Arresting Desire

Sexy Capers #2.5

by Shayla Black

In this short story from New York Times bestselling author Shayla Black, a sexy professor is looking for a lesson in love — and a hard-bodied FBI Agent is on the case.

Agent Jon Bocelli never stopped wanting beautiful professor Lucia DiStefano. She's interested in taking her first lover, and he intends to be that man. But when her past puts her life in danger, Jon risks everything to save her and prove this fling is forever.

Genres: Romance, Erotica, Erotic Romance, BDSM, Romantic Suspense, Adult, Novella

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2014

About the author

Shayla Black is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than ninety contemporary, erotic, paranormal, and historical romances. Her books have sold millions of copies and been published in a dozen languages.

As an only child, Shayla occupied herself by daydreaming, much to the chagrin of her teachers. In college, she found her love for reading and started pursuing a publishing career. Though she graduated with a degree in Marketing/Advertising and embarked on a stint in corporate America, her heart was with her stories and characters, so she left her pantyhose and power suits behind.

Shayla currently lives in North Texas with her wonderfully supportive husband, her daughter, and two spoiled tabbies. In her “free” time, she enjoys reality TV, gaming, and listening to an eclectic blend of music.

Follow me on Facebook: http://shayla.link/FBPage

Join me in my Book Beauties group for weekly LIVE chats: http://shayla.link/FBChat

Reviews

[GimmeAllTheWerdssss · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 to short but Shayla def knows how to write a Dom stars.

[Rachel-RN · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lucia: super smart academic who just turned 25. She also happens to be a virgin. Oh and she's part of a mob family. Yep, those last 2 sentences.
Jon: a 35 year old FBI agent. He was undercover 2 years ago and met Lucia. He's been HOT for Lucia ever since. Oh, and he's got SO much sexual experience. Of course he does.
This could have been good, but instead just annoyed me. I lost tract of how many times I rolled my eyes. I guess I'm still in my bitchy mood. Whatever.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it.

So I met Jon in Belong to Me (Wicked Lover’s Book 5) and have read the other two books in the Sexy Caper’s series a long time ago and never realized Lucia and Jon had their own short story. I’m so glad I found it. I enjoyed reading about them and getting their HEA. The little bit of trouble in the book was good and added a bit of mystery to the story. The book was well written but I wish the ending was just a bit longer. So glad I found this book though.

[Romanticamente Fantasy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eccomi qui ragazze… Ho letto per voi “Sogno inconfessabile” della mitica Shayla Black.

Questa è una novella della serie Sexy Capers. Potete tranquillamente leggere solo questo, in quanto è un auto conclusivo, ma sicuramente se leggete prima gli altri potrete capire meglio la storia che circonda i nostri protagonisti.

Io amo la Black e ho deciso di recensire questa novella perché ne ho sentite di cotte e di crude su questo terzo capitolo della serie.

Sicuramente ognuna di noi, prima di acquistare un libro legge la trama per sapere se può interessarle o meno e, inoltre, si dovrebbe conoscere almeno il modo di scrivere dell’autrice e soprattutto il genere letterario.

Quindi, dopo aver letto gli insulti peggiori in giro per il web, vi dico in tutta onestà che anche questo libro non mi ha affatto delusa.

Sto andando contro corrente? Assolutamente no, ho aperto il libro con la consapevolezza di cosa avrei trovato!!!

Il modo di scrivere della Black è come sempre molto scorrevole: infatti ho mangiato le pagine e sono arrivata alla fine nel giro di poche ore.

In questa novella troviamo finalmente Lucia: una dei miei personaggi preferiti, che è rimasta nell’ombra, sin dai primi libri, ma che subito mi è entrata nel cuore.

Lucia non è la classica “modella” a cui ci hanno abituati i romanzi rosa/erotici di recente, infatti, quello per cui emerge è la sua intelligenza. È diversa, così si autodefinisce, con un QI superiore alla media, che l’ha portata ad essere solitaria, a volte emarginata, ed a ritrovarsi vergine a 25 anni.

Nei libri precedenti capiamo che Lucia si innamora perdutamente di Jon ed è stata respinta dal maschio per eccellenza: forte, virile, bello da fare male.

Finalmente dopo diversi anni, Jon ritorna dalla splendida donna per cui ha perso la testa e la storia ha così inizio.

L’unica pecca di questa novella, è la lunghezza: è troppo, troppo breve. A mio modestissimo parere, la Black avrebbe dovuto dedicare un intero libro ai due protagonisti. In alcune scene ho avuto l’impressione che abbia affrettato le cose in modo da concludere al più presto, anche nell’unica scena “pericolosa” della novella, la suspense si conclude nel giro di poche righe.

Se vi aspettate un romanzo su cui ragionare o pieno di significato, allora dovete restare alla larga da questa autrice.

Io l’adoro proprio perché mi fa sognare, mi fa evadere dalla realtà quotidiana con l’amore perfetto e quel pizzico di erotismo che non guasta mai, ma non siamo tutte uguali e i motivi per cui ognuna di noi legge determinati libri sono diversi.

Io leggo per sognare e questo rende la Black una delle mie scrittrici preferite.

