The Bennett Series Book 4
Synopsis
Mean girl. Goddess. Bitch. Supermodel Sofie Baston has earned those labels . . . yet they don't scratch the surface of who she really is. Before she can follow her own dreams, Sophie must do her daughterly duty and reel in a "fish" for her father's business-a tall, brown-eyed entrepreneur who immediately hooks her. He's a big guy with an even bigger heart . . . but will that heart be open to Sofie once her darkest secret is revealed?
To Trevor Bishop, Sofie is a beautiful mystery he would gladly spend his life solving. He figures her tough demeanor is armor against a world that's hurt her too many times. Then Sofie's deepest wounds are reopened by the powerful, ruthless man who made them. When she musters the courage to take him down, her world shatters. Now Trevor is determined to help Sofie pick up the pieces so they can build a future together. The challenge will be convincing his ice princess that it's safe to melt in his arms.
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Synopsis
Mean girl. Goddess. Bitch. Supermodel Sofie Baston has earned those labels . . . yet they don't scratch the surface of who she really is. Before she can follow her own dreams, Sophie must do her daughterly duty and reel in a "fish" for her father's business-a tall, brown-eyed entrepreneur who immediately hooks her. He's a big guy with an even bigger heart . . . but will that heart be open to Sofie once her darkest secret is revealed?
To Trevor Bishop, Sofie is a beautiful mystery he would gladly spend his life solving. He figures her tough demeanor is armor against a world that's hurt her too many times. Then Sofie's deepest wounds are reopened by the powerful, ruthless man who made them. When she musters the courage to take him down, her world shatters. Now Trevor is determined to help Sofie pick up the pieces so they can build a future together. The challenge will be convincing his ice princess that it's safe to melt in his arms.
Add to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1GL2FPz
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Excerpt
“And this is his business partner,
Trevor Bishop.”
Walsh steps
back, and I have my first close up of the fish I’m baiting tonight. Only I’m
the one hooked, immediately. I’m careful not to show it, but that stunned look
I’m used to seeing on other people’s faces? All over my inside face.
This force
of flesh and bone and muscle wrapped in heat looms over me. Trevor Bishop’s presence burns holes in my
composure. I could tell from across the room he was attractive and built like a
mountain lion, lean and strong and broad. It’s only now with proximity that his
absolute confidence meets mine head on. He tilts his head to the left, his
chocolate-colored eyes steadily considering me, and I swear he knows. Even
though I’m sure my face doesn’t give it away, I swear he knows that as I stand
in front of him, inhaling his clean scent and waiting for his first smile,
windmills turn in my belly.
“A pleasure
to meet you, Miss Baston.” His lips, wide and full, give me a smile punctuated
by dimples. And he has a southern drawl.
Fuck me
now.
That’s not
a figure of speech. I quite literally want him to toss me over that hulking
shoulder, find a dark corner somewhere and screw me so deeply into a wall we
leave a dent. Or in a bathroom stall. Hell, he could drag me over to the
elaborate buffet table and take me from behind right there by the ice
sculpture.
One dark
brown brow, a few shades darker than his hair, rises. Holy crap, I haven’t
responded yet.
“Um, nice
to meet you, too, Mr. Bishop.” I take my time so my tongue doesn’t betray the
muddled mess of haywire hormones I am right now.
His eyes
drift over my shoulder, forcing my mind and manners back to Rip.
“Oh, yes.
I’m sorry. How rude.” I turn to Rip, who immediately claims my elbow and draws
me into his side. All of a sudden he’s territorial. I can’t blame him. If my
girlfriend was within five feet of this man, I’d handcuff her to me for the
night. “This is Michael Ripley.”
“Great game
Sunday.” Trevor shakes the hand Rip isn’t manacling me with. “I’m a Falcons fan
myself, but I can appreciate a good toss no matter the team. That’s some arm
you got there.”
Rip’s hold
on me relaxes a bit. Clever Trevor, disarming him that way. Well played. Will I
be able to strip this fish of his defenses as easily?
Once
seated, Rip, Trevor, Harold and Walsh fall into a discussion of football I
don’t even try to follow. Apparently neither
does Kerris. She’s texting someone with a small frown on her face, and mumbles
something to Walsh about a sitter. I settle into my seat beside Trevor, taking
a few moments to compose myself and strategize how I can get that hook in his
mouth.
“So you
were in Dubai?”
