Synopsis
from back cover:
SEX,
LIES, AND BONDAGE TAPE
Clayton's
one hunk of a musician. A pinup hottie for squealing teens
everywhere. And he's gay, Kelly Burton discovers when she sneaks into
his dressing room for an autograph, but gets a peep show instead. But
Kelly's soon distracted: a bouncer has found her. A bouncer with pecs
of steel, a six-pack, and sinewy arms. After a scolding, the bouncer
decides to have his wicked way with the naughty-but-eager groupie.
And what follows is a night of passion, hard-rock style...
WATCH
ME
Some
people have coffee. Some have tea. But the only thing that really
wakes Bethany Mack up in the morning is sex. Too bad marriage to
Grant has settled into a sex-starved routine. That is, until she
spies a hot roofer next door. Broad, sexy shoulders: check. A
muscular chest you could nuzzle all day: check. And under those
jeans, well, the thought just makes her weak. So she puts on a little
show for him through the window, letting her inhibitions loose, and
discovers a naughty new addiction. But how will her husband react
when he discovers just how far a desperate housewife will go for some
lovin' from him?
Stats
for my copy: Trade
paperback, The Berkley Publishing Group, 2007.
How
acquired: Borrowed from a friend.
My
thoughts: The
first story is “Sex, Lies and Bondage Tape”, by Saskia Walker.
When one of Kelly's roommates is injured skiing and unable to attend
a concert, she gives her ticket to Kelly. While Kelly enjoys the
concert, she's not quite as gaga over the rock star Clayton as her
friends are, but at the end of the concert she decides to sneak
backstage and try to get his autograph for her roommate. Of course
she gets caught and is carried out by security, aka Tommy. Literally,
as in Tommy swings her up over his shoulder and carries her out,
giving her bottom a couple of smacks on the way. Tommy thinks Kelly
is just another groupie, and one of his personal rules is he doesn't
hook up with groupies. But when he realizes that Kelly seems to be
enjoying his manhandling of her, he ramps it up a notch, and they end
up spending the night together in his hotel room.
Being
a novella, there isn't a lot of time for true character development,
but I enjoyed what little we did get. Kelly has issues dating back to
her father abandoning her mother when she was young, and Tommy thinks
Kelly settled for him when she couldn't get Clayton. Neither of them
are planning to start a relationship when they hook up for the night,
so afterwards there's a lot of internal dialogue as they each explore
their own doubts and feelings. In between some pretty hot bouts of
sex, there's Kelly running all over town trying to track Tommy down,
and then later Tommy trying to track Kelly down.
“What is it with you two? You shag, you say good-bye, and then you realize you haven't got each other's phone number?”
The
writing is good, the characters are likable, and while the plot may
be a little unrealistic, I don't read these books for reality, and
this story was a nice way to while away part of an afternoon.
The
second story is “Watch Me”, by Sasha White. This one started out
a little slower for me. Bethany's husband Grant has become immersed
in his work after a promotion, and she's feeling neglected. Then she
inadvertently discovers the joys of teasing strangers in public, from
giving little peep shows to masturbating on a bus. Exhibitionism and
masturbation are two of my least favorite tropes, for lack of a
better word, and here they both are in one story. But eventually
Grant catches her, and while his initial reaction was anger and
storming off in a huff, his later response was smoking hot and got my
attention right along with Bethany's.
This
story was told in first person POV, so we only got insight into
Bethany's thoughts and feelings, as she grappled with missing her
husband's attention, and then getting his attention and loving it but
still feeling that under the surface things were not yet right
between them. I would've loved for this story to be a full length
novel as it ended way too soon. Or too late, as I sat up until
midnight last night reading. The resolution between them, Grant
opening up about his feelings, came rather abruptly, and I would've
loved to see some more exploration – and action – before
everything was neatly wrapped up. But the resolution was satisfying
and left no doubts of the couple having their HEA.
The
back cover blurb is a little misleading, as both stories had more
depth and plot to them than I had anticipated, which is a good thing.
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