Padme's Library: Conflicted on 5th Avenue by Abbie St. Claire

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Conflicted on 5th Avenue by Abbie St. Claire

Title: Conflicted on 5th Avenue

Author: Abbie St. Claire

Series: 5th Avenue Romance #1

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: March 24, 2015

Summary:
Cliffanger notice: This book will satisfy your needs but make you want to come back for more.

International Best Selling Author, Abbie St. Claire brings you Conflicted on 5th, a 5th Avenue Romance Novel. Conflicted on 5th will lead you down a journey of loss, love and triumph over self-doubts and vulnerabilities.

Widower, Dr. Ian Briggs leads a complicated life. Raising his son and juggling his busy orthopedic practice have been his focus. Relationships take time and energy, something he lacks after a day at work and an evening with Oliver. After losing the love of his life, he never considered a replacement. You can’t replace your heart.

Chelsie Peterson divorced her cheating spouse with the intent of staying a single parent forever. Carson Peterson’s last words to her regarding her sexual performance cut her to her soul. While he used them to blame her for his own misgivings, he left her with a haunting void in her own measurement of self-worth.

Ian’s relocation changes everything. Living down the street from Chelsea, he finds himself captivated and confused. How does he balance work, fatherhood and his libido?

The arrival of Ian Briggs changes everything. Chelsie’s once contained life is now full of questions. The biggest being her value as a woman—will she ever be enough for a man, especially a man like Ian. How can she balance work, motherhood and her doubt?

While they find an escape cavorting on the side, true feelings get in the way. Life is fabulous fun and full of feelings but sometimes it leaves you simply Conflicted.

He tossed the ropes back in the drawer and gripped both my hands, pulling me to sit on the bed with him. “When we started making love earlier, I could tell you weren’t confident with yourself or your image. I know this by the way you tried to hide yourself. What I don’t know is who fucked with your head. You are hot. Your body is beautiful, and you should be proud of it. You’re so responsive. Being restrained makes you vulnerable, yes, but it also helps you to understand and embrace sensations that you can no longer hide from or—control. It actually gives you sexual freedom.”
“And you know this how?”
“I’ve studied the art of sexual pleasure.”
I thought for a moment. I looked at his body, and the dark, primal lust emanating from his eyes. “You’re a Dom. Look, I’m no sub. You’ve picked yourself the wrong girl.”
I slid my legs from the bed and tried to stand, but he pulled me into his lap. “So, let me get this straight. You want to tie me up and in some miraculous way, show me sexual freedom from my fears. You think you know me so well, but yet I barely know you. So tell me, doc, what are you afraid of?”
I wanted to challenge him, see if he’d expose his own weakness or perhaps be caught off guard and not know what to say.
“You.” He swallowed hard. His chin was at my eye level, and I viewed the clenching of his jaw before the rise and fall of his chest taking a deep breath. “You make me feel things and think too much about things I haven’t thought of since Olivia and that scares the fucking hell out of me.”
Brutal honesty and disclosure—took me by a thunderous storm inside my chest, holding my breath hostage.
His shoulders went limp with his confession. Vulnerability controlled both of us in far reaching spectrums, although by the same token placing us on an even playing field.
That was, until he opened the drawer and retrieved the ropes.
We sat in silence while music played in the background. He pulled me tightly to his chest and held me, running his fingers through my hair. “I’m no Dom. I don’t believe in having a sexual slave. I do like using toys and apparatuses for pleasure, but you will never call me Master or Sir, and I will never ask for a contract or command you to do something.”
“You’ve never been to one of those chamber places?”
The quiet became maddening to the point I couldn’t stand it. With my hands on his chest, I pushed away from him to maneuver a stare down.
“Yes, I’ve been. Here and California.”
The elephant landed in the room.

©Abbie St. Claire 2015

Author Bio:
With a creative personality, Abbie St. Claire has always had her nose in a book. Whether one for decorative painting, gourmet cooking or steamy erotica.

“Heck, those books all go together in my mind. My imagination can easily picture a painting session that turns steamy and I certainly see trying to prepare a gourmet meal while getting deliciously sidetracked with a partner and finishing that meal for breakfast,” St. Claire says with a raised brow and twinkle in her eyes.

An International Best Selling Author, St. Claire focuses her work on writing steamy romance from the “writing nook” in her Houston, Texas kitchen, where she’s currently at work on the “5th Avenue Romance Series.

St. Claire has quite a bit in store for 2015 and 2016 with a new series, participation in several anthologies and even a golf-themed steamy novella slated for late summer. For her latest news, be sure to sign up for her mailing list.