Flirting With Danger
Claire Baxter
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Entangled Publishing - Bliss
Date of Publication: September 9, 2013
Cover Artist: Jessica Cantor
Book Description:
To be together is dangerous. To stay apart is
impossible.
Firefighter Jasmine Mackinnon
has always just been one of the guys. So no one’s more shocked than she is to
find herself kissing fellow firefighter and all-around sinfully handsome
playboy Aaron Parkes after a friend’s wedding. Jasmine knows she can’t risk an
emotional connection with a colleague—a potentially dangerous entanglement when
fighting fires together—and nothing's more important to her than her job.
Aaron never noticed how
beautiful Jasmine was until he saw her out of her firefighter duds, but there’s
something about the fiery woman that tempts him. Though he knows pursuing a
real relationship is out of the question for a serial dater like him, when
their casual flirtation builds into something more serious, it's not just their
jobs or their safety on the line. It's their hearts.
Promotional Video: http://youtu.be/Wi8mCLcG-B4
In a bedroom of a sprawling sandstone house in South
Australia, Jasmine Mackinnon looked at the reflection of her friend and fellow
bridesmaid, who was peering over her shoulder.
Sasha said, “You should wear that smoky eye shadow
more often. It makes your eyes look enormous.”
“I get plenty of smoke on my face when I’m on a
call-out. I don’t need to add more.”
“No, not when you’re at work, obviously,” Sasha said as she straightened. “But you could make an
effort when we go out.”
Jasmine winced. “I do
make an effort.”
“Oh, I know. I didn’t mean it like that.” Sasha pulled
an apologetic face. “Okay, maybe I did, but I was trying to be helpful. You’re
so pretty, but you don’t make the most of what you have. Look, what I mean is
that you might find your Mr. Right if you went for a more feminine look.”
Marrying a man she loved, having babies, watching them
grow up, staying together forever…that was the fairy tale for most women, her
friends included. But how often did it actually happen? The staying together
forever bit, anyway.
Not very often, in Jasmine’s experience. She hoped
Leanne and Michael, today’s bride and groom, would make it, but it wasn’t a
risk she was prepared to take for herself. Not unless she found a man she could
trust completely, and they were few and far between.
Sighing, she said, “If I find a man to love me as I
am, then great. But I’m not going to pretend to be something I’m not.”
Jasmine studied her reflection as the makeup artist
blended blush beneath her cheekbones. Which made her look as if she actually had cheekbones. She’d bet that, given a
choice between muscles and makeup on their women, most men would not choose muscles. But messing around
with all those brushes and jars—it just wasn’t her style. Any man she allowed
into her life would have to want the real her no matter what she did or didn’t
slap on her face.
Sasha was on a roll now. “Okay, I can see your point,
but first impressions are important, aren’t they? You need to get past the
first hurdle before you can really get to know someone. All I’m saying is, you
might meet more men if you looked as if you cared what they thought of you. And
you could be a bit more encouraging when men do try to talk to you. You could give them a chance. Like that poor
man in the pub last week.”
Jasmine swiveled the chair. “What man?”
“The one with the Johnny Depp jaw.”
She screwed up her eyes. “Can’t say I remember him.”
“He came over to talk to us. To you, anyway.”
“Oh! You mean when we were watching the game on the
big screen?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t notice his jaw; I was too busy paying
attention to the football.”
“Trust me, he was cute. And he tried to start a
conversation with you.”
Jasmine frowned. “Did he?”
“He asked you what you did for a living.”
She nodded. “That’s right. I remember.”
“And what did you say?”
“Er…female impersonator.”
“My point exactly. No wonder he took off like he’d
been spat out.”
“The scores were level. It was a crucial point.”
The door of the en-suite bathroom opened and Leanne,
the bride, emerged, wrapped in a toweling robe, and, like Jasmine and Sasha,
sporting large rollers in her hair. “What did I miss?”
“I was just telling Jasmine that she frightens men off
when they try to talk to her.”
Nodding, Leanne pulled up a chair. “Well, it’s not
really her fault that she intimidates them, is it? She’s so…”
“Capable,” Sasha supplied.
