"Dumped at the altar! What's a girl to do but go on a romantic honeymoon with the best man?"
Reviewed by Vicky Gilpin
Posted August 2, 2012
Romance Erotica Sensual | Romance Contemporary
Despite a heart-breaking revelation minutes before her
wedding, Crystal is set to marry Brent, her fiance. However,
Brent makes her decision for her, as he leaves her at the
altar due to a misunderstanding about her feelings for his
best friend. But was it really a misunderstanding? Instead
of going on a honeymoon with her husband, Brent, Crystal
ends up going on the trip with the best man, Evan.
Brent's appearance at the honeymoon is only the start of the
challenges to Crystal's emotional and sexual rollercoaster.
The complications continue with the addition of Sarah...and
Kade. Rather than a honeymoon to celebrate her dedication to
monogamy, Crystal's experience becomes something more.
First of all, I don't think the back cover description does
the work justice because it seems to be much more mundane
than the book actually is. INSATIABLE is erotica, not a
romantic beach book or mild bodice ripper solely about a
woman trying to decide between two men. There's absolutely
nothing wrong with erotica, but I could see someone picking
the book off of the shelf, reading the back, and assuming it
is less red-hot than it is. That said, Carew does her usual
adept job creating a flow from scene to scene to add as much
erotic complexity as possible.
I will, however, admit that I didn't care for the female
protagonist because I didn't find her or her reactions that
believable, nor did I find the conflict or the plot
compelling. However, plot is not necessarily why one might
purchase the work, and INSATIABLE is far and away better
than many of the e-books that attempt to cover similar
situations but do so poorly. Carew's writing ability and her
editor's prowess make sure INSATIABLE is well developed and
virtually error-free, a joy in this age of self-publishing
and dismal erotica.
SUMMARY
How far would you go for a taste of ecstasy?Crystal never
dreamed her
engagement would end this way. With her fiancé breaking her
heart the day of
the wedding…and his best man stepping in to mend it. Now
she's about to
embark on her dream honeymoon with the sinfully sexy best
man. But when
the groom shows up determined to win her back, she ends up
in a highly
unusual situation…on a honeymoon for three. Caught between
two gorgeous
guys—each determined win her hand by showing her the most
pleasure—
Crystal has an impossible decision to make. Who will she
end up with once the
honeymoon is over? And how can she follow her heart when
it belongs to two
men at once?
ExcerptChapter One
I do too have sexual fantasies.
Lindsay's hands clenched into fists as she strode across
the lobby. Leave it to her stepmother, Audrey, to assume
Lindsay's relationship with Glen had failed so miserably
because Lindsay wasn't adventurous enough in the bedroom.
She couldn't bring herself to tell Audrey that the
reason the relationship had ended so suddenly was because
she'd walked in on the jerk in bed with two women. Anger
still burned through her at the memory. It had happened
weeks ago, but her discussion with Audrey over lunch had
brought it all crashing back.
She sucked in a breath. Right now, all she wanted to do
was get up to Jill's apartment where she could kickback
over a glass of wine and rant to her best friend.
She heard a ding and glanced up to see the elevator
doors closing ahead.
"Wait," she called and raced for the doors.
A man crossed in front of her and she weaved around him
then made a last dash for the elevator. Someone inside must
have pushed the button because the doors opened again. Her
high heel caught as she raced inside and she stumbled
forward, landing face-first into a solid masculine chest.
Hard. Rippled with smooth ridges. And naked.
"You okay?" the owner of the chest asked, as his strong
hands grasped her shoulders and steadied her.
She turned around and gazed downward, nodding, her
cheeks flushed.
"Yeah, sorry."
The man and his two companions - at least she assumed
they were all together - wore swimsuits and had towels in
hand. There was a pool on the roof of the apartment
building. Maybe they'd been to the gym and had worked up a
sweat and were now heading up for a swim. She immediately
realized the weight room was near the pool, so that didn't
make any sense, but she liked thinking about the hard-
ridged muscles she'd felt when she'd fallen against Mr. X
being strained and stretched while he pulled weights, his
body glistening with sweat.
The three men were all ripped and solid. And tall. Her
eyes were at shoulder level or below for all of them,
though she wouldn't look straight at them. She was too
embarrassed at having stumbled into Mr. X on the way in.
There was one other person in the elevator, a woman in a
business suit who had a magazine in one hand and seemed to
be reading it, but Lindsay noticed she kept glancing at the
men with interest.
A few floors up the elevator stopped and a young guy in
a T-shirt and jeans got on. The three men and Lindsay
shifted to the side, pushing her closer to Mr. X.
"Hey, Connor. Travis. You must be busy packing for the
move."
