What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 7) Read online

  What To Read After FSOG

  The Gemstone Collection

  Part Seven

  WTRAFSOG

  Created by Summer Daniels

  All rights reserved. This book is copyright material and must not be copied, translated, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any form without prior written permission of the publisher, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution, circulation or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible maybe liable in law accordingly.

  Copyright © Lexi Buchanan, Kathy Kulig, Dee Carney, K.B. Nelson, A.M. Madden, Rose Francis, Saskia Walker, Violet Vaughn, Renee Field, Sharon Cummin, and Summer Daniels 2014. The right of the above authors to be identified as the authors of the works in this anthology has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) 2000

  Kindle Edition

  The books in this anthology are works of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either a product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Formatted by BB eBooks.

  *WTRAFSOG created by Summer Daniels.

  WTRAFSOG

  (What To Read After Fifty Shades of Grey)

  Be sure to check out some other great authors and deals with our WTRAFSOG Box Sets!

  Amazon

  Hello all … my name is Summer Daniels.

  I’m not just an author, I am a voracious reader. I am always looking for that next book to read that will capture my interest and transport me to another realm.

  I’ve been saying all along that there should be a 12 step program associated with the Fifty Shades of Grey book phenomenon. Readers who have not read a single book for many years are now voraciously reading a book a week … or more!!

  Back in April of 2012 I had an idea to help point some of these readers in the direction of other talented authors (including myself) … and the Facebook page What To Read After Fifty (50) Shades of Grey was born. What honestly started out as a way to sell a few of my books and help promote some other deserving authors has blossomed into an unbelievably active reader recommendation / author promotion community.

  As part of the evolving of the page into this community – I started to compile a weekly list of books that had sold the most copies from the links on the page – based on reader recommendations, author promotions, best seller lists, etc.

  I started out posting the Top Ten books every week. Readers blazed through the top ten and wanted more. I started posting a list of the 11-20 positions as well every week. Readers wanted more. So now every other week I update the Top Fifty List of best selling books and post it on the Facebook page. I email it out to anyone who wants it as well – if you’d like an email copy – just drop me an email at [email protected] and I will add you to our mailing list.

  The mailing list includes The Top Fifty List, Daily Digests (from the posts on the FB page), and special author spotlights / sales. Sign up here: http://eepurl.com/Jmhnn

  We hope you enjoy this anthology! If you do – please consider spreading the word about it to friends, fellow readers, your hairdresser, mailman, etc.

  The WTRAFSOG page now has a FREE APP associated with it as well, with such features as the Top Fifty List, a Free Ebook of the Day, Hot New Releases, Pre-Orders for hot books coming soon, and a lot more!

  It is FREE … so go download yours today!

  Amazon: http://amzn.to/1de1M5f

  Come check us out online! Daily FREE ebooks, reader recommendations, author sales, giveaways and MORE!

  Facebook Page: What To Read After Fifty (50) Shades of Grey

  Website: What To Read After Fifty (50) Shades of Grey

  Summer

  Box Set Contents

  Sizzle by Lexi Buchanan—Jack meets his brother’s girlfriend, Thalia, and he can’t get her out of his head. He needs her to keep her distance, because every time she smiles in his direction, he wants to carry her to his room and do really naughty things to her.

  Then Saturday night arrives and Liam takes Thalia to a new bar that has opened on the outskirts of town, where she discovers Jack’s big secret. By day he’s the good looking, slightly older brother with a chip on his shoulder, who gives her hot looks, and by night he’s Phoenix, singer/guitar player for bad boy group ‘Deception’, who makes her sizzle to the core!

  Red Tape by Kathy Kulig—Hot passion explodes when two headstrong CIA agents and ex-lovers are hand-picked for a secret organization that uses sex and scandal to manipulate a sadistic leader. Danger escalates when their target discovers the plan and devises his own scheme. The mission and love affair spins out of control, forcing a decision between love, loyalty or national security.

  Blackmail, coercion and undercover sex scandals. When ex-CIA agents, Zoe and Jason, agree to put their damaged pasts behind them to manipulate a sadistic leader, Jason must train his ex-lover for her role as a submissive in a dangerous BDSM sex tape project. But the bondage aspect of the plan takes their relationship on an emotional and sensual ride mixed with heartache, second chances and treachery. Life unravels when their target discovers the plan and devises one of his own, and it appears Zoe has betrayed Jason and her country. Torn between love and national security, can Jason protect the woman he loves from one of the deadliest enemies?

  Brush Strokes by Dee Carney—Tanya spends hours painting renditions of the masculine—and very nude—glory that is Joe, her gorgeous blue-eyed model. When he offers to help her learn how to improve her work, simple lessons in touching and learning his body, she’s not about to turn him down.

