Title: Undressing the Billionaire
Author:  Melinda Hale
Publisher/Year:  Melinda Hale 4/21/13
Length:  144 Pages
Series: Her Billionaire #1

Overview

When billionaire CEO Ric Denton donates a substantial sum to keep a cafe in business, Gabrielle Langley is stunned by his generosity, and his looks. After losing both her mother and sister, she has kept her feelings locked away, driven only by routine. Ric tempts her to break free. But giving in leads to more than just a one night stand.

Ric doesn’t do relationships. Gabrielle is a distraction, a way to dull the pain from his past. Their chemistry is intense, the sex an addiction. And he will keep it that way. But Gabrielle can’t fight her feelings, knowing that an admission will end it all. Undressing the billionaire is becoming too hard to resist.

My Thoughts

On paper this seems like it would be a great story – the premise is a good one – the guy who has all the power and money in the world swooping in to save something that the girl who doesn’t have much may lose – well that’s the start of the kind of relationships that we’ve come to appreciate in this genre.

We meet Gabrielle when she’s working in a cafe in a part of town in Cali that’s really down on it’s luck.  all the stores around are closing and her cafe is one of those that’s in jeopardy.  that all changes on the day that Ric walks into the building.  They are quickly drawn to one another and for reasons unknown, he donates enough money to keep the shop open for a while, and they are forever linked.  or at least for now.

So where we go on this journey is what trips me up a bit.  there’s enough tension between them that you’d think that it would get steamy fast – but it doesn’t.  There’s also enough anxiety with the plot line that you’d get sucked in, but it’s a slow build.  We quickly learn that Gabrielle’s father is dying from a terminal disease, and while we know it affects Gabby since he’s the only family that she has left – the result isn’t as dramatic as i would have thought.

We also learn that there’s a bit of a dark story and past for both characters and that’s something that i always hope will affect how stories progress.  but again, we don’t really see that happen so much here.

What does happen though is that there’s a clear chemistry between these 2 and even if they don’t want to admit to each other what they are or what they can be, they still realize that there’s something hot and passionate there that they should continue to explore.

Honestly, it’s not until the very end that i’m really drawn in – where we see things get a bit more complex for these 2.  There’s an ultimatum of sorts issued, and another guy there who’s sort of vying for Gabrielle’s affections – so it’s nice to see it amped up a bit.

Since i don’t like to give up on series – i’m going to stick with this one since i think that we’re starting to get somewhere now….