Protecting Paige by Maggie Carpenter

About the Book:
Cole Barrington, a sexy dominant and a movie producer with a reputation as a player, has been haunted by one particular young lady who unexpectedly tugged his heart strings during a five-day romp on a tropical island. Why she ducked his calls on their return he has no idea, and the question still shadows him.
 
Paige Brooks is a publicist, and when she learns she must accompany Cole to an annual charity event at the same Caribbean island where she’d spent an idyllic week with him, she grits her teeth and clenches her fists. The man broke her heart. How can she possibly get through it?
 
Thrown together on a tiny seaplane, as they fly to the private island where the event is to be held, fate throws them an unexpected curve ball. Forced to land near a tiny uninhabited island, they suddenly find themselves completely stranded and alone. Their intense attraction soon fires their passion, and when they’re drawn into a wild treasure hunt, Cole must use his dominant skill to control the impetuous woman from the perils surrounding them.
 
If you enjoy a suspenseful romance starring a take-charge alpha male, and a feisty young woman with a sharp wit and impetuous nature, look no further than this panty-melting page-turner from Maggie Carpenter.

About the Author:
Award-winning and best-selling author Maggie Carpenter has published over fifty romance novels, and is the recipient of a number Spanking Romance Reviews awards spanning a variety of genres. Her readers describe her work as, romantic, funny, suspenseful, beyond a five-star read, exciting romance with a ton of surprises.
         
Her work includes a best-selling twelve-book contemporary cowboy series, Cowboys After Dark, (http://amzn.to/2ihCNtp), a warrior fantasy trilogy, Warriors After Dark, (http://amzn.to/2iE0cDa) contemporary love stories, and several Victorian romances. His Willful Bride was a #1 best-seller for several weeks and a BookBub Feature Deal. She is best known for her smart, witty, strong-willed women who  bring unexpected challenge, mystery and humor into the lives of passionate, dominant men.
         
Maggie has a history in show-business both in front of and behind the camera, but moved from Los Angeles to live in the Pacific Northwest to pursue her writing. She is an equine enthusiast who rides every day, and writes until the wee hours of the morning when her eyes close only because they must.
          romanticsexyspankingcowboys.wordpress.com
This author loves to hear from readers. You can contact her through her website: www.MaggieCarpenter.com. To sample her work for free, go to, www.3FreeBooks.com.

