5 Smooches
Synopsis
Looking for the perfect mix of smart, sexy, and sassy? Mai Tai’d Up continues USA TODAY bestselling author Alice Clayton’s Cocktail series, which began with Wallbanger and continued with Rusty Nailed and Screwdrivered.
Eligible bachelor Lucas Campbell is very available, but very picky. A veterinarian in Monterey, California, his life is perfect: he works, he sails, he loves the ocean and the mountains—so why rock the boat? Then Miss Chloe Patterson comes along.
Chloe has the body of a supermodel, the mouth of a sailor, and the fashion sense of teenage guy in 1990s Seattle. A former Miss California, she walked away from a cushy life, bought an old ranch outside Monterey, and turned it into Our Gang, a sanctuary for rescued and abandoned pit bulls. A woman who’s clearly not afraid of dog poop, she enjoys rehabilitating her “warrior angels.”
Local gossip reports that she ditched her fiancé the night before their wedding (true), and that she moved up north to start a new life (also true). She didn’t want to be tied down (true), but she wouldn’t mind being tied up—especially by that hot vet she’s seen around town a few times (true, true, and have-you-seen-his-butt?-true).
But is Chloe ready to date again? And is Lucas ready to take on not only Chloe, but forty pit bulls? One moonlit sail, two bottles of wine, and a few sailor knots might just do the trick.
Review
In her mid-twenties and living her mother’s dream beauty queen, Chloe, is about to get married to Charles Preston Sappington as in TODAY! But she can’t just can’t! This isn’t what she wants and isn’t who she should be so she does what any self respecting woman does . . . she runs leaving him just hours before the wedding. Now her whole world is turned upside down and she is leaving the home she has always known in San Diego for Monterey, California. She has always been involved in the Our Gang Charity while on the pageant circuit but she is about to dive head first into starting and running her first pit bull sanctuary for them. Finally doing something she loves and can be proud of.
“Gingers are my kryptonite. Always have been, always will be. Show me a hot ginger guy and my pulse will start a’racing.”
Enter super hot, super sexy, super red-headed veterinarian Lucas. While helping her set up and get ready with her charity these two become close. It is clear from the beginning that they are attracted to each other but having both just gotten out of long term relationships they know it’s best to deny their feelings and just be friends. I have to admit watching these two deny the chemist that is clearly there is both funny and frustrating. You just want them to say fuck it and get together but it is never that easy. Chloe is keeping one big secret from Lucas and it’s one that could ruin all the hard work they have put into their friendship and budding relationship.
“What? Beauty queens get themselves off all the time. Believe me.”
If you are a fan of hilarious books with tons of sexual tension then BAM this is definitely a book you will want to read. Alice Clayton has such a natural ability with wit, which is something that can be hard to find in a good book. While Wallbanger is still my favorite in the series and no man can ever take Simon’s place I truly did love Lucas and Chloe and can easily see re-reading this book again in the future. Lucas is so sexy and loving I just adore him and when they finally give into everything they have been feeling . . .well . . . OH MY!
“You want to know what I’m thinking? Right this very second?” “Uh huh,” “It’s a little bit dirty,” “I’ve never really had the dirty,” “Still want to know, what I’m thinking about?” “I think so?” “You think? What I’m thinking about right now, is the same thing I’ve been thinking about since you showed up in this town, blushing in that mirror over the bar. How you’d look spread out for me, naked and pink.”
~miranda