The
question startles me a little, I was so lost in my musings. I turn slightly in
Trevor’s direction, creasing my lips politely.
“For a
shoot, yes.” I toy with the clamp on my clutch resting on the table. “And my
friend Ardis married a prince over there. I like to visit her every once in a
while.”
“A real
live prince, huh?” He teases me with a quirk of those full lips.
“Don’t be
too impressed.” I lean a few inches closer to him and lower my voice. “He’s a
prince in name only.”
“If he’s a
prince in name only, what does that make him in deed?”
I
can’t hold onto the humor when I recall the bruises shackling Ardis’ throat and
wrists, or the black and blue mark on her cheek like a brand. I refocus my eyes
and sober my mouth.
“A
frog.”
“I
thought you ladies kissed all the frogs to find the prince.”
“It
happens that way in fairy tales, not in Manhattan.” I sip my champagne. “Or in
Dubai, apparently.”
“So that
accounts for your tan.” His dark eyes make a slow, thorough inspection of my
features.
“Hmmm. What
accounts for yours?” I toss a skein of silvery blonde hair back so he gets an
eyeful of the bare line of my neck and shoulder. His eyes move down my neck,
warming the skin like a touch, before he looks back into my eyes.
“Haiti.” He
laughs a little, lounges back in his chair and links long fingers across a flat
stomach I imagine is corded with muscle. “Well, and my father is Lumbee, so
some of my tan’s natural.”
“Lum what?”
He laughs
again, his teeth white against his skin. I really like that it’s because of
something I said.
“Lumbee
Indian, a tribe found mostly in Lumberton, North Carolina.”
“So your
mother’s responsible for the red hair?”
“She is.”
He brushes a hand over his neat hair, disrupting it into a coppery spill on his
forehead. “I was spared the freckles, though.”
“I’m sure
there’s one or two.”
His eyes
are suddenly hot chocolate, heating up a little as they hold mine.
“You’re
welcome to try to find them.”
Review
When I got this book I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. Yes, the blurb got my attention, but it is the storyline and the fantastic characters that the author developed that made me fall deeply in love with it.
Sofie Baston is a very independent woman, she has created an empire through her modeling career, she's recognized by everyone, admired by most, and ignored and hated by some. And although she has fame and fortune in her life, she's a very lonely woman at heart, shaped by a past that made her raise some pretty tall walls in order to protect herself.
Trevor Bishop is the kind of man dreams are made of and romance novels are written about. He's intelligent, alpha, but not the extreme, with a passion to make the world a better place, as well as to find a woman who he can share a deep connection like the one he's seen his mom and dad shared over the years.
Two complete opposites, a sinner and a saint, who in the end are just two souls who find in each other what they were missing all along.
Even though Sofie comes across as crass and incredibly rough around the edges, this is a woman with a dark past, a woman that not too many people have taken the time to get to know, to nurture, to love. My heart broke for her, her pain became mine and I just wanted her to find that peace and self love that she so much deserved, her courage inspired me, uplifted me, it made me think of my own life. She found her missing piece in Trevor, who without being condescending, supported her through it all, liberated her and made her fly at her full potential. It takes a strong and secure man to carry his partner through the hell that Sofie went through, but Trevor did it, reinforcing their connection. The tenderness he showed Sofie was something to admired, to savor.
I loved the depth the author gave the characters, their inner dialogue added so much beauty and soul to the story, you feel their sorrows, their hopes, their regrets...
"When we’re young, we live for the good times, setting moments on fire, laughing and dancing in the flames. We’re invincible. No one tells you the memories may haunt you like ghosts, knocking around when the house is quiet and you’re alone with your regret. No one tells you about the rubble of your destruction. No one tells you that you’ll get burned, and those fiery moments become your mistakes. At least no one told me. I wish they had. With this good man at my side who deserves more than the ashes of my transgressions, I wish more than anything someone had told me."
The writing of this book is perfection, a powerful story that will stay with you for a long time.
This was my first book by this author but it will definitely won't be the last.
About Kennedy Ryan
I'm a wife, a mom, a writer, an advocate for families living with autism. That's me in a nutshell. Crack the nut, and you'll find a Southern girl gone Southern California who loves pizza and Diet Coke, and wishes she got to watch a lot more television. You can usually catch me up too late, on social media too much, or FINALLY putting a dent in my ever-growing To Be Read list!
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