Running the Red Light

Running the Red Light is the 2^nd book in the Texas Nights series by Kelsey Browning. The release date is January 6, 2014 and the publisher is Carina Press. From the back cover.~

After wearing a Least Likely to Succeed label all her life, Roxanne Eberly is hell-bent on making her Red Light Lingerie store successful. Although the residents of small-town Shelbyville, Texas, are a little…lingerie-resistant, she'll win them over eventually. So when a former employer sues her, putting a major wrinkle in her careful plans, she reluctantly accepts help from hot-stuff Houston attorney Jamie Wright.

Jamie's on track to become his firm's youngest partner, but discovers an unwritten prerequisite—marriage. Turns out, the only woman he wants is Roxanne, but peddling thongs and sex toys isn't a suitable career for the spouse of an up-and-coming attorney.

Jamie's tangled up in Roxanne's lawsuit, her life and her lingerie. But if they're ever going to make it work, Roxanne's big-city boy will have to decide what he values more: the career he always thought he wanted or the woman he never thought he'd fall for.

Kelsey Browning does it again with Running the Red Light. I was lucky enough to get a review copy from the publisher thanks to NetGalley.

I loved Roxanne and Jamie both as individuals and especially as a couple. The chemistry was so strong between Roxanne and Jamie, I really thought my kindle screen was going to fog up a few times.  I didn't think I could love one of her heroes more than Cameron, but Jamie completely stole my heart. Even when he made me mad because he kept going out with the "appropriate" women for his job, I was able to give him a pass since I knew he really didn't want to do it.

Jamie and Roxanne really do try and fight their attraction for one another through much of the book. While I wanted them together from the very beginning, the sexual tension was so awesome between them. It was so worth the wait when they finally got to make love for the first time, and super hot!

I have to say the reappearance of Jamie and Cameron's dad kind of threw me, but I actually loved where Ms. Browning went with this part of the story. Loved that their mom was all over seeing her ex again and insisting that her boys needed to have their dad in their lives again. 

Running the Red Light ended up being a much more emotional read than I had expected. I knew there would be plenty of sexy scenes and scenes to make me laugh out loud. I didn't expect to get so emotional about Jamie's dad and Roxanne being dyslexic. I figured out Roxanne was dyslexic pretty early into the story, but didn't realize how little support she had growing up until we met her father. I loved how supportive Jamie was and how he didn't make it a huge issue.

I love Kelsey Browning's voice and know if her name is on the cover, I'm going to be reading a wonderful story. Running the Red Light is a fun, sexy and emotional read and I highly recommend it.

Running the Red Light Excerpt

Kelsey Browning

Jamie meandered among clothes that looked extremely feminine against his elegantly tall frame, touching a teddy set here, fingering a slip nightie there. “How is business these days?”

“Fine.” What was he asking—if she needed him to fix yet another problem? She breathed, trying to pull confidence and control into her lungs. “Everything’s in the black.” Distract, distract, distract. They both needed a distraction. “Hey, I have some wine in the back.”

“Sold.”

Roxanne snagged two glasses and a bottle of Beaujolais from the storage room. She carried them to the counter and tried not to watch him prowl through racks of panties and pajamas. She poured a generous serving into her glass, almost overfilling because the sight of Jamie stroking a jungle-print baby doll gown made all her Jane-parts want to do a wild mating call to his Tarzan-parts.

A gulp of wine did nothing to help the twitchy feeling. She stared into her glass. “Did you know that it takes about seventy-five grapes to make one glass of wine?”

“Can’t say I did.” He wandered up to the display case.

She slid his glass to the far side of the counter, careful not to touch him. They’d spent enough time crammed together in his car yesterday. Too much more and she’d OD on Jamie’s sexy scent—citrus with a hint of something spicy.

Maybe, just maybe, she’d already begun to fix the Ashton situation and wouldn’t have to be tempted by a man who shouldn’t tempt her.

He studied the case’s contents. Was it the French vanilla body dust or the Illustrated Guide to Tantric Sex or the selection of Promise Keeper vibrators capturing his attention? He slowly raised his gaze to meet hers, as though he had to force himself to stop studying the array of toys and books. He leaned against the counter and cradled the wineglass in his hand. “I’m meeting with some kids at Shelbyville’s high school later tonight and thought you should come along.”

Disappointment sliced through her. What had she thought, that he was asking her for a date? She laughed and sorted through a cup of pens and pencils on the counter, tossing into the trash all those with the scars of teeth marks. “Why would I want to do that? I didn’t enjoy high school the first time around.”

“Why not?”

Some people hated hospitals’ sharp ammonia overlay. Others hated the stench of bodies crammed together on subways. Roxanne detested the smell of rubber erasers and chalk dust.