TBR Challenge Review: Can't Get Enough

Can't Get Enough
Sarah Mayberry
Contemporary Romance
Harlequin Blaze/October 2005

From the back cover ~

He's everything she despises--a babe magnet with more notches on his belt than a millipede has legs.

And he thinks his coworker is wound so tightly she irons her underwear at night.

Two people couldn't be further apart.

But when Jack Brook and Claire Marsden get stuck in a sweltering elevator one afternoon, it's a different story. By the time they're rescued, Jack and Claire have swapped confidences and oh, they've had the most spectacular sex of their lives!

Back in the office they're still butting heads over projects, but now there's a heightened awareness added to the mix. With this kind of tension in the air, how can they resist another round of sexy indulgence?

This one is going back a few years to Sarah Mayberry's first Blaze and it is hot! The hero, Jack Brook, thinks the heroine, Claire Marsden, is prissy and uptight. Claire thinks Jack is a total player. To say they don't like each other is an understatement. Loved the dynamics of this couple. On a personal level, they didn't like each other. On a professional level, they came to respect each others' work. It's when the personal and professional combine that the sparks fly!

Claire Marsden doesn't know the meaning of the word quit. At least when it comes to her career. She has spent long hours getting where she is and isn't about to let someone like Jack Brook take that away. When Claire and Jack are forced to work together on a new project that Claire developed, neither one of them is happy. Claire makes her feelings known but she isn't a bitch about it. In fact, I thought she was very professional which is why it was so funny when she wasn't always professional when dealing with Jack. She not only shocked Jack, she shocked herself with her less than professional behavior.

Jack Brook enjoys his job that takes him all over to exciting and exotic locations. He also enjoys women and has a reputation at the office as a lady's man. It's that reputation, along with his sexy looks and charm that get him on Claire's bad side. He doesn't understand why she obviously doesn't like him, he's never done anything to her. I do think part of the reason Jack didn't see Claire in a very flattering light was because of her attitude towards him and his subsequent perceived failure to charm her. Women like him, except for her and that bugged him. Then they get stuck in the elevator and it turns out they like each other just fine, at least while stuck in an elevator. LOL

Both Claire and Jack are career driven but in different ways. Claire is uptight and dresses accordingly with her buttoned up blouses and jackets that cover her gorgeous figure. Jack is far more laid back, wearing long shorts and sandals to work. But that's his image - a man of fun and adventure. There are a lot of similarities between Claire and Jack when you get down to the basics. They also have flaws that Mayberry uses to show how sometimes it's the least likely people that are there to help you when you need it the most. Claire is afraid of commitment and Jack shows her how to overcome that fear. The romance wasn't as strong as I would have hoped for with Claire pulling back just when you think she's finally realized she's in love with Jack and it's okay. I wish she would have had a little less martyrdom and a bit more backbone when it came to falling in love and admitting it.

The story is charming and funny and has that quick and witty Mayberry dialogue that I've come to love. It turned out to be an entertaining way to spend a few hours and confirmed why Mayberry is one of my favorite contemporary authors.

Rating: B