ALL I WANT begins with Zoe Stone and a lonely, empty house. After her
brother Wyatt and her sister Darcy have found
love, they have moved on; leaving Zoe in the rambling family
Victorian home all alone. She's settled and quite happy in
her work as a pilot at the local airport and is attempting
to get her lagging social life in order by setting up a
series of dates.
Enter Parker James, a longtime friend of Zoe's brother who
is coming to stay at the house for a week or two. He is on
an enforced vacation from his job as a special agent for the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after being injured on the
job. Parker has picked Sunshine, Idaho for his vacation
because it is close to the last known location of an illegal
hunter and wildlife smuggler he has long been after, and his
intention is to take down the poacher once and for all.
When Parker shows up at Zoe's front door, she mistakes him
for her blind date. Having decided to break the ice early,
Zoe kisses Parker, not realizing who he is. When her date
doesn't show up, Zoe and Parker settle in for a few laughs
about her dating experiences. As they spend time together,
they find they quite like each other and decide to begin a
no-strings relationship, one that will end when Parker's
vacation is over and he moves on to his next assignment.
ALL I WANT is the seventh book in the always fun and
engaging Animal Magnetism series by Jill Shalvis. Unlike
the other books in the series, which take place mostly in or
around Wyatt's Veterinary Clinic, ALL I WANT takes place
primarily within the confines of Zoe's home. There is a bit
of interaction with past leads Wyatt and Emily, as well as
Darcy and AJ but for the most part this is a two-person
story. If not for the occasional jaunt out to the woods to
check on the illegal poacher's activities the setting would
be almost claustrophobic.
Not to say ALL I WANT isn't entertaining. There are the
antics of Oreo the dog and the two rescued kittens to keep
things lively. There are also the endearing phone calls and
texts between Parker and his eighteen-year-old Down's
syndrome sister. Amory is especially appealing as a young
woman needing to break the barriers of the restrictions her
parents have placed on her and gain some freedom in her
life. Then there is the sex. Once the relationship gets
going there is a lot of it. Zoe and Parker definitely can't
get enough of one another.
ALL I WANT is a very good, sweet read with lots of laughs.
I especially enjoyed the Fish and Wildlife investigation
that is woven into the storyline. I found it interesting,
and the animal smuggling case was quite intriguing. Although ALL
I WANT is part of a long-running series by author Jill
Shalvis, it can easily be read standalone.
From the “awesomely, incredibly talented”* New York
Times bestselling author of Still the One,
comes
a sexy new Animal Magnetism novel set in Sunshine, Idaho,
where the sky is the limit when it comes to love.
Pilot-for-hire Zoe Stone is happy to call Sunshine,
Idaho,
her home base. But her quiet life is thrown for a loop
when
her brother’s friend Parker comes to stay with her for a
week. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife special agent is a
handsome
flirt with a gift for getting under her skin. And the
situation only escalates when Parker hires her to fly him
around the area while he collects evidence on a suspected
smuggler.
Now she has to live and work with the guy. But when
they’re
in the air, she sees another side of him. He’s driven,
focused, and sharp. And while he enjoys giving commentary
on
her blind dates, she quickly realizes with a shock that
it’s
Parker who gets her engines going…
*New York Times bestselling author, Jaci Burton
Excerpt
Still holding one of the kittens, he leaned over and
kissed Oreo right on the tip of his nose.
Oh, for God’s sake, Zoe thought. How the hell was she
supposed to keep her heart safe when he was nice to her
silly dog and he saved kittens and he fixed the things in
her house that were broken while pretending not to in
order to save her own damn pride?
He sat there, rumpled from sleep, like maybe he, too, had
just rolled out of bed, seeming very comfortable in her
kitchen.
Like maybe he belonged there.
And then there was the fact that all he had on was a pair
of sweats, dangerously low slung and showing off his abs
and those sexy cut muscles on his lean hips, the ones
that made women stupid with lust. . . .
And never mind his eyes and how they seemed to heat when
he looked at her. She’d never experienced anything like
it, really. She’d enjoyed the men she’d been with and
knew they’d enjoyed her back, but not a single one of
them had even looked at her like Parker did. “You knew
what I meant regarding the no-animals thing,” she said.
“You keep breaking the rules on purpose.”
He smiled a little to himself at that and gently set the
kittens on the floor, where they immediately cuddled up
to Oreo.
Then he stood up and stepped into Zoe. “Not true. You
only had two rules, the other one being no overnight
guests. Haven’t broken that one.”
She took a step back and found herself up against the
counter.
He set hands on the tile on either side of her hips and
dipped a little to look into her eyes. “You’ve got a lot
of rules.”
