Entice (Exquisite, #2)
This Book 2 of Exquisite series is as entertaining as its predecessor. We have Josh Daniels, who is Mason's best friend from out of town and Dr. Shelly Monroe, who is Lena's best friend cum colleague. They have to endure the lame 'set up' by their friends' namely, Mason and Lena.“Josh, this is Dr. Shelly Monroe, and that gorgeous woman over there is my doctor, Lena.” Mason paused, and then looked back to Shelly. “This is my non-balding friend, Josh Daniels.”
Both Mason and Lena the matchmaker in town played a huge part in this book and they are so in love and so damn sweet. They have so much scene here in the first half and totally stealing the limelight. I felt like reading their full length epilogue, with their wedding preparation and all. Mason still can make me laugh so hard with his witty comeback. So make sure you read Book 1 Exquisite before starting this.
“Ahh, ladies? I’m still in the room. Although I have to tell you, being fought over is kind of
hot. Can you maybe start pulling hair? Ripping clothes?” Mason pretended to look around, and then opened the fridge. “I’m sure I can find some Jello for you to both roll in.”
Well, poor Shelly and Josh have to endure the presence of the lovesick couple and this was pretty much their reaction to the couple-in-paradise.
Shelly and Josh started off on the wrong foot. Well, who can blame them. Their first reaction towards being set up by friends was 'Hell, no!', even though they both find each other absolutely hot. Josh called her the 'man-eater', he seriously felt intimidated by the ferocious woman, but can't seems to keep his hands away.
"The woman was a man-eater, and he had to admit he was finding it difficult to avoid the urge to offer himself up for a bite."
“That woman is hotter than hell, but I’m not touching her. She’ll burn me to a crisp.”
Shelly is only interested in dating white collar men to prove her father wrong. He is convinced that his daughter is going to end up with a good for nothing man that will use up her money. So now she rather date boring men with good pay aka Paul or Dr. McKinney. However, after meeting Josh aka Delicious Daniels, she's going to forget the rules and enjoy him immensely. Who cares that he is just a construction crew renovating Mason's restaurant, she is going to have an incredible fling.
“Let’s put it this way. If I found out Paul wasn’t a firecracker after dark, it wouldn’t be such a surprise. If I found out you weren’t, I’d want to find a short pier and hurl myself off it. You
have a body that’s made to pound a woman into her bed. So, I’m really hoping you can live up to that.”
Josh is not just a construction crew of course, but he decided to keep that little tidbits to himself. They both make a deal to agree on a fling with the terms 'keeping it secret from their nosy friends'. Josh felt like being a booty call to Shelly, but he is definitely not complaining.
Their relationship deepen when Shelly invited him for a road trip to Georgia where her family stay. Did I mentioned he had a dog, Mutley? I had weakness towards man with dogs. While at Georgia, Josh came to know Shelly, the country girl, as oppose to Shelly, the man-eater and he can't help falling for her. The second half of the book came a shift whereby, Josh gave Shelly some sort of ultimatum in a gentlemanly way. He is an all or nothing kind of guy and he wants Shelly to come to terms with what he wanted and he is willing to wait for her to meet him there. I love his big romantic gesture towards the end. Total swoon.
I love the fact that this book featured all the secondary characters as one big happy family and no one was left out. I just couldn't get enough of Mason, the hot chef and so damn looking forward for Rachel's book. Oh, Cole! The guy who 'read up on how to play Poker' and proceed to cleaning house. How much more impressive can he be?