Ties That Bind & Animal Attraction
by Katee Robert
Series: Hot in Hollywood Duet
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: September 19, 2017
Once upon a time, Cora Landers was America’s Sweetheart and destined to be the Next Big Thing in Hollywood—but that was before her sex tape ruined her image and eliminated her contracts. These days, instead of being an A-lister, she’s divorce attorney to the A-listers. So when her ex—and fellow sex tape star—Jack shows up, needing her expertise, she wants nothing to do with it.
Jack McArthur might have costarred in that sex tape, but he didn’t share Cora’s fate—instead of tanking his career, the tape skyrocketed it. Now, as one of Hollywood’s most buzzed about new directors, Jack has everything to lose—especially when he wakes up after a friend’s bachelor party gone wrong to find that he’s apparently married a woman he’s never met before…and now can’t find. Desperate, he goes to the only person who he knows can help—Cora.
Cora reluctantly agrees to help Jack—both because he’s offering an absurd amount of money and because she loves seeing him as a disadvantage for once. Neither of them anticipate the very real problem of their being unable to keep their hands off each other—or that Jack’s accidental marriage might be anything but accidental. With both her heart and career on the line—again—Cora has to decide if she’s going to take the high road or leave Jack hanging in the wind the same way he left her twelve years ago.
Excerpt from TIES THAT BIND
Copyright © 2017 Katee Robert
Jack opened the back door, every inch a gentleman—if it was gentlemanly to plan to ravage her in his backseat. Cora climbed in slowly, letting her dress ride up to give him a peek of her panties. His sharp inhale was reward in and of itself.
She expected him to follow immediately, but he stood there blocking the open space, his blue eyes forbidding. “Take those off.”
Cora settled back against the far door and pulled her dress up so she could slide her panties off. She tossed them in his direction, and Jack snaked a hand out to catch them. He slid them into his pocket and only then did he climb into the backseat with her.
“Really? You’re going to…what? Take them home as a memento? Bragging rights?”
“Cora.”
She licked her lips. “Yes?”
“Shut up. You know goddamn well and good that I’m not a douche like that, so stop pretending that I am.” He hooked her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the seat as he went to his knees next to the seat itself. “And stop pretending that it doesn’t get you wet knowing that I’ll be jacking myself to the scent of you later.”
Her jaw dropped. “Holy shit.”
“Now, stop talking.” He nudged her shoulder until she leaned back against the seat. Jack ran his hands up her thighs, spreading her legs farther. “It’s been a long time.”
There was nothing to say to that because it was the truth. Cora grabbed the hem of her dress and arched off the seat so she could drag it over her head. It left her in only her bra, but Jack’s curse made the bold move more than worth it. She shook her hair out of her face. “It won’t be much longer.”
He didn’t take his gaze off her as he reached for the center console. “Fuck, Cora.” The blatant appreciate in his tone made her smile despite herself. Jack met her eyes. “This isn’t a one-time thing.”
“Excuse me?”
“You. Me. This.” He motioned between them. “We do this, we’re doing this.”
The words were less than enlightening, but with his thumbs stroking intoxicating circles on her inner thighs, she wasn’t sure she cared. “Fine. Whatever. I need you inside me.”
His slow grin was foreplay all on its own. Jack traced his thumbs along the dip where her thighs met her hips. “Getting there.” He didn’t give her a chance to curse him. One second he was teasing her, the next he pushed two big fingers into her, filling her in a way that was nothing compared to the main course. She rolled her hips, trying to take him deeper, but Jack just chuckled and kept his strokes light.
Need built, stronger than it had any right to be. His scent wrapped around her in the close confines of the car, the tinted windows creating an intimate atmosphere despite where they were. Cora didn’t want intimate. She didn’t want soft. She sure as hell didn’t want slow. She grabbed his wrist. “Stop teasing me.”
“Come home with me.”
She blinked, surprised for what felt like the thousandth time that day. “What?”
“Come home with me, Cora.” Jack kept stroking her, his fingers unerringly gravitating to that sensitive spot inside her that could motivate her to do damn near anything. She gasped and he leaned down to eat the sound. His tongue stole her words even as his fingers continued their wicked work. Jack consumed her.