Excerpt:
She turned her eyes back at him. No, the world wouldn’t come to an end, though it had felt like it had the day she’d seen Miss Blond Bombshell prancing around his office and disrobing on her way to his shower. Why was it still making her crazy? It had been a year ago! She knew why! Of course she knew why. As much as she hated to admit it, she was still nuts about him and it was killing her.
“The thing is,” she continued, battling her feelings, “as much as neither of us wants this, we’ll be thrown together on the island and it’s not going to work very well if we’re at each other’s throats so I’d like to call an official truce.”
There. She’d managed it. She felt proud of herself, but then he smiled that killer smile and she wanted to climb from the car, circle her arms around his neck, press her body against his, and…
“Let’s take that a step at a time. First, personally I’m delighted that you’ll be there; second, I’m delighted to call a truce, though I didn’t know we needed one; and third, just so we’re clear,” he continued, leaning forward, lowering his voice, and fixing her with his shockingly bright blue eyes, “there’s no throat I’d rather be at than yours.”
She wanted desperately to look anywhere but back at him, but her gaze was literally locked by his, and swallowing hard she somehow managed to find her voice.
“Why did you say that?”
“Couldn’t help myself, and besides, it’s true and it needed to be said.”
“Yeah… can’t help yourself describes you to a T,” she quipped, “and if this is going to work, you need to keep crap like that to yourself.”
“Crap?” he said with a frown. “Paige, that was a compliment. Maybe a hair over the top, I’ll give you that, but it was still a compliment.”
“Compliments are meaningless if they’re thrown around like confetti.”
“What are you talking about? I can assure you I have not said that to anyone in… let’s see… at least five minutes,” he declared, his scowl abruptly disappearing as he laughed out loud. “I’m kidding, I swear, I’m kidding.”
“That wasn’t funny.”
“Oh, come on, it was a bit, but honestly, if I was a vampire I’d be sinking my teeth into you right now.”
“No, you wouldn’t, it’s daylight. You’d be dead.”
“You’re right,” he chuckled, raising his eyebrows, “and do you want to know what else is true?”
“Probably not,” she muttered, “but I doubt that’s going to stop you.”
“You need a spanking.”
The infuriating hot blush sprang back to life, her butterflies flew into their fluttering dance, and she stared at him, completely aghast.
“Whaaat?”
“You have an attitude! I don’t know why, but you do, and if you carry it with you to the island, I promise I will spank it out of you.”
“How dare you!”
She’d sounded righteously indignant, but she couldn’t imagine anything she wanted more. It would be a fantasy fulfilled. A fantasy she’d dreamed of more times than she could count since he’d first whispered the threat in her ear all those months before, but in the fantasy, not only did he spank her, when he was done he pulled her into his arms, covered her with kisses, and told her that he’d been missing her like crazy and Jasmine Juniper meant nothing to him.
“Hey, chill out. I don’t know what your problem is, but get over it. Now I really do have to leave. I’ll see you on the plane.”
“You and Miss Juniper,” she mumbled under her breath, shifting her gaze back to her steering wheel.
“No, she won’t be there.”
Though horrified that he’d heard her, she spun her gaze back to him.
“I don’t understand.”
“She’s busy. She’s accepting an award in Norway, or Sweden, or… someplace over there. Why do you care?”
“I don’t. I, uh, just assumed…”
“What is this thing you have about Jasmine?”
“I don’t have a thing about Jasmine,” she said defensively, “and I thought you had to leave.”
“I do, but this conversation is, shall we say, intriguing.”
“It is? I don’t know why.”
“Perhaps because I haven’t spoken to you since this time last year.”
“Yeah, well, shit happens.”
“There it is.”
‘What?”
“Your attitude.”
“I do not have a fucking attitude!”
“Riiiight,” he drawled, “no fucking attitude.”
“Okay, so maybe I’m a bit testy, but I’ve got a lot on my plate.”
“We’ve all got a lot on our plate.”
“Sure we do,” she groaned, rolling her eyes, “you more than anyone. So much to sample and so little time.”
The sarcasm had been dripping from her voice, and she’d seen his lips purse together. She knew what that meant. He was irritated, then suddenly he was walking around her car, and before she could protest he was climbing into the passenger seat. She stared at him as though vexed, but secretly she prayed he’d clutch her hair, kiss her passionately, and scold her for being so impossible. He didn’t, of course, he just looked at her with a puzzled frown.
“All right, Paige, enough of this. I was going to wait until we were on the island, but now is as good a time as any.”
“For?”
“What is it I did to piss you off?”
“When? Just now? What do you think, Cole?”
“No! Not just now,” Cole said, his frustration causing him to raise his voice.
“Don’t yell at me. You have no right to yell at me.”
“I’m sorry, but you are so damn exasperating.”
“Me? I’m exasperating? Oh, no, no, no! Don’t you dare call me exasperating,” Paige bristled. “If anyone deserves that title, it’s you.”
“I’ll spell it out, shall I?”
“What do you mean?”
“Dammit! Paige, will you please stop being such a brat.”
“I’m not!”
“Never mind. This is hopeless,” he grimaced, and as quickly as he’d slipped into her car he was out of it and marching back to his.
“Hey, I thought we’d called a truce,” she called, sticking her head out the window.
“Yeah, so did I,” he called back, “but I forgot I was dealing with a child. When we get to the island I’ll spank you good and hard, then maybe I’ll have a chance at having an adult conversation.”
Shocked, she watched as he slipped quickly behind the wheel of his Porsche, and a moment later, tires squealing, his car roared from the garage. Completely bewildered, wondering what the hell had just happened, she sat completely still.

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