A MILLION GUILTY PLEASURES – C. L. PARKER
Million Dollar Duet, #2
Bantam, Trade Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-0-345-54878-8
February 2014
Erotic Contemporary Romance

Chicago, Illinois - Present Day

Delaine Talbot months ago made the biggest decision of her life: sell herself and her virginity for the price of two million dollars for two years of being a sex slave to the highest bidder.  Her mother's illness and need for a heart transplant made the decision easy for her, and her purchaser, Noah Crawford, one of the richest men in Chicago, is not hard to live with.  Despite the fact that Delaine now lives with Noah, and the sex is plentiful and fantastic, all is not right with their world.  Her mother is in the hospital waiting for a heart, and when Noah asks his Uncle Daniel, one of the best heart surgeons in the country, to take on her mother's case, all of a sudden a heart is available and the surgery is about to start.

Noah still isn't quite sure why the sex auction enticed him to offer two million dollars for a sex slave for the next two years; perhaps it was seeing his old friend and partner in their business, David Stone, having sex with Noah's last girlfriend.  But Noah's connection with Lanie has grown, and despite not calling it “love” their relationship has gone far beyond what he was expecting.

David Stone always knew Noah was too soft to make it in the business world, and now he has his eyes on not only taking over their business, Scarlet Lotus, but his girlfriend Lanie, just to stick it to him.  But when his friend and partner in the white powder business shows him the contract signed by Noah and Lanie, he knows he has Noah right where he wants him.  With the Board of Directors meeting soon, the last thing Noah will want are the details of his sexual slavery open knowledge, not to mention embarrassing his girlfriend.  A little nose candy and forcing Lanie to have sex with him, and he, the sex god, will come out on top with Noah's business and his woman.

C. L. Parker has hit it out of the park with this sizzling, fast paced story of two lovers and the path their relationship takes.  To say Noah is self confident is an understatement, and his conquest of Lanie was determined, and he is her master.  Lanie was an innocent at first, but after Noah's teachings she is soon giving as good as she gets and teaching him things about feelings and caring for one special woman he never would have believed.  The story is told from Lanie's, Noah's and David's points of view and none of them holds anything back.  The emotion spills over and you can feel Noah and Lanie's passion for each other, and David's evil and twisted mind as he plans carefully for their downfall in front of everyone.

Secondary characters add so much interest to the story it makes it truly outstanding.  There's Lanie's best friend Dez, who is the kind of crazy character we all want having our backs.  There's also her cousin Lexi and Lanie's mother and father, whom Lanie went through all this turmoil to protect.

A MILLION GUILTY PLEASURES is the second in the Million Dollar Duet, after A MILLION DIRTY SECRETS (August 2013) and is a creative and absorbing novel.  There is certainly a lot of hot, hot sex (whew, find my fan for me) and yet there is also the deep connection between them that they finally must each acknowledge.  If you like passion, lovemaking, evil plots, stimulating characters and situations that will lead you to the edge of the precipice and throw you off, A MILLION GUILTY PLEASURES is for you.  It is my “guilty pleasure” this month, so grab a soda and a bag of potato chips and lock yourself in the bedroom for a story that will get you in the mood for Valentine's Day.  Just tell your man to thank me.

Cece Johns