“Hello. I’m still in the room.” Jasmine frowned. “And
since when was being capable a bad thing?”
“It’s not, generally, but you don’t give men a chance
to be men around you.”
“Oh, that’s rubbish.”
“No, it’s true,” Leanne said. “You’re good at most
things they’d consider men’s stuff. Heck, you can probably bench press more
than some of them. You even do a job that a lot of men wouldn’t have the guts
to do. You make them feel inadequate.”
“And we love you for it,” Sasha added. “You know that,
don’t you?”
Jasmine nodded. Her friendship with Leanne and Sasha
went back as long as she could remember, and she’d never doubt their motives
for a moment.
“We’re just saying that it’s going to be tough for you
to find a man who’s secure enough in his own masculinity to cope with all
that.”
“Unless you’re smart, like me, and marry a
firefighter,” Leanne said with a smile.
“She’s right,” Sasha said. “And there are some
good-looking guys in your station. What about Kane? He’s cute.”
“Cute like a puppy. He’s younger than me.”
“Not by much. All right, how about Aaron, then? Ooh,
Aaron.” Sasha fanned herself. “He has all the right credentials. Tall, dark,
and—”
“Dangerous,” Leanne interrupted. “Tall, dark, and
dangerous. Strictly no strings, that’s Aaron Parkes. He could charm the skin
off a rice pudding, but he thinks having breakfast with a woman the morning
after is long-term.”
“Isn’t that what makes him irresistible?” Sasha said.
“You know, the thrill of being the one to hook him? Maybe he just hasn’t found
the right woman yet?”
“He’s not looking,” Jasmine said. “Trust me, he’s
happy the way he is. I should know; I have to listen to him bragging about his
conquests at work. They’re all the same, and they don’t seem to care that he’s
only interested in one thing.”
Leanne shook her head. “Forget about him. I wouldn’t
want to see Jasmine dating Aaron. It could only end in tears, and then we’d
have to kill him.”
“I have no intention of dating him,” Jasmine said. She
wouldn’t dream of becoming a notch on Aaron’s bedpost—if there was even any
bedpost left to carve a notch in. “Anyway, there’s no way I’d go out with a
colleague at all. Not Aaron, not anybody. Workplace romances get messy, and in
a job like ours, messy is the last thing we need. We have to be able to rely on
each other in life-threatening situations—would you trust a colleague to save
your life if his girlfriend was in danger as well?” She shook her head. “Of
course you wouldn’t. Plus, dating’s not allowed. Not between people who work in
the same team like Aaron and I do.”
My Review: 4 1/2 stars
This was a good romance. I liked that Jasmine and Aaron were attracted to each other, but fought that attraction. The reasons they both have are sound and practical, but in the end just meant to keep others away from their hearts. Early on there's a shift to their relationship that they both try to reason away. Then they both decide to change their behaviors, and they come away wanting more without ever having crossed a line. Claire did a fantastic job writing this story that is about love, life lessons and learning when to let go of the past, so that your future doesn't slip away. I loved it.
About the Author:
Claire Baxter writes
contemporary romantic fiction of all lengths. Her short stories have been
published in commercial women's magazines around the world, while her novels
have been translated into 20 languages and have been nominated in the Romance
Writers of Australia's Romantic Book of the Year Award, the RT Book Reviews
Reviewers' Choice Awards, and the Cataromance Reviewers' Choice Awards (Winner,
Best Harlequin Romance).
Before following her passion
to write full-time, Claire was an award-winning corporate communications
manager. Earlier, she worked as a translator and a PA.
Claire grew up in
Warwickshire, England, but for more than 20 years has called Australia home.
She considers herself lucky to live near one of Adelaide's beautiful
metropolitan beaches where she loves to walk and think up stories.
Website: http://clairebaxter.com
Tour wide giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card and charm
necklace.
Sounds like a great book and I have added it to the TBR. Thanks for sharing the great excerpt and the giveaway. Congrats on the completion of the tour. evamillien at gmail dot com
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