"Just finished. We move out tomorrow morning," one of
Mr. X's companions said. "Now it's time for a swim."
The man who initiated the conversation laughed as the
elevator door opened again. "Hope it goes well."Then he
disappeared down the hall as the doors closed.
A couple floors later, another four people got on. They
exchanged polite hellos with the men as they pressed in
closer to make room. With Mr. X in the corner and his
friends beside her, Lindsay felt like she was surrounded by
a wall of muscular male flesh. She could feel the heat of
their bodies.
Tingles quivered through her and her imagination
conjured delectable images. Mr. X wrapped his hand around
her waist and drew her tightly to his body as his lips
brushed her neck. Then he turned her around while one of
his friends stepped behind her. She felt both their hard
bodies pressing against her. The third man stroked her hair
then nuzzled her ear as Mr. X claimed her lips with an
eager passion, his tongue driving into her mouth.
Oh, God, the images were so hot her body began to ache
with need. Imagining the feel of Mr. X's solid body pressed
to hers, a huge erection pushing against her, his friend
behind her also sporting a raging hard-on that pushed
against her ass, sent her hormones spinning out of control.
Lips traced along her neck, sending tingles fluttering
along her spine.
The images changed and she felt all three of their naked
bodies entwined with hers. Moving against her. Touching her
everywhere. Kissing her everywhere. The sensations were
muddled. She had no sense of what or how, just hard male
bodies - sexy bodies - giving her intense pleasure.
The elevator door opened and her eyelids flickered, then
opened wide. Oh, God, she'd lost track of what was going on
around her. Only two other people remained in the elevator
besides her and the three half-naked men, and those two
people were getting off. The door closed behind them and
panic set in as she realized she was alone on the elevator
with these Adonis-like specimens of manhood.
She stared at the elevator buttons, willing her floor to
come up soon. Then she realized she was still standing
close to them in the corner of a practically empty
elevator, so she shifted forward a little.
She half expected Mr. X to draw her back, then pull her
into his arms, then all of them to ravish her. Or, if she
was stuck here much longer, she might ravish them.
Who said she didn't have sexual fantasies? Though they'd
never been this potent.
The elevator stopped and she impatiently waited for the
doors to open, then she fled the small, confined space.
Erik watched the gorgeous young blonde woman hurry down the
hall as the elevator doors closed, his gaze locked firmly
on her deliciously swaying ass. He hadn't gotten much of a
look at her face, but her body was curved in all the right
places. And her reactions to him and his two friends,
Travis and Connor, had delighted him. She'd pretended not
to notice them after their first interaction, but it was
clear that she was totally mesmerized by their presence.
He was glad they'd decided to take this break from
packing up Travis and Connor's apartment to go for a swim.
"Damn, she was sexy as hell," Connor said.
"True that," said Travis.
Erik nodded absently. She was also sweet and a little
shy. Had low self-esteem. And had a burning inferno of
passion hidden deep inside. And he would love to be the one
to let it loose. Along with Connor and Travis.
* * *
"I thought you were off men."
Lindsay stopped swirling her fingertip around the rim of
her wineglass and glanced at her best friend, Jill. Lindsay
had just told her about the hot fantasies that had burst
through her during the elevator ride.
"I'm not on them." Her words immediately triggered a hot
image of her straddling Mr. X. If his manhood was
proportional to the rest of him it would be huge. She could
almost feel it, and couldn't help imagining moving up and
down on him.
Jill laughed. "Lindsay, you're doing it again, aren't
you?"
Lindsay sent her friend a guilty glance. Her burning
cheeks had to be a dead giveaway.
"Well, I can't help it. Those guys were big and hot
and . . . sexy. I barely got a glimpse of their faces, but
they were ripped."
Jill placed a bowl of cashews on the table, then sat
down with her glass of wine.
"Well, hey, I didn't say I disapprove. Maybe we should
try to find out who these guys are." She grinned. "I could
ask around."
"Someone mentioned their names. At least, two of them.
Connor and . . . uh, Travis."
"Connor and Travis? I know them. They hang out at the
pool a lot and you know how I love to go swimming. They're
really nice guys." Jill smiled. "As for the third man . . .
there's this other guy who visits them frequently and he's
just as smoking hot as they are. No wonder your imagination
ran wild." Her eyes twinkled. "You know, I could introduce
you. Then maybe you could live out those hot fantasies."
"Are you saying I should go off with three guys and have
sex?"
Jill laughed. "Well, if the opportunity presented
itself."
Lindsay sipped her wine and laughed. "I think I'll keep
that particular fantasy just that. A fantasy." She sipped
her wine. "Oh, and speaking of fantasies, over lunch,
Audrey accused me of not having sexual fantasies."
