Plagiarized by Marlo Williams, Leddy Harper

best. Keep them buttered up nicely.” Lie. It was illegal to pay for reviews, but she didn’t need to know that. She would find out the hard way.
    “ARCs?” she looked confused.
    “Advanced Reader Copies,” I rattled off. “Don’t forget those are free, so you don’t make any money off of those, either. You’re giving them your book in hopes they’re nice enough to leave a rave review.”
    “Okay,” she stated. But she looked anything but okay. I had completely rattled her with all the statistics I had neatly deposited into her lap. We haven’t even started to talk about Street Teams , I thought with glee. She was going to freak when she heard about assembling them and keeping them happy.
    She paid the bill for dinner and then we parted ways. By the time I got home, it was nearly nine in the evening and I realized that Tom hadn’t returned my phone call.
    That made me pissed off as hell all over again. By the time I entered our home, my cheeks were aflame with rage. “Thomas,” I called out without hearing an answer.
    I walked through the living room, kitchen, and office, which were all located downstairs. I opened the garage and saw his car parked neatly inside of it, so he had to be home.
    I started up the stairs and walked into our bedroom. I heard the shower going. No wonder he hadn’t heard me.
    I went into the bathroom and stripped, letting out a sigh as I put my robe on. It felt so good to be free of my clothing. I started to go through my nighttime routine of removing my makeup and brushing my teeth. Tom came up behind and grabbed me around my waist.
    “Stop that.” I pushed his hands away. I was livid about the entire credit card debacle. We had a major discussion ahead of us.
    He grabbed me again and turned me around, kissing me passionately right on my lips.
    I pulled away and looked at him like he was crazy. What was with him? He never showed affection like this, unless we were in bed. Then he would fuck me quickly before he would roll over and start to snore. This was out of the norm.
    He started to alternate between kissing and nibbling all down my neck.
    I was not in the mood and just wanted him to stop. But his kisses were starting to feel good and I could feel the familiar stirrings start between my thighs, so I decided to let him continue.
    He came back up to my mouth, and this time, I returned the kiss. I started exploring his lips with my tongue, which produced a moan from him and he held me tighter. It felt good, for him to hold me so tightly. It had been so long since he had given me this kind of affection—the kind that made me feel truly loved.
    He picked me up and I looked at him in surprise.
    “Please don’t fight me,” he pleaded. “Let me have you tonight.”
    His words and the desperation in his voice hit me and I didn’t fight him. All thoughts of the credit card thing flew out of my mind as he carried me to our bed and laid me down tenderly, which took me by surprise again. He crawled on top of me, remaining on his knees, and released the sash of my robe. I held my breath as he traced my hard nipples with his fingers.
    “So beautiful, you are so fucking beautiful and you don’t even know it,” he said sadly and I looked up at him in shook. I knew I was gorgeous!
    He sensually took my nipple in his mouth and lightly sucked on it. I closed my eyes and held back a moan. He gradually started applying more and more pressure until my body was writhing under the spell of his mouth.
    “I didn’t realize you would like that so much. I should have done it sooner. I should have done a lot of things sooner.” He kissed me again.
    He was confusing me between his misplaced words and guided mouth. My mind was becoming foggy, the desire taking over.
    He started down my stomach and played momentarily with my belly button, which actually made me laugh. I had always been so ticklish, but not many people knew that.
    When he reached the apex of my thighs, I wondered if he would