Rough Rhythm
Series: Made in Jersey #1.5
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Author: Tessa Bailey
Release Date: March 8, 2016
God help the woman I take home tonight.
Band manager James Brandon never expected to find the elusive satisfaction he’d been chasing, let alone stumble upon it in some sleezy Hollywood meat market. Yet the girl’s quiet pride spoke to him from across the bar, louder than a shout. Troubled, hungry and homeless, she’d placed her trust in him. But after losing the grip on his dark desires that one fateful night, James has spent the last four years atoning for letting her down.
This time I’ll finally crack him.
Rock band drummer Lita Regina has had enough of James’s guilt. She wants the explosive man she met that night in Hollywood. The man who held nothing back and took no prisoners—save Lita. And she’ll stop at nothing to revive him. Even if it means throwing herself into peril at every turn, just to get a reaction from her stoic manager. But when Lita takes her quest one step too far, James disappears from her life, thinking his absence will keep her safe.
Now it’s up to Lita to bring James back…and ignite an inferno of passion in the process.
Reader Advisory: ROUGH RHYTHM contains fantasies of nonconsensual sex, acted upon by consenting characters. Readers with sensitivity to portrayals of nonconsensual sex should be advised.
“Oh, goddamn you.” Lita plucked the card from his fingers and hurled it back into the hallway with a muffled scream. “Four years leads to this, huh? You’re just going to dump me in this fucking…”—she waved her hands to encompass the hotel—“…rock star purgatory and bail? If you’re doing this to teach me a lesson, I will never forgive you, James.”“I’m not.” He cleared the cobwebs from his throat. “That’s not what this is.”
Without looking at Lita, he knew she’d be chewing her bottom lip, leaving teeth marks that would take until nighttime to fade. “I guess we really meant a lot to you if it’s this easy. No notice. Just…peace out, suckers.”
James swallowed the urge to shake her. “I think you know this is the furthest thing from easy.”
“No. I don’t know anything,” she shouted, before several silent beats passed. “Except that you’re a coward. You can’t even look me in the eye.”
He surged forward, pushing her back against the doorjamb. Going to break. Too much. I shouldn’t have come up here. He’d made the mistake of looking down into green eyes swimming with moisture, calling her bluff. “Does the thought of you hurting yourself to get my attention make me a coward? Yes? So be it, Lita.” His fingernails dug into the flesh of his palms. “If something happened to you, I wouldn’t make it to the next sunrise.”
Lita’s body deflated, head falling back. “You can’t say something like that and leave,” she said, lips hardly moving. “It’s cruel.”
“I’m a cruel man.”
“No.” Lita moved into the elegant room, booted feet dragging. A miniature hurricane in a gilded cage. He’d chosen the room himself, another sign of his madness, his need to control her surroundings. Have knowledge of everything she touched. His neck grew hot when she turned, sliding a gaze down his front.
Turning and leaving was imperative at that moment, but he couldn’t resist hearing what she would say next. Delaying the good-bye.
“Remember what you called me the first night we met?” She sat down on the edge of the bed. “Before you leave, call me that one more time.”
“No.”
I want bad things…Need them.”
“Bring it.”
Well hot damn! The queen of dirty talk is at it again and I’m not sure any ovary within a 100 mi radius will survive this one. As a matter of fact, say goodbye to those suckers right now or put them on ice. Even my steel plated ovaries had a meltdown here because DAMN! Seriously though. Stick a fork in me, I’m done! I think I fertilized like 10 eggs while reading this one. If you could get pregnant by a book, this one should come with a damn warning! You could have run an entire city block on the electric chemistry James and Lita had. But enough about my reproductive process…
Goddammit, you little tease.”
Fans of Dub-con are in for a treat, because Rough Rhythm is certainly skating that delicious edge. I’ve been looking for a novella similar to Willing Victim, and I do believe I found me one at long last! James is a dirty, dirty man, and I loved every filthy thing he said and did.
Now admittedly, I was not a huge fan of the first book in this series. But the one thing that caught my attention right away? The apparent chemistry between James and Lita! There’s this pent up sexual tension to them. Lita is constantly going out of her way to get into trouble so that her band’s grumpy manager can get her out of it and finally notice her. James and Lita shared one unforgettable night four years ago, but since then it’s been business only. James’s baser desires scare even him, and he’s determined not to unleash them onto Lita. There’s no way that she wants the same thing as him…right?
Sizzling is an understatement for what this book was. It was hot as hell! It skates that fine edge and deliciously so. It’s surprisingly well developed for a short novella. So much so, that you connect with both characters right away and truly understand them. You understand why James is so scared to unleash his true nature; the demons of his past that still haunt him. Lita was a fantastic heroine. She says what she means and means what she says, and she’s not afraid to go after what she wants. She may submit so sweetly to James’s dark desires, but she’s no pushover. She gives as good as she gets and you can’t help but root for her.
“Don’t make a habit out of it. I like when you fight me.”
“I like the way you get even.”
The only quibble I had is that I wished we got the full flashback of their night together four years ago. We get a snippet in the beginning and I was hoping we’ll get the full story further into the story. But aside from another short snippet, alas, that never happened. It alludes to what happens, but sadly for this pervert, never quite got down to the dirty details.
If you’re a fan of Tessa Bailey’s dirty talkers, you definitely don’t want to miss her dirtiest one yet! Make your ovaries happy and one-click this deliciousness!
Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days. Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention. She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband of eight years and four-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.
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