[Limecello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely my favorite book of the Sexy Capers series.
However, it felt like this novella was ... missing parts?
I mean I GET that this was a novella. (And it seems at times Shayla Black novellas are SHORT ...)

but like we really jump into things; in that some scenes are almost overdeveloped, and then BAM you're almost slapped in the face by them jumping to the next level.
And everyone being ok with Jon basically kidnapping Lucia?
Also hello the danger? Also also oh my gooooooood the heavy handed "foreshadowing."

And 😒 the sex scene. Like it was hot, but the whole losing virginity scene like - women aren't ... damn plastic bottles with those safety seals that you pop. Just ... REALLY?!?! ... I even looked to see when this book was published. 2016. Do better, authors. 😒😒😒😒😒

What didn't help was the collaring and the I love you and proposal. YOU HAD SEX ONCE. YOU SPENT ONE DAY TOGETHER. Sure they ... somewhat? hung out? two years ago but they didn't even date; like maybe they had some conversations? (Also clearly I remembered incorrectly but for whatever reason I thought in book 2 I thought Mark said Jon was short :X oops) - ANYWAY. That felt shoe horned in.

Otherwise though it was a nice little novella. Just - I wish some issues had been handled a bit differently/it was cleaned up as I felt the flow was a bit clunky/jumpy.

C-

[Blanca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I may have read this book but the ending was totally different. So it was interesting and I do find the character of Jon Bocelli interesting. His interest in Lucia DeStefano was what makes the reading worthy. Lucia is a woman who has sped along the educational track due to her amazing intellect so she has been slowed down in the emotional and social areas, that is to say she is a twenty-five year old virgin. Jon took care of that in a very sexy scene. A must read for Shayla Black fans.

[Christine Jalili · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this novella.

I think I read this out of order, so I’m going to read the other books in this series. Jon is trying to figure out who framed his brother. He’s never forgotten Lucia and now he’s back. He won’t back away this time. She’s been given a clue, can they figure out who killed her Dad? I loved this book and that they do get a happy ever after. I highly recommend this book.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book seemed like it was leading into a bigger picture.... I would love to see more of this relationship. As short stories go, it was a bit choppy with large chunks that seemed to have been edited out .. even an extra 20 pages would have made this a smoother story. All in all, well enjoyed.

[TinaMarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's an FBI agent who knew her while he was undercover. She's a brainiac 25 year old virgin who doesn't think she's desirable enough. He's into control and when he finally makes his move for her things get steamy. While there are definitely BDSDM elements it's not hardcore.

[Kl · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always Shayla Black write a great story. Although the story was complete it was very short. So only 4 stars. I always prefer books 400+ pages.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too short! I would have loved to explore more of John and Lucia

[Penny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Narrater needs to be able to do an acceptable male voice.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hot in handcuffs book

[Tammy Casteel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love it

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il libro mi è piaciuto ma non abbastanza perché era fin troppo semplice e scontato. Per i miei gusti era alquanto banale e lo ritengo un buon erotico

[Vidhi Mehta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I normally love Shayla Black's stories and feel connected with them, but for some odd reason I felt no connection with Jon and Lucia. Still Shayla Black's is my favorite author and so I still blindly read her stories. This was quick and short story. Even though I didn't absolutely love this story but that won't stop my love for Shayla Black and her stories.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jon always wanted the beautiful Lucia, but she was off limits. He was working undercover with the FBI to take down her father.

Lucia has never thought of herself as beautiful. She has led a sheltered life and now that she’s 25 she has made plans to celebrate her birthday at a resort with her best friend.

But when Jon walks back into her life everything changes. Can she be the woman he needs, can he be the man she wants? And when her life is in danger, Jon will do anything he can to save her.

My one small issue is that despite all of this short book happening in a short time span there was no mention of her changing clothes from when he ‘kidnapped’ her in Las Vegas. Other than that little thing it was a steamy read. And it had an undercover cop. What more could you ask for?

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really BDSM

Been looking forward to this novella as I met the H/h in a previous book called Strip Search. Enjoyable until the end. Likable Charachters. No real BDSM scenes and the H collars the h in the last scene in the book with a collar he bought from Tiffany. Not really believable. Other than that, Pretty good

[Amira S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Storia scontatissima, odio il fatto che dopo nemmeno una settimana che si conoscano si dicano ti amo e decidano di sposarsi, si perchè anche se si conoscevano anni prima due anni possono cambiarti radicalmente.

[Trish-Sunshine Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gotta love a cop, right? This was a short hot story. Jon spent time undercover and had to stay hands off with Lucia. She is done tired of being a virgin and is going to fixed that problem. A little bit of drama, a little bit of sex, and little bit of bad guys coming after you make a great story.

[Gloria75 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 e mezzo....troppo breve,

[Beret Brenckman]

Hated that it was mob family (hers)/ and FBI agent (his) and didn't like the extra characters

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

onder deel van hot in handcuffs

[Lidia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't decide if laughing , rolling my eyes or take offense as a modern woman, while I read this story. It is a no no story in so many way.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much emphasis on why she deserved him, not enough on why he deserved her.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok. There were some hot scenes and the plot was interesting.