"You're kidding? Why would she even mention anything
about" - Jill's eyes widened and she held her hand in front
of her mouth in mock mortification - "you know . . . sex!"
Lindsay giggled. "Well, I guess she'd rather go there
than admit she'd been wrong."
Audrey had set her up with Glen, insisting he was the
perfect man for her. Since he was well-educated, made a lot
of money, and was as handsome as sin, clearly in Audrey's
mind the fault had to lay with Lindsay.
In retrospect, Lindsay couldn't believe she'd gone along
with meeting him in the first place, but Audrey had been
insistent and Lindsay had been suffering a dry spell in the
romance department. In fact, she'd been out with a string
of losers over the past few years. Was it just her, or did
guys just seem to be more interested in having regular sex
than an actual relationship?
At first, Glen had seemed quite promising. Charming and
attentive. After about six months, however, his interest
seemed to wane and he became distant and increasingly
critical. Lindsay was determined to make it work, though.
Clearly, more determined than he was.
"Just remember. You decided a long time ago not to let
what Audrey thinks get you down. If you listened to her,
you'd have changed jobs long ago and moved farther out of
the city so you could have a bigger apartment. But then
you'd be living her idea of what your life should be, not
yours."
It was true. Her father might love the woman, and
Lindsay would do her best to keep peace, but being raised
by a woman who simply did not understand her had been hard.
And Dad had never seemed to notice the strife between them.
Now that she was an adult, she would do the occasional
lunch with Audrey, but Lindsay had long ago given up on
trying to make things work between them.
"You know," Jill said with an impish grin on her
face, "I think you should reconsider meeting Connor and
Travis. I could set you up on a wild, sexy weekend with
them. Afterward, you can shock the pants off Audrey by
explaining that you decided to take her advice and then
tell her all about it."
"Jill, you're terrible." But Lindsay giggled anyway.
But the thought of those big, sexy bodies set her
insides quivering. She was sure they would star in her
dreams for a long time to come.
* * *
Three weeks later, Lindsay got off the bus and walked
the block to her own apartment building. It was smaller and
far less glamorous than her parents', but she liked it.
She turned the key in her mailbox and pulled out the
handful of envelopes from inside, then glanced through the
small stack as she rode the elevator to her floor. A bill
from the electric company, something from her dentist -
probably reminding her about her next checkup, a couple of
flyers, and . . .
How unusual. She gazed at the linen envelope with a
satin ribbon tied around it and only her first name written
on the front. She didn't recognize the handwriting, but it
looked masculine. There was no return address.
She walked down the hall to her apartment and dropped
her mail on the table in the small entryway while she took
off her shoes, then picked up the envelope again. She
untied the ribbon and pulled out a white card with the
words "You are invited . . ." in silver letters on the
front. She opened it to read the message in script inside.
To a magical fantasy weekend with three attentive men
who will satisfy your every sexual whim.
This had to be a joke.
Below the message were details including the date, an
address, and a map. The invitation was for next weekend and
the address was downtown, right off the river.
Why would someone send her this? Then it occurred to
her. Jill had kidded her for days about the elevator
incident. This was probably from her. They'd been talking
about setting up a girls' weekend away for months now, but
had never gotten around to it. It would be just like Jill
to do something like this to make it happen. The fact that
the location was right here in the city was odd, but maybe
Jill had found a good deal on a vacation condo or something
and had set up a staycation. Whatever her friend had
planned, Lindsay hoped it involved a day spa and a nice
long massage.
She peered in the envelope and found a key card inside.
A little yellow sticky note said "Unit 2101." Jill had a
friend who asked her to house-sit her condo sometimes. Jill
had probably asked if she could borrow the place to make it
feel like a real weekend getaway.
Lindsay smiled. A change of setting would do her good.
She and Jill could just kick back and enjoy themselves.
She dropped the envelope on the dining room table as she
headed for the kitchen to start dinner. She grinned. She
wouldn't mention anything to Jill about receiving the
invitation. Keep her guessing whether she'd show up or not.
It would serve her right for teasing her so mercilessly.
* * *
As Lindsay walked toward the entrance of the tall,
glittering building a doorman stepped toward her, smiling.
"May I help you, ma'am?"
"Um, yes. I've been invited to unit 2101."
"Your name?"
"Lindsay Reed."
He smiled. "Of course, Ms. Reed." He opened the glass
door. "Just walk past the elevators, then take a right. The
private elevator is down that corridor. You have a key
card?"
She nodded. The card had been included with the
invitation and was now in her purse.
Private elevator?
She stepped from the humid heat of the afternoon into
the cool, air-conditioned lobby. She walked toward the
elevators, her high heels clacking on the glossy marble
floors, then turned right as directed. At the end, she
found a single elevator door with a slot for a key card.
