For Services Rendered

Man Talk #8

by Anne Marie Winston

They'd worked together for years, but security expert Sam Deering never imagined what was beneath his plain-Jane employee's baggy clothing. Then, on the night of Delilah Smith's twenty-ninth birthday, Sam no longer had to wonder. Tired of being a virgin, desperate to see what all the fuss was about, Del announced she was ready…and
Sam generously offered his “services.” Trouble was, once their relationship went from strictly professional to deliciously private, Sam knew it was time to reveal his secret past if he and Del ever hoped to share a future. After all, he may have taken her innocence, but it was her heart he was really after.

Genres: Romance

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 25, 2004

About the author

Anne Marie Winston is a Pennsylvania native and former teacher. She began reading romances a long, long time ago and considers getting paid to write them the ultimate in occupations. Always a book lover, Anne Marie didn't begin writing her own romance until 1989, when she was at home with two babies, too many diapers and too much time to consider insane, risky career moves. She sold her first book in 1991 and to date has published more than thirty novels of romance fiction.

Reviews

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final installment of the Man Talk series, which means this is told entirely from our hero, Sam's POV. We get from him that he and his company's VP, Del, have been working together for years and he's been lusting after her on the DL for quite sometime, but definitely not about to risk their working relationship for a bit of sex. Until she gets tipsy one night, reveals she's still a virgin and sets out to get a man. Sam decides it's going to be him or nobody, so he takes her home and relieves her of her virginity. So, Sam is pretty surprised to find himself thinking in terms of commitment and relationships...about when he can spend time with her again and making this a really long-term thing. He's even thinking marriage...gasp! But Del doesn't give any inclination that she's interested in that sort of thing, and she's still keeping secrets about her past from him. But he's okay with it because he's still hiding a pretty big one too. Those secrets clash and the two of them screw it up pretty big, but will it be the end of the good thing they've got going?

This was a pretty cute story and enjoyable enough for 4 stars even if I was kinda disappointed in a few things. First and foremost was the disappointment that there is no story or conclusion for Walker and Karen. The author introduces this former couple as a secondary story-line and ratchets up the angst for them. It really looked like these two might be a secondary romance or even a set up for another story...and then...nothing. Walker uses his regret to spur Sam into action, but we don't get anything about them as a couple...nothing conclusive anyway. I really want their story - it was super emotionally engaging.

On the brightside, Del and Sam were pretty cute. I love the fact that (at least it seems to us) that Sam falls first...and hard. He's thinking long term commitment and asks for a drawer the morning after, and he's clear it isn't just sex. I liked that. I also really liked the fact that this isn't about a makeover or finally noticing the employee is hot because she wears a dress. Yes, Sam is impressed when Del wears a dress, but it's established that he's been having "impure" thoughts well before that. He also doesn't insist on Del changing her style or making herself over, to switch out of the baggy clothes. There's one line in here where Sam is thinking about Del and he thinks about how sexy she is in her baggy clothes - that right there tells me he loves her for who she is, not how she dresses (as I sometimes feel in the Cinderella style romances).

This ends up being a pretty fluffy romance overall, as they're togther by the 30% mark and the secrets don't come out until the 85% mark...so it's a lot of them adjusting to being a couple and Sam trying to figure Del out. Their angsty moment did feel a bit childish...mostly on Del's part. They fight about the fact that Del didn't tell Sam about his famous actress mother, since he's trying to avoid publicity...but then she didn't know that. Tempers mount and Sam walks off in a pissy huff. And he does some thinking, realizes he was an idiot and wants Del and returns to the house to find she's gone, moving back to California with her mother (keep in mind he's been gone for like 2 hours). She apparently thought that because of one fight, their 2-month-long relationship was over. Her reaction felt OTT, but the author didn't do half bad trying to justify it...she was inexperienced in relationships and she was probably being noble to save Sam any future publicity. So this was definitely an enjoyable little fluffy romance...but I want Karen and Walker's not so-fluffy story too!

[Heather Wilkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was very good. So many books like this have the owner of the business come off as a total jerk and this book was not like that at all. They were equals throughout the book.

[Desi · Rating 3 out of 5]

leído el 13/06/2011