  When tragedy strikes, the secret she’s harbored—that she’s been unable to finish her artwork—is exposed. Now she has little more than twenty-four hours to create the best piece of her life.

  What begins as erotic lessons in art becomes a study in love that Joe will never let her forget.

  Carnival by K.B. Nelson—Charlie’s life is forever changed when she meets Blue at the county fair. He’s handsome, mysterious and a breath of fresh air in her carefully planned out life. But when she follows Blue down the rabbit hole, into a world without rules or consequences, she soon learns that all carnival rides come to an end. Because the higher the roller coaster goes, the faster it all comes crashing down.

  Back-Up by A.M. Madden—Leila Marino’s biggest dream is to become a rock star. Jack is the quintessential rock star…gorgeous…sexy…a walking orgasm. He hires her. She turns his world upside down. Their story is one of true love, rock star style.

  Alec by Rose Francis—The Wilde brothers have spent the past few years reaping the rewards of their youth, good looks, and massive wealth. But can you literally buy your way into any woman’s heart?

  Alec Wilde is about to find out. He has his eye on one woman in particular and he will do everything in his power to make her his.

  Sex, Lies, and Bondage Tape by Saskia Walker—Roadie Tommy Samson’s specialty is sending rogue groupies on their way with a playful spank, but when he catches Kelly Burton backstage she responds to his spanking in an entirely different way. Very soon they’re locked in combat of the sexual kind, kicking off a sequence of crazy sex games back and forth across London. Kelly is fast falling fo
r Tommy, but she is a stubbornly independent woman who plays the men at their own games. That only makes Tommy want more – and what Tommy wants…Tommy goes after.

  Release by Violet Vaughn—Former skating champion Lori Langley leaves an abusive past to reinvent herself as a ski instructor in Colorado. When she meets sexy snowboarder Kaleb Wakefield she falls hard and fast, and explores love without chains. But when Lori’s past catches ups to her, she realizes she’s not the only one in danger. Will they pay the ultimate price?

  Embrace by Renee Field—Ella O’Connor left her small rural town of Cape Cod for the big Apple and never looked back. Now that she’s made a career in New York she knows something is missing. A frantic call from her sister has her leaving everything behind, including her finance, as she makes her way home fearing the worst for her mother. Being home opens old feelings she thought long dead.

  A winter storm forces Ella off the road and who saves her but the one man she’d prayed to never see again.

  Can two people who started out whispering high school dreams to each other embrace the opportunity to rediscover the meaning of love?

  Sea of Love by Sharon Cummin—Gavin was a handsome billionaire, who needed some time away to relax. Becky had ended a seventeen year relationship and decided to go on a cruise before she started her life over in a new town. When the two met on the ship, they agreed to a week of fun in the sun, with no strings attached. Would they be able to walk away without knowing anything besides first names? When their paths crossed again, would they be able to walk away a second time, or would the attaction they felt for each other be too strong to fight?

  Summer’s Journey by Summer Daniels—Join Summer on her journey of sexual self-discovery; a well written, intelligent and sexy series about the beginning of her sensual, sultry love affair with life, and all the joys of being a woman.

  Sizzle

  Bad Boy Rockers Book 1

  Lexi Buchanan

  Copyright © 2013 Lexi Buchanan

  HFCA Publishing

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a written act of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9576803-4-0

  Dedication

  I would like to dedicate this book to two special people:

  Kristy Louise Garbutt, my Australian friend who read the very rough draft of this book and helped me name the characters when it was pointed out to me that all the characters names began with the letter J, apart from Thalia!!

  I’m not going to mention the scene you suggested for the book, or I’ll make you blush. LOL

  Kristy, you are my best friend and I love chatting to you at all hours of the day and night. I hope you know how grateful I am to have you for a friend and how much I appreciate everything you do for me. I love you loads. xx

  Nadine Winningham, my American friend who also read the very first draft of this book. You helped me to get untangled, spotted inconsistencies, pointed out the “J” names and stayed up nearly all night reading Sizzle. How many times have you read it now? LOL

  You are always there at the end of an email for my cry of help, for which I will always be grateful.

  Nadine, you have become a great friend and I hope you know how much everything you do means to me. Love you babe. xx

  Acknowledgements

  A big thank you to everyone listed here, for their help and encouragement.

