One More Promise
Series: Band on the Run #2
Author: Samantha Chase
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Published: February 6, 2018
Source: Publisher
Buy Links: Amazon - B&N - iBooks - IndieBound
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Dylan Anders is making amends
…to his family
…to the public
…to the woman who just walked into his life
Paige Walters must learn to forgive
…her busy father
…her bossy sister
…and the wonderful man she horribly misjudged
Ambitious Paige Walters is ecstatic when she's hired to recruit musicians for a literacy campaign—it's her chance to prove she's got the chops to make it in the family business. When Dylan steps in, she immediately dislikes him and vows not to let the fallen idol screw it up. But as the work brings Paige and Dylan closer together, their attraction grows…and so do their challenges…
To be honest, I had a bit of a mixed reaction towards One More Promise. Since this was only my second book of Samantha's, I felt a little lost for a good majority of the book. I knew it was connected to The Shaughnessy Brothers series, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how. So that kind of played tricks on me until the characters clarified things. Note to self: Finish The Shaughnessy Brothers before jumping into the next book! Another reason why I had a mixed reaction towards the book was Paige. It took me a good chunk of the book for her to get on my good side. Once she did, however, I was firmly planted in her corner. I just wasn't a fan of how she judged Dylan when she didn't know him.
Now, on to what I loved about One More Promise. I loved Dylan and Paige together. Dylan saw through Paige's defenses and it aggravated her. He refused to believe the bullshit she uses as an excuse and pushes her to admit that her family is using her. She hates the mirror that Dylan has in front of her face, but it's for her own sanity. As for Paige, she shows Dylan what could be. He can be the man that can have it all and his future isn't dictated by the actions of his past. Paige shows him that he's worthy of love, which I adored.
Once I got past the hurdles that were tripping me up, I couldn't put the book down. Although I bit of trouble with Paige, I ended up loving all of the characters. Well, except for Paige's family. They kinda sucked. One More Promise is a well-written, character driven story that, while I struggled a bit with it, I ended up really enjoying.
A girl could only wait so long.
And boy, oh boy, was it worth the wait.
Every inch of him was hard and muscled and felt so good wrapped around her. She wanted to climb him like a tree. Coupled with the softness of his lips and gentleness of his caress, Dylan Anders was every naughty fantasy she’d ever had—and all he’d done was kiss her!
Paige’s hands anchored in his hair as she went from being the one controlling the kiss to the one being controlled. Dylan’s kiss went from wow to ohmygod in less than a second. He kissed, he tasted, he devoured, and Paige was more than willing to be devoured.
For hours at a time.
When his lips left hers to lick the shell of her ear—she really liked that—and her throat, she let her head fall back as she fought to catch her breath.
“Come home with me,” she panted. “Please. Please, Dylan.”
He bit her gently and then soothed that tender spot with his talented tongue and she was certain they were on the same page. She ran a quick checklist in her head: Bed made? Check. Bedroom clean? Check. Legs shaved? Check. If she could just get him to the car…
Dylan lifted his head, and she could feel his entire body practically vibrating. Good. She wanted—no, needed him like that. Turned on and unable to say no. Playing the seductress was so not her thing, and she had never been sexually aggressive, but everything about this man brought that out in her.
“Paige,” he said breathlessly.
“Yes?” This was it!
“I… We can’t do this.”
Say what?
“What do you mean we can’t do this? We already are doing this!” It was pointless to pretend she wasn’t pissed off. There was only so much a girl on the verge of climbing a man could take!
Dylan took a step away. And then another. And another. He raked a hand through his hair, making it stand on end, and even that managed to look sexy on him!
The bastard!
“Look, I think lines are getting blurred,” he began. “We talked about this, Paige. I told you why we can’t get involved.”
“And you know that, to the world, it’s going to look like that already. I don’t see why we can’t take advantage of this situation. It’s obvious we’re attracted to each other. I don’t see what the big deal is!”
He studied her for a long moment and Paige wanted to walk up to him and shake him.
But she didn’t.
“Because you deserve better than this,” he said, his voice void of emotion. “You deserve better than a fake relationship with someone like me. Trust me.”
“Dylan…wait…”
But he didn’t. He turned and walked away, and Paige watched him go.
There was a part of her that said to run after him and make him see that he was wrong. But the logical, regular part of her told her to respect his wishes and let it go.
With a weary sigh, she collected her things and made her way out of the studio. She stopped at the front office and thanked the receptionist on her way out. As the warm afternoon sun hit her face, Paige reached in her bag for her sunglasses and slipped them on.
And then stood on the sidewalk and contemplated what to do next.
She didn’t have errands to run, and she didn’t want to go into the office. She could drive around the city, but traffic was always a nightmare, so that wouldn’t be a relaxing endeavor either. Pulling out her phone, she checked the time. Three o’clock. There was always… Nothing. There was nothing that she wanted to do. No hot yoga, no Zumba, no spinning class. Then she laughed at herself because it had easily been six months since she’d been to the gym, so why even consider those activities?
“Because I have way too much pent-up energy and need to do something with it,” she murmured and walked to her car. Inside, she started the car, turned on the air, and still tried to think of what to do. She didn’t want to go home. Home was where she had hoped to be with Dylan right now.
New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of contemporary romance, Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan's Return in November 2011.
Although she waited until she was in her 40s to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.
With almost fifty titles currently to her name, she has no plans to slow down. You won't find her books with the erotica or paranormal titles, all of her works are pure contemporary romances.
When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading romances, playing way too many games of Scrabble or Solitaire on Facebook, wearing a tiara while playing with her sassy pug Maylene…oh, and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina.
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