement comes with sexy, late night house calls, and despite her bad girl reputation, it’s been far too long since she’s taken two and called anyone in the morning.
When Carson sees Gemma at a charity event, he knows he has to have her. It’s been ten years since he’s had her in his arms, but that hasn’t lessened his intense need for her. To save her reputation and get his parents off his back, he makes her an offer she can’t refuse.
It’s the perfect set-up–until this fake engagement starts to feel a little too real…
She shook her head. “Are you always so annoying?”
He laughed. “Annoying? Women have called me a lot of things. You know, like hot stuff, adorable, and stud muffin... But annoying was never one of them.”
“Stud muffin? Who calls you that, your grandmother?”
“Jesus, that’s just wrong.” He made a face like he’d just sucked a lemon. “What kind of weirdo are you anyway?” he teased. “Grandma would never say something like that to her grandson.”
“Her friend, then? Someone older.”
“I wouldn’t say that, exactly.”
“Then what exactly would you say?”
He kicked at an imaginary pebble. “I’m pretty sure Ethel is at least a year younger than Grandma.” Gemma laughed. “Come on, Stud Muffin,” she said, and then mumbled something else under her breath and started up the steep flight of stairs. He followed behind, her sexy body dragging every dirty idea he ever had to the forefront of his brain. Her skirt lifted with each step, exposing the soft swell of her tanned backside. Christ, did she sunbathe in the nude? A groan caught in his throat, and she stopped and turned.
“What now?”
He coughed. “I’m not complaining, but you might want to wear panties with that uniform.”
She ran her hand over the back of her skirt, smoothing it over her luscious ass, and scowled at him. “I am wearing panties. Maybe you should just stop looking so hard.”
He adjusted his pants. No sense in hiding what she did to him. “Key word being hard, Gemma.”
She glared at him, but he didn’t miss the twitch in her lips. “This is dinner and nothing more. Just so we’re clear, I don’t owe you anything other than that.”
“Right. Dinner. I know.” He coughed again. “But just so you’re clear, I do want to have sex with you again. I don’t believe in playing games, unless of course handcuffs are involved, so I figured I might as well get that right out there in the open.”
A beat of silence, and then, “I appreciate your honesty, but I’m not having sex with you, Carson.”
His cock twitched at her feeble protest. “Say that again.”
“I’m not having sex with you, Carson.”
“No, just that last part.” She eyed him and her sweet pink tongue snaked out and brushed over her bottom lip. Was she trying to kill him?
“Carson.”
“Yeah, that’s it. I want you to say it just like that when I’m inside you.” He kept his expression deadpan when her mouth dropped open in a silent O. He probably shouldn’t be trying to rattle her, but she was just so damn sexy when she was thrown off her game—and yeah, she was playing with him as much as he was playing with her. There was a connection between them whether she wanted to acknowledge it or not. The push/ pull was palpable, and he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to use everything in his arsenal to explore it further.
I liked this book. It was a good read with solid writing, but for me, this one didn’t quite pull me in.
I did like the premise of the story but had a hard time connecting the one night stand as a kid to the unrequited love that has manifested in both Carson and Gemma. Learning about their pasts helped a bit, but for me that connection just wasn’t strong enough to keep me fully engaged with these characters.
As I already said, the writing was solid and I enjoyed the banter between Carter and Gemma. Even though Carter was definitely an alpha male, the author does a great job tempering his cockiness with humor to keep him loveable.
All in all, just an ok read for me on this one, but because of the writing and dialogue I will definitely be checking out some of Cathryn Fox’s other books.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Cathryn is a wife, mom, sister, daughter, and friend. She loves dogs, sunny weather, anything chocolate (she never says no to a brownie) pizza and red wine. She has two teenagers who keep her busy with their never ending activities, and a husband who is convinced he can turn her into a mixed martial arts fan. Cathryn can never find balance in her life, is always trying to find time to go to the gym, can never keep up with emails, Facebook or Twitter and tries to write page-turning books that her readers will love.
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