And then he stopped.
He pressed one last light kiss to her lips and sat back. “What’s your answer?”
She wasn’t even sure what the question was. Cora shook her head, trying to clear it. “This is emotional blackmail.”
“Hardly.” His thumb idly circled her clit, sending a wave of tension through her body. “This is me flat out saying that I want you naked in my bed, to do with as I please for several hours before we pass out. Reality can wait until tomorrow.”
Common sense said it was the perfect time to stop this before she got herself—and her heart—into trouble. No one had ever seen her the way Jack threatened to. She didn’t relish the thought of being stripped bare, only to be left in the dust when he moved on from his current crisis.
But if she didn’t jump now, she might never get the chance to again.
The thought of spending the rest of her life kicking herself for missing the chance to be with Jack again had her finding words she never thought she’d say. “Yes.”
“Yes?” His cobalt eyes watched her every move, making her feel strangely like prey. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant, either.
Cora swallowed hard. “Take me home with you, Jack.”
A private investigator might not be as glamorous as Brooklyn James had expected, but it pays the bills. Or at least it used to. In dire financial straits, she no longer has the luxury of saying no to jobs if she wants to pay her bills—which is how she ends up in a tree, spying on a billionaire who’s accused of dognapping. Not her finest moment.
Levi Turnbull made his fortune by creating tech that melds exercise with video games. It sounded great at the time, but now he’s got more money than he knows what to do with and he’s bored out of his mind waiting for the next game to launch. When he realizes a neighbor has been neglecting his dog, he takes matters into his own hands—by taking the dog. If he’s been trolling the neighbor ever since with hilarious fliers around the area… Well, he’s only human. When he finds a pretty redhead trespassing on his property in search of the missing dog, he sees the ultimate distraction until the launch.
Brooklyn initially agrees to a date in order to get close enough to Levi to find evidence of his dognapping—but that motivation gets complicated when they end up in bed together. She’s unable to resist his charm, and as they grow closer, Brooklyn can’t avoid the truth—not only did Levi steal a million dollar dog…he’s in danger of stealing her heart, too.
Excerpt from Animal Attraction
Copyright © 2017 Katee Robert
He spun her around and pressed her hands to the door, his big body at her back. “This is the door.”
“It’s a very nice door.”
“Mmm.” His hips thrust against her ass, and she swallowed hard, her body clenching in anticipation. The first-time nerves were gone. She knew what was coming, and she knew she would be coming before long. They might not be compatible in life, but their bodies didn’t know that. Levi pulled her hair off her neck and kissed her there, taking his time, the sensation of his lips and beard making her toes curl. “I picked it out myself.”
Picked out… Oh, right. The door.
She arched back into him, rubbing her ass against his cock. “You have good taste.”
“Funny you say that, because what I want most right now is to taste you.” He backed off enough to pull her jacket off and then one hand was on the front of her jeans, unbuttoning them deftly and dragging the zipper down. She felt that tiny vibration all the way through her body. There was nothing to say, though, because he slipped a big hand into her jeans, dipping beneath her panties, and speared a single finger into her.
Brooklyn moaned and tried to spread her legs. The move tightened her jeans, holding his hand in place. “I need you.”
“Tour’s not done yet.” He pumped as much as he was able. And then he withdrew his hand.
She couldn’t keep her whimper of protest in. She spun to face him, trying to shove out of her pants in the process, and nearly face-planted. “Levi.”
“Dresser.” He lifted her, and walked the handful of steps to the dresser to set her on it. Then he yanked off her jeans and tossed them behind him. “Better.”
“Much.”
He stepped between her thighs and kissed her. It was nothing like the last time. There was no careful and teasing exploration. Levi sucked and stroked and nipped her into a frenzy. His mouth drew sounds from her she wasn’t aware she could make. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clung to his shoulders and basically tried to climb him like a big, sexy tree, because she needed his cock and she needed it now.
He shifted and set her back on the dresser, untangling from her. “Mahogany.”
It took Brooklyn a few beats to catch up. She looked down at the piece of furniture she sat on and back at the man in front of her, his hard length creating a mouthwatering outline against his jeans. “I don’t care.”
“You should. It’s a family heirloom. My grandfather built it.” He hit his knees in front of her and spread her legs wider. “It was his wedding gift to my grandmother.”
She blinked. Didn’t expect that, either. Brooklyn tried to get a better look at the massive piece of furniture, but Levi chose that moment to lean in and drag his tongue up her center and suddenly, she didn’t give two fucks about what she sat on, as long as it didn’t fall apart beneath her. She gripped the edge of the dresser to keep from levitating right off it and looked down her body to meet his gaze.
The switch had been flipped again. Gone was the playfulness, replaced by that intensity that had tingles shooting down her spine. He really was something.
She half expected him to rush through the oral, but she really should have known better. Levi hitched her legs higher and went after her clit like it owed him money. He sucked and licked and growled against her skin as his grip tightened on her thighs.
Brooklyn was so lost in her pleasure, she didn’t notice that he’d half released her until she looked down to watch him again and saw that he was stroking himself. He jacked himself while licking her, as if he couldn’t contain himself and…
Her back bowed and she came with a cry. “Oh, my God.”
“You don’t have to call me God. Levi will do.” He kissed first one thigh and then the other. “But if you’re going to insist, I won’t stop you.”
“Shhhh. You don’t get to talk shit when I’m too weak from my fantastic orgasm to fight back.”
Levi rose and kissed her shoulder, her collar bone, her neck. “Honey, that’s the best time to talk shit.”
I always know I'm in for a treat when I get my grabby hands on a Katee Robert book and the Hot in Hollywood Duet was no exception! Even though these both were novellas they still had all the things I've come to love from the author - fun, engaging characters with great chemistry, a story-line that kept me turning the pages, and of course a healthy dose of steam and heat! Plus, I loved meeting Cora and Brooklyn in Prom Queen (Jessica's story that was part of the Bad Boy Homecoming series) and was excited to find out that they would be getting their own books - I knew these two were going to be a whole lot of trouble wrapped up in fun!
I loved both Cora and Jack in Ties That Bind. These two have a bit of history - if you can call starring in a sex tape history! When Jack seeks Cora's help you can just feel the chemistry between these two. I love the little peeks we got into Cora's head, being able to see her internal debate and then watching her heart win out. Even though there is a bit of drama towards the end I did like the fact that the amount of angst was kept to a minimum. Jack was all in from the start, and even though it took longer for Cora to figure things out, once her friend Brooklyn (who I LOVE!) helped her see things straight, she was all about making things right.
Levi and Brooklyn from Animal Attraction have to be two of my favorite characters. Brooklyn is such a hoot, full of sass and snark and has a habit of being a bit impulsive which tends to land her in some interesting situations she needs to talk herself out of (or have Cora bail her out of!). And who can resist a man who has a soft spot for animals and has quite the herd at home? Not this girl! Dogs, cats...so much fun!
I really loved the chemistry between Levi and Brooklyn. Their banter had me cracking up and there was no shortage of sparks between them. This was such a fun read!A yowl had him parting the shirts and frowning. "Eric, what the hell are you doing back here"?
The Persian climbed to his feet and stretched as if he hadn't just demanded Levi's attention. Once he was done feigning boredom, he went up on his hind legs and meowed. Levi shook his head. "You would decide to love me at the exact moment I'm about to meet my peeping tom. Oh well, it'll give her a story to tell." He bent down enough for Eric to crawl on his shoulders, draping himself there like a furry scarf.
Overall all, I enjoyed Animal Attraction a bit more than Ties That Bind, but both stories had me smiling. Where sometimes I feel short-changed by novellas, these two books held their own and didn't leave me wanting more. These two would look great on anyone's TBR list!
New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Katee Robert learned to tell her stories at her grandpa’s knee. She found romance novels at age twelve and it changed her life. When not writing sexy contemporary and speculative fiction romance novels, she spends her time playing imaginary games with her wee ones, driving her husband batty with what-if questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.
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