She set down her overnight bag and grabbed the crystal
heart on the zipper tag of her new, dark purple purse and
pulled it open, retrieved the card, and slid it into the
slot. The doors opened immediately.
Inside the roomy elevator was a cushioned bench. The
walls were mirrored and the floor covered with soft carpet.
She stepped inside and set her bag on the bench. The doors
closed and the elevator began moving upward.
The building was very high class. She began to doubt it
was the friend whose apartment Jill house-sat. Maybe Jill's
boss had let her use it for the weekend. The woman owned
her own company and had a big house in the country. Lindsay
wouldn't be surprised if she kept an apartment in the city,
too.
Would Jill be at the apartment already? If she wasn't,
how would Lindsay get in? Unless the key card opened the
apartment door, too, which is what she'd originally
assumed.
The elevator slowed, then came to a stop and the doors
opened. Lindsay's eyes widened as she stepped out of the
elevator into the biggest, most luxurious apartment she'd
ever seen. The elevator doors closed behind her and she
stepped farther into the entryway and glanced around the
large living room beyond with plush leather couches and
armchairs, a large marble fireplace, a huge flat-screen
television, and a large window overlooking the city.
Lindsay took off her shoes and placed them beside the
hall closet on the ceramic tiled floor, then set down her
purse beside them and stepped into the living room, her
feet sinking into the thick carpet. It wasn't as cool as in
the lobby, but with a soft breeze washing through the place
from the open windows, it was a comfortable temperature.
She padded across the room to the hallway in search of
the bedrooms. Five doors spanned the hallway, only two
open. The one at the far end of the hall seemed to be a
bathroom, the other was the first door on the left. She
shrugged and decided that must be the guest room. Inside
she found a large queen bed with white bedding and a dark
chocolate coverlet across the bottom of the bed which
matched the leather headboard. She set her overnight bag on
the coverlet as she glanced around at the sumptuous room.
Green and brown accent pillows topped the bed and facing
the window sat a brown leather chaise longue with accent
pillows that matched those on the bed. The bedside tables
and dresser were a glossy mahogany and behind the double
folding doors must be a very large closet.
She crossed the room and peeked out the window, then
sucked in a breath. Right outside was a private patio with
teak chairs around a glass table shaded under an umbrella
and lounge chairs skirting a private pool.
* * *
Travis pushed the button to the pent house and the door
to the elevator closed.
"I might never get used to this place," Connor
said. "Private elevator. Luxury pent house."
"I don't think I should get used to it."
Connor nudged his elbow. "Look, Erik inherited this
place and he wants us to live with him. It wouldn't make
sense to turn him down just because we couldn't afford the
rent on a place like this. Erik really doesn't care about
stuff like that."
"I know. I didn't turn it down."
"Yeah, but I had to practically twist your arm."
It was true. Connor really wanted the two of them to
move in with Erik, and Travis wanted that, too. The three
of them had a solid relationship and Travis wanted them all
to be together as much as Connor and Erik did. He just
wished it had been somewhere he could afford. It was
important to him to pull his own weight. He'd been living
on his own since he was seventeen and he'd never relied on
anyone. Financially, anyway. Since he'd moved in with
Connor several years ago, he had learned to rely on Connor
for emotional support. And for sex, of course. Erik came
along later, but the three of them had forged a strong,
intimate relationship together.
"Listen, when we get upstairs, let's go for a quick swim
before Lindsay arrives," Connor suggested.
Travis' stomach knotted, despite the thought of a nice
swim in the heated pool. He was looking forward to a wild
weekend sharing a sexy woman with his two friends, but it
was the first time they'd had a woman to a place they all
shared. It would be a little strange, especially since he
still didn't feel quite settled.
"She'll be here soon, so we don't really have time."
The elevator arrived at the rooftop apartment and the
doors opened.
* * *
At a noise in the other room, Lindsay turned her head.
She walked toward the door, straining to hear. It sounded
like the elevator doors opening. Well, now that Jill had
arrived, she could find out what was going on.
"It looks like our guest is here," someone said in the
other room, but it was a man's voice.
An unfamiliar voice. Lindsay stiffened. Why had Jill
invited a man?
"How do you know?" another man said.
"Right there. Unless Erik's taken to cross-dressing,
those aren't his shoes and purse."
Someone chuckled. "Erik texted me to say he'd be late,
so they're definitely not his."
"So he wasn't here when she arrived? Let's go find her."
Panic rose in Lindsay. Oh, God, the invitation had been
the real deal. She'd been invited to come and party -
sexually - with three men. Three strange men.
What do you think about this review?
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
|