“For good reason,” she managed, trying not to stare at
his mouth and failing miserably. His lips were somehow
both firm and soft, and he always tasted good. So yeah .
. .
At her scrutiny, those sexy lips curved. “I bet you have
all sorts of rules in bed, too,” he said.
She had no idea how in the world he managed it, but with
him she always felt a whole lot aroused and just a little
bit pissy at the same time. It was a special talent of
his.
“Yeah,” he said, sounding amused and not at all
surprised. “You do. You have rules in bed.”
“I don’t.” She hesitated. “Well, maybe a few,” she
admitted. Hey, it was just common sense to have rules.
He laughed softly, the sound sliding through her belly
and heading directly south. Dammit.
“Maybe that’s why your dates aren’t working out,” he
said.
“My dates are working out just fine, thank you.”
“Yeah?” he asked. “Did you get laid last night?”?
She squirmed. Joe had made it clear that sex was
absolutely on the table and up for discussion. She’d made
it just as clear that it wasn’t going to happen.
But she did want to be with someone. She wanted that
quite badly. Just not with Joe.
Parker grinned. “I rest my case.”
“Hey,” she said. “I could have . . . with Joe. If I’d
wanted to.” But the amused doubt on Parker’s face really
did her in. “I could call him back right now even,” she
said.
He slid his gaze over the blanket she had wrapped around
herself—The Little Mermaid—and smirked.
“Well, I wouldn’t be in this blanket,” she said. “I’d
change. And not into the bingo dress, either. I’m
retiring the bingo dress.”
“What have you got instead?”
“Plenty,” she reported. “I have a little black dress, for
one.”
“Yeah,” he said. “That and some fuck-me pumps would do
it. You’ve got great legs.”
She did her best not to flush with pleasure because she
did not care one bit that he liked her legs. Correction:
She didn’t want to care. “It’s not all about physical
attraction,” she said.
“No kidding,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh as he
looked her over again.
She narrowed her eyes. “And what’s that supposed to
mean?”
“Babe, you’re covered in that blanket from head to toe,
and I bet beneath it your pj’s are flannel and baggy.
That should be a turnoff but I’m not even close to being
turned off.”
She stopped breathing. “You’re not?”
“Nope.” He lowered his head so that his breath warmed her
neck. He stayed still for a beat, ratcheting up the
anticipation within her so tight that when he finally
spoke, just the brush of his lips moving against her
throat made her damp.
“Back to your bedroom rules,” he murmured.
She huffed out a laugh that sounded nervous even to her
own ears. Probably because she suddenly was.
And unbalanced.?So very, very unbalanced.?
To try to ground herself she leaned into his solid chest.
“Tell me one,” he said, those lips of his still ghosting
over her throat with each syllable. “Slowly and in great
detail.”
She stopped a helpless moan from escaping. “No.”?
He rubbed his jaw to hers like he was a cat, a big, sleek
cat. “Want me to guess?” he asked.?
She meant to give him a shove, but her hands were still
entangled in her blanket. “You don’t know me well enough
to guess.”
“You don’t want anything too intense,” he said, ignoring
that. “Get in, get out, and if you get an orgasm out of
it, you consider yourself lucky.”
She’d be totally insulted if his words weren’t deadly
accurate. “I’m not that uptight,” she said.
He gave a soft, sexy laugh.
“You were wrong when you said I had the smart mouth,” she
said. “You’re the one with a smart mouth.”
“Maybe kissing it would help contain the sarcasm,” he
suggested, and this time his mouth was at her ear,
drawing a shudder out of her. Somehow her hands had
separated from her brain and dropped the blanket.
He looked down at her tiny boxer shorts and thin white
cami.
“I stand corrected,” he said roughly.
Smug, and also unbearably aroused, her hands slid down
his chest.
And then back up.
Unable to handle the onslaught of all the emotions—
hunger, desire, need, and a yearning that weakened her
knees—she couldn’t hold back her moan this time.
“You’re sweet,” he murmured.?
“No, I’m—”?
“Shh,” he said, and kissed her just beneath her ear.
“You’re also fierce,” he went on. “Loyal. Tough . . .”?
She heard another moan. Still her.?Parker sucked her
earlobe into his mouth and then gently sank his teeth
into her and gave a little tug.?
She gasped and would’ve slid to the floor if he hadn’t
lifted her to the counter. He did it casually, easily,
and then with a palm on each thigh, he pushed open her
legs.
And then he made himself at home between them.
“But one thing you’re most definitely not,” he said, “is
uptight.” And then his mouth covered hers.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy