Title: Insider
(Exodus End #1)
Author: Olivia
Cunning
Release Date: June
30, 2015
Find on Goodreads
Synopsis:
Toni wants to be an
insider.
Logan just wants
inside her.
She’s finally ready to rock...
Toni Nichols set aside her dreams to raise her little
sister, but now she's reaching for the stars as the creator of a revolutionary
interactive biography about Exodus End. She’s on tour with the rock band to
immerse herself in their world, but how will she ever gain the trust of four
veteran superstars who've been burned by the media before? Nobody said this was
going to be easy. Then again, good things can come in hard packages.
He's always ready to roll…
Adrenaline junkie Logan Schmidt lives for the rush of
playing his bass guitar before thousands of screaming fans. When he's not
performing onstage or in the bedroom, he's looking for his next thrill in
extreme sports. So why does a sweet, innocent journalist get his heart pumping
and capture his full attention? Is Toni the real deal or just digging up dirt
on his band? Logan’s eager to rock Toni’s world and roll her in the sack, but
when she starts to get too close to his heart, she takes her insider look to a
place he may never be willing to go.
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Excerpt:
“Have a seat, Toni,” Dare offered. He stood and took a gym
bag from her hand. He set it on the floor next to the spot he’d vacated, making
it clear that Toni should sit next to Logan on the sofa. Logan loved the guy.
Such a thoughtful son of a bitch. Toni’s dark eyes, hidden behind a pair of
thick-rimmed glasses, scanned the interior of the bus as if searching for
refuge. Apparently the seat next to Logan was not it. Dare plopped himself down
in the only available recliner and extended the leg rest, as if he had no
intention of moving for the night.
“Th-thanks,” Toni said, pushing her glasses up her nose with
one trembling hand.
Logan wasn’t sure what she was so nervous about all of a
sudden. She’d seemed perfectly at ease when they’d been interacting with their
fans. Perhaps she’d taken his comment about a lamb in a den of wolves to heart.
He’d only been teasing, but he found her skittishness endearing in a world
where most women threw all inhibitions to the wind when in the presence of any
member of his band, much less all four of them.
The bus rumbled as it rolled forward. They were on the road
again. Toni’s hands flew out as the unexpected movement threw her off balance.
She plopped down beside Logan, perching on the edge of a
cushion as if the sofa’s back was made of shards of glass. Logan was pretty
sure she was looking for the emergency exit. Her gaze settled on Butch, who was
standing next to their driver and running over a strict schedule detailing how
to get them to their next show in time while making a promotional stop between
venues. Their schedule never had an inch of give. Their manager, Sam, was a
genius when it came to getting the band the most exposure, but he had the
tendency to believe that because they were a metal band, they were made of
iron. They didn’t require useless things like down time and rest.
“So tell us more about this book,” Dare said, which was
apparently the exact right thing to say to Toni, because her unease evaporated
instantly.
“Have you seen the new interactive electronic textbooks?”
she asked, her eager gaze moving from Dare to Max to Steve.
Logan was very conscious of the fact that she didn’t look at
him once. He’d thought their attraction was mutual, but maybe not. He scooted
several inches closer to her because he saw something he wanted and wasn’t one
to sacrifice his personal needs for the greater good.
“Textbooks?” Steve asked. “Like for school and shit?”
“Yeah, that’s usually where textbooks are used,” she said, a
teasing grin on her lush lips. When no one laughed, her face fell. Logan forced
a guffaw about five seconds too late. That got his bandmates laughing. Not at
Toni’s understated joke. They were laughing at his blatant stupidity. Nothing
new there.
“I can’t say I’ve even seen a textbook since high school,”
Steve said.
“These new interactive ones are amazing. Each topic has
videos and pictures and links. It presents the information in a way that gets
students who are used to constant entertainment excited about learning.”
“So you’re writing a textbook about us?” Dare asked, brows
drawn together in a confused scowl.
“What kind of textbook would that be? A manual on mayhem and
debauchery?” Toni cringed when no one laughed at that joke either.
Logan guffawed five seconds too late again. He was going to
have to pay really close attention to what she said to figure out when she was
joking. He didn’t think she lacked a sense of humor, she just looked serious.
She’d definitely fit in better at a library than at standup-comedy night.
“The publishing company I work for designs and distributes
these interactive textbooks,” she said. “Samuel Baily approached us to make an
interactive book about the band, the first of its kind. He’s very forward
thinking.”
That got the band laughing. “You might say that,” Max said.
“Sometimes he’s a bit too forward thinking. He’s got every minute of our
schedules booked for the next eighteen years. He thinks we’re robots or
something.”
Toni’s eyes bulged. “Eighteen years?” she muttered under her
breath.
Surely she knew Max was joking, so why did she look so
unsettled? Wondering if he could make her blush again, Logan scooted a few more
inches closer to her. His knee brushed her thigh, and she yanked on her skirt.
Other than her hands and face, not an inch of bare flesh was showing. He wasn’t
sure exactly what she was trying to conceal. Maybe she wasn’t open to his
attempts to seduce her. Which made her a challenge. Which, like her tits, he
couldn’t resist. Or maybe she had a nice boyfriend at home. His loss.
“Speaking of robots,” Steve said. “How are the prototypes of
our androids coming?”
“Good until they tried to replicate my dick and ran out of
materials,” Logan said.
Toni’s sudden intake of breath made him grin. That shocked her? Seriously? Too easy.
“If they ran out of materials, it had to be due to Max’s
giant forehead,” Steve said.
“Or your enormous feet,” Max countered.
Toni grabbed a pad of paper out of her bag and started
writing furiously. Logan leaned against her shoulder to read what had her so excited.
She was writing down their conversation. In the margin, she wrote: Keep video camera close at hand when all
band members are together. They’re hilarious.
He was close enough to feel her body heat and inhale the
sweet fragrance of her fruity shampoo. He wondered if she tasted as sweet as
she smelled.
“For the record,” Logan said in her ear as he pointed toward
her notes, “I was the one with the big dick.”
Toni leaped from the sofa as if it were on fire. Her gaze
darted from one guy to the next, and she pushed her glasses up her nose with
the back of her wrist. God, he wanted to take those glasses off, take those
clothes off, and do things to her. Naughty, devious, delicious things.
“Um . . .”
The twin bumps poking against her shapeless turtleneck drew
Logan’s attention.
Hard nipples? Did his crassness turn her on? That was all
the encouragement he needed to behave inappropriately. Visible nipples also
meant that her bra was not padded. There was so much win in that, he should
have her name engraved on a trophy.
“What’s wrong?” Logan asked. “I won’t bite. But I will
nibble. And suck. And lick.”
She stared at him with her mouth agape and her eyes wide.
Her nipples strained against her sweater, begging him to do all those things
and more to the tips of those luscious melons.
She glanced down at her tits and immediately crossed her
arms over her chest. “Is, um, there a bathroom I can use?”
“At the back of the bus,” Dare said, nodding his head toward
the end of the corridor.
“Don’t take a dump in there,” Steve said. “We stop at rest
areas to do that business.”
Face flaming, she sucked in a deep breath, turned, and
sprinted to the back of the bus. She fumbled with the closet door and when it
popped open, a stack of towels that had shifted during transit tumbled out and
pummeled her in the face.
Logan climbed to his feet to rescue her. He decided to take
it easy on her for the moment. He wouldn’t want to traumatize her so much she
decided to leave. They both bent to pick up the same towel at the same time and
bumped heads. They jerked apart and rubbed their heads in unison. Toni looked
up at him, her brown, doe-like eyes watery with tears. He wasn’t sure if they
were tears of pain or humiliation, but seeing them in her eyes did strange
things to his chest. He wasn’t sure why it was suddenly tight.
“It’s okay,” he said, deciding that though it was fun to
tease her, he’d better tone it down a bit. She obviously wasn’t used to it, and
he didn’t want to harass a woman who wasn’t receptive to provocative flirting.
He hadn’t intended to upset her, just wanted to have a little fun and get under
that conservative skirt of hers. “I’ll get the towels, Toni. You go ahead and
do your business.” He opened the bathroom door for her.
She lowered her hand from her forehead to reveal a large
reddened bump.
Logan winced and leaned forward to press his lips to the
lump. She sucked a startled breath into her chest. Shit. There he went crossing
the line again.
“Sorry,” he murmured. “I always kiss boo-boos.”
“I have a pimple on my ass that needs kissing,” Steve
called.
Logan closed his eyes and shook his head. “One of the things
you should consider stressing in your book is how little fucking privacy a man has while on tour with his band.”
“I can include that,” she said, “but I think fans are more
interested in the size of your dick.” She backed into the bathroom. “I know I
am.” She bit her lip before closing the door in his face.
4 out of 5 stars
At long last we have Olivia Cunning's first book in her new Exodus End series. *Does the mad crazy it's finally here dance* Of course this is a series and should be read in order and probably a good idea to have read the Sinners on Tour books because the characters are tied into/mentioned in this new series.
Okay readers as Olivia posts, this isn't Dare's book. Which I'm actually kind of glad that it's not because like Trey from Sinners, I'd like to save the best for last. This is Logan Schmidt, the bassist from Exodus End's, book.
Logan is your typical rock god, he loves sex, enjoys drinking, and has no desire to tie himself to any one person for more than a night. He loves his life in Exodus End, and is at heart a really sweet guy. Unfortunately he has commitment issues stemming from childhood, but you'll have to read the book to get more of that story.
Toni is definitely not your typical rock documentarian. In fact she's the furthest you'll find from who you'd think would be writing about a metal band. She's a bit of a sheltered nerdy girl, who gave up a lot of her life to take care of her baby sister who has Down Syndrome. To top it all off, she's a virgin getting ready to jump on a tour bus with 4 oversexed rock stars to write their book.
I'll admit this one took a bit for me to warm up to both characters, especially Toni. Logan was a touch easier because he's a jokester and just a total guy. Toni was a touch too sheltered, and doubtful of herself for me after all of this author's previous heroines. But that was just this reader's opinion. And as I gave the story a 4 star rating it didn't detract from the storyline, it just took me longer to warm to her character. I'm more of a fan of Reagan and Aggie as super strong women who can go for what they need.
The interaction between Toni and Logan is really sweet and cute..until it's setting the pages on fire when they have sex. Then it's just singe your eyebrows off your forehead HOT! I loved getting to see more of Exodus End and really meeting the guys outside of just glimpses with Sinners. Overall Insider is a good, solid first book in the series as it focuses on it's core characters, Toni and Logan, but also gives enough time to the rest of the band to set up the future of the series.
If you love hot, sexy, dirty talking rock stars this is a must read. If you're a fan of Olivia Cunning or her Sinners on Tour series this is an absolute must read. So go pick it up NOW!!
Okay readers as Olivia posts, this isn't Dare's book. Which I'm actually kind of glad that it's not because like Trey from Sinners, I'd like to save the best for last. This is Logan Schmidt, the bassist from Exodus End's, book.
Logan is your typical rock god, he loves sex, enjoys drinking, and has no desire to tie himself to any one person for more than a night. He loves his life in Exodus End, and is at heart a really sweet guy. Unfortunately he has commitment issues stemming from childhood, but you'll have to read the book to get more of that story.
Toni is definitely not your typical rock documentarian. In fact she's the furthest you'll find from who you'd think would be writing about a metal band. She's a bit of a sheltered nerdy girl, who gave up a lot of her life to take care of her baby sister who has Down Syndrome. To top it all off, she's a virgin getting ready to jump on a tour bus with 4 oversexed rock stars to write their book.
I'll admit this one took a bit for me to warm up to both characters, especially Toni. Logan was a touch easier because he's a jokester and just a total guy. Toni was a touch too sheltered, and doubtful of herself for me after all of this author's previous heroines. But that was just this reader's opinion. And as I gave the story a 4 star rating it didn't detract from the storyline, it just took me longer to warm to her character. I'm more of a fan of Reagan and Aggie as super strong women who can go for what they need.
The interaction between Toni and Logan is really sweet and cute..until it's setting the pages on fire when they have sex. Then it's just singe your eyebrows off your forehead HOT! I loved getting to see more of Exodus End and really meeting the guys outside of just glimpses with Sinners. Overall Insider is a good, solid first book in the series as it focuses on it's core characters, Toni and Logan, but also gives enough time to the rest of the band to set up the future of the series.
If you love hot, sexy, dirty talking rock stars this is a must read. If you're a fan of Olivia Cunning or her Sinners on Tour series this is an absolute must read. So go pick it up NOW!!
Author Info:
Combining her love for romantic fiction and rock 'n roll,
USA Today Best-Selling Author Olivia Cunning writes erotic romance centered
around rock musicians.
Raised on hard rock music from the cradle, she attended her first Styx concert at age six and fell instantly in love with live music. She's been known to travel over a thousand miles just to see a favorite band in concert. As a teen, she discovered her second love, romantic fiction -- first, voraciously reading steamy romance novels and then penning her own.
Raised on hard rock music from the cradle, she attended her first Styx concert at age six and fell instantly in love with live music. She's been known to travel over a thousand miles just to see a favorite band in concert. As a teen, she discovered her second love, romantic fiction -- first, voraciously reading steamy romance novels and then penning her own.
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