Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)
1
Heâs a daredevil on a motorcycle, a rebel with his own cause, a careless heartbreaker or an intriguing man of mystery.
Heâs a handsome devil with a buff bod, or a tattooed badass spoiling for a fight. Heâs a seductive charmer who will bring out the best in you.
And the worst.
Heâs a self-absorbed loner, aloof and jealous and tantalizingly possessive, attracting you with enough charisma for ten men; at the same time, he holds you at armâs length.
Caught up in the thrill of the chase, you try to grasp his heart and soul, only to feel him slipping away like sand through your fingers.
And while you know you should resist, with just a crook of his finger and a devastating smile, off you go with him, your mind filled with delusions of taming this enigmatic man. And when he has you melting under his hypnotic gaze, falling so fast your head is spinning, thatâs when he leaves you like a shadow in the night, never to be seen againâ¦
SARA DAVENPORT knew every one of those men inside and out. She could quote their characteristics, chapter and verseâevery nuance of behavior, every game they played, every brand of falsehood that passed their lips. After all, sheâd written the book on bad boys.
Literally.
She took a sip of coffee, then sat back on the sofa in her office and spread her planner out in her lap. Next to her, Karen paged through her own planner, lining out their schedule for the coming week.
âIâve set up book signings for Wednesday and Thursday evening,â Karen told her. âTheyâre here in Boulder, so thereâs no travel involved.â She flipped to another page. âI arranged a phone interview for you with a regional magazine in Charleston. The reporter will e-mail you tomorrow to set up a time. And I booked you for a Friday evening Internet chat with a readerâs group in Spokane.â
Sara made a few notes. âWow. Youâre keeping me busy.â
Karen smiled. âBusy is good. It wonât be long before your name is a household word.â
Sara didnât doubt that. Her friendâs PR wizardry was a big reason the book had been successful so far. Karen knew just which newspapers and magazines to target with advance reading copies to garner the most articles and reviews. Sheâd brought Sara untold numbers of new readers by suggesting she pair a minilecture with book signings. Sheâd gotten her a cameo in Cosmopolitan. All that publicity had put Sara on the fast track to success, but still it was hard for her to believe that sheâd barely turned thirty and already her dream was coming true.
Not that sheâd intended for things to work out the way they had. Sheâd initially envisioned the book as an expansion of her dissertation, a serious examination of the psychological, social and emotional reasons women make poor choices in men. But one year, three edits and a show-stopping cover later, it had become a shorter, slicker book with a pop psychology tone and a title that made her cringe: Chasing the Bad Boy.
Sara was still hiding her face over that, but she couldnât argue with success. The book was heading for its third printing, her editor wanted another book and Saraâs message was getting out in a way that never would have happened through her private psychology practice or her seminars alone.
âOh, yeah,â Karen said. âOne more thing. I called the program director at KZAP this morning.â
Sara came to attention. âWhat for?â
âTo book you on a radio show.â
Sara felt a surge of apprehension. âRadio? No. I donât want to do radio.â
âBut you can reach a lot of people on a radio show. And it has an advantage that advertising doesnât.â
âWhatâs that?â
âItâs free.â
âNo. Radio is unpredictable. Itâs too easy to say the wrong thing and get embarrassed.â
âCome on, Sara. Youâre in front of audiences all the time.â
âRight. Doing seminars. Itâs friendly territory. I have notes, and Iâm in control. I donât like open-ended situations. Theyâre recipes for disaster.â
âYou know your subject, and youâre a great speaker. What is there to worry about?â
âI just donât wantââ Sara stopped short. âWait a minute. KZAP? Isnât that the station with Dr. Frieda?â
âYeah.â
Okay. Now, maybe that wouldnât be so bad. Discussing her book with a medical doctor, maybe getting into the physiological aspects of attraction, taking questions from her listenersâ¦how tough could that be?
âBut I booked you on Nick Chandlerâs show,â Karen said.
For the count of three, Saraâs voice deserted her, and when it finally returned, still she could barely get words out without choking.
âWhat did you say?â
âNow, I knew you were going to freak out. Butââ
âThere is no âbutâ here. Iâm not getting within ten miles of that man.â
âBut itâll be great publicity.â
âPromoting my book on his show? Are you kidding me?â
âOkay. I know it sounds a little weird, butââ
âA little weird? Do you know he once interviewed a man who claimed heâd had sex with a thousand women and has the notches in his bedpost to prove it?â
âWell, yeah, butââ
âAnd a woman who tends bar in a topless club? Topless?â
âYeah, I heard that one. Butââ
âAnd a man who has a Web site dedicated to teaching other men how to score with chicks?â
Karen held up her palm. âI know. I know. Itâs a lot of testosterone all in one place, butââ
âIâve read the gossip columns. I know Nick Chandlerâs reputation in this town.â
Karen shrugged. âSo he gets around a little.â
âA little? The guy with the thousand notches in his bedpost is an amateur compared to him!â