  Editor

  Sirena Van Schaik (you are amazing)

  Model

  Kenton Kramer

  Image Copyright

  Eric Battershell

  Cover Artist

  Robin Harper, Wicked by Design

  Beta Readers

  HM Bendana, Kristy Louise Garbutt, Suella Holland, Saska Kovacic, Hildred Livesey, Marsha Thalleen, Gabriela Tortolano and Nadine Winningham

  Chapter One

  Thalia

  The lumps of the new sofa dug painfully into my back as I wriggled to a new position; equally as uncomfortable as the first. I would never understand how Callie had convinced me to purchase it. I hated it – from the color, a sickly brown; sienna according to the designer, to the numerous lumps and bumps that you couldn’t escape, regardless of how you were sitting on it. It reminded me of the old, beat up sofa in my mom’s sunroom. The very one my uncle had hauled out and deposited in the tree house we’d built behind the tall cottonwoods.

  I smiled at the memory. My first make out session had happened in that tree house, on that sofa. Ethan. Ethan Rock; the school jock and biggest asshole. He’d sweet talked his way into the tree house with every intention of getting to third base. I’d ended up kneeing him in his junk when my father shouted at me from the base of the tree; he’d frightened the shit out of us. Ethan, of course hadn’t spoken to me again, but what a memory.

  “Thalia, what the hell are you grinning at?”

  “Ethan Rock,” I replied to my roommate Callie, her voice shaking me from the memory.

  “Huh, I don’t think I know him. You going to eat this Spaghetti Bolognese?”

  I turned my head to look at her and burst out laughing. “Is there any left in the pan?” Her apron seemed to have a hell of a lot of red sauce all over it.

  Callie was the world’s worst chef, and always insisted the next meal she cooked would be better than the previous one. That was so not going to happen.

  “Ha, funny.”

  “When’s it ready?”

  “Ten minutes,” she said, before turning back into the small, cramped kitchen.

  “Okay.” I hoped I wouldn’t regret eating what she’d made.

  I’d met Callie within a couple of weeks of starting our freshman year at college, both of us studying English Literature – close to three years ago. After the summer break we’d be back as seniors. We couldn’t wait to strut our stuff around campus. Shit, who was I kidding? We couldn’t wait to graduate and finally be out in the real world. We had it all planned, or at least Callie did. I had no clue as to where I wanted to go, or what I wanted to do, but I figured if I had an English degree, it would open more doors for me, once I’d fully made my mind up.

  All I did know was that I wasn’t going home when I graduated next year. I shuddered at the thought.

  Both of my parents treated me like a child when I was home, right down to the nine pm curfew. I sighed thinking of them. I was twenty-one and, wanted to be like most twenty-one year olds; allowed to enjoy myself before I got completely snowed down with a job and other responsibilities.

  Wherever I ended up, I knew that it would be with Callie, although at that thought I realized I’d have to learn to cook if we didn’t want to survive on take-out or die from food poisoning.

  Dragging my carcass from the sofa, I walked the short distance to the bathroom, which was as small as the kitchen. In the tight space, I could touch the toilet, washbasin and shower and feel cramped in doing so. There was barely enough room at the sink to wash up for dinner.

  Rent was cheap so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much. My parents gave me a monthly allowance that covered the rent, bills and food. I even had some left over, which I put away for rainy days or when I’d finished college, along with the money from my part-time job.

  I sighed, turning the faucet on, I splashed cold water onto my face. Green eyes returned my gaze in the mirror. Groaning, I realized my dark curly hair, which had been secured in a band at the back of my head, had come loose. Stray hairs were sticking up all over my head in disarray. I pulled the towel from the rail and dried my face, with an extra swipe over my freckled nose, in hope that one or two freckles would get stuck
on the towel. I hated freckles! My red hairbrush was in the container to the side of the tub, so I quickly grabbed it, removed the band from my hair, and ran the brush through it, deciding to leave it hanging around my shoulders.

  Refreshed, I walked into the kitchen, and took a seat at our two-person table while Callie spooned sauce on to the pasta.

  She placed the plate in front of me and I couldn’t hold the grimace in as the sharp odor of unknown spices drifted from the plate. Oh boy.

  “Thalia, I promise it’s…tasty,” she reassured me between bites. “Are you for real?”

  “Okay, I’m hungry so here goes.” I picked up my fork, rolled up the long noodles dripping with sauce and placed it hesitantly into my mouth. Flavor burst on my tongue and to my surprise it was…edible! I glanced at Callie in surprise.

  “Told you so.” She smirked.

  “What happened? Why does it taste good?” That’s the thing about best friends – you could insult them without it going to heart. Callie was also honest with herself and knew she couldn’t cook.

  “Well, thanks for the vote of confidence. I kept telling you I’d get it right one of these days,” Callie replied, waving her fork around in the air.

  “Yeah, you did and watch what you’re doing with that fork.”

  We ate the rest of the meal in silence then I poured us both a glass of wine, which we carried through to the living room along with the rest of the bottle. We got comfortable on the sofa with our feet resting up on the coffee table, the conversation and wine flowing easily between us. Before we knew it we were on our second bottle of wine.