For The One
by Brenna Aubrey
Published by Silver Griffon Associates
Book 5 in the Gaming the System Series
He’s got everything but game….
William Drake is an artistic genius with a photographic memory and the intensity to master practically any task. Oh, and he owns a chunk of a billion-dollar gaming company. A twenty-six year-old guy with his wealth, talent, and good looks shouldn’t have problems winning over women. Except he does. To be exact—and detail-obsessed William is always exact—he’s got problems with Jenna Kovac, the troubled beauty who has his heart working overtime and his tongue tied in knots.
And she can’t afford to lose.
Jenna Kovac is a survivor. When war ripped her world apart, she lost her family, her homeland, and her one true love. She’s made a new life for herself in the US, but she’s learned that nothing is permanent, and some nights it’s not even safe to dream. When a scumbag sells her future out from under her, suddenly the only man who can get it back is William Drake, geeky—but scorching-hot—social disaster. William must learn to stay cool under pressure for the all-important duel he’s about to fight. Unless she can teach him to loosen up, she’ll lose everything. Again.
But Jenna’s got a few things to learn from this irresistibly enigmatic man. As they spend time together, they’re soon exchanging long, slow kisses—and painful secrets. There’s so much more to William.
Something that might be worth taking one more risk…
RATED: 18+ CATEGORY: MOOD:
Steamy Romance Lighthearted
For the One by Brenna Aubrey is the fifth book in her Gaming the System Series, and centers around William Drake, Adam's brilliant cousin, and Jenna Kovac, Mia's friend. When William finds himself agreeing to fight in a duel, the stakes are high. Not only for him - if he loses, he must leave the club he loves - but Jenna's tiara, a family heirloom that was being held onto by a jewelry dealer, and ends up in the hands of her ex, is at stake as well. William has the skill, and honor, needed to fight, but there is one problem; Jenna's ex knows William's weakness is with crowds and noise, a symptom of being on the Autism spectrum, and he knows how to rile up a crowd. When Jenna offers to help William overcome this hurdle, she doesn't think its anything but a friend helping out a friend - albeit, a handsome, sweet one. Until eventually they are sharing more than conversation. But can these two get over their pasts, and open their hearts to a future, together?
I was excited for this one, because it was going to be the first romance I read featuring a person on the spectrum. If you know me personally, you will know that my children are all on the spectrum, so to say I was thrilled to see an author tackle the difficulty of writing a romance with a lead on the spectrum, is an understatement. I love seeing diversity is books (and especially a series like this, where everyone is connected with one another). Is was original - definitely the first romance I have come across that relies on a club re-enacting medieval times, and the lead participates in a duel. Honestly, if I didn't know people who actually participates in a group like this, I would have found it goofy, but since I do, it was quite enjoyable. The plot was great, if a little slow at times. The characters were great. I enjoyed William, and I could tell Brenna took the time to research why specifics touches, sounds, sights affected him - but it didn't overpower his character. Yeah, he has these difficulties, but he was also a romantic - a practical romantic of course. She did a wonderful job walking that fine line between him being offensive and sweet. I enjoyed Jenna as well, although at the end of the book (spoiler -----------> when William gets injured, and she freaks and runs off <-----------), I found myself frustrated. How could an intelligent woman not see what she has been doing with her life? The romance was sweet, and the sex is hot.
For The Win is a sweet little romance between two people with a lot of baggage and hurdles. Once they get through it all though, it's a great story. And we even get a chapter from Mia's POV, setting up the next book, where I hear wedding bell's in the future for Mia and Adam!
Jenna trying to teach William to meditate
Their goodnight kiss
Helena telling Jenna that there is someone out there for her
Never have I ever
William calling Doug a little bitch
Jenna distracting William with a story, that if he wanted the end of, he would have to face his discomfort with crowds
William comforting Jenna when a PTSD flashback occurs
Jenna and William's first time hooking up
William asking Adam for sex advice
William and Adam's sword fight when Jenna and William find out about Adam and Mia's bet
Rolling dice to determine if they should kiss
William's painting for Jenna
Their first time
William telling Jenna he loves her
William finding Jenna in her home town, and tell her he loves her in her native language
William walking Jenna through a meditation of home
Jenna: "Okay. Now you are going to relax every part of your body. With each breath you take in and expel, you are going to become more relaxed. Your muscles easing. Your heartbeat slowing. Your breaths becoming further and further apart."
A long pause
William: "You're using a Jedi mind trick to get me to stop breathing, aren't you?"
Jenna: "Wil! Be serious. Do as I say."
William: 'I'll do as you day."
Jenna: "Good."
William: "It is very good."
Jenna: "Clear your mind."
William: "My mind is clear."
Jenna: "These aren't the droids you're looking for."
William: "These aren't the droids I'm looking for ..."
Jenna: "What the hell was that? Why did you storm off?"
William: "Because I didn't want to say anything rude, and you made me angry."
Jenna: "Because I asked you to look my in the eye?"
William: "Yes."
Jenna: "Well, maybe I'm just tired of you looking everywhere but my eyes."
He blinked
William: "It's difficult."
Jenna: "Why?"
William: "Because when I'm looking in your eyes, I'm too distracted to hear what you are saying. It's intense."
Jenna: "What's intense? I mean, I know I'm beautiful, but ..."
William: "Yes. You are beautiful. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
William: "It's hard to look in anyone's eyes, but easier if I know the person. Mostly it keeps me from focusing on what is being said. It also makes me feel like I'm violating that person's privacy."
Jenna: "By looking in their eyes?"
William: "Like I'm seeing things that I shouldn't see. I get tired of having to explain it to people. And you aren't going to get it so -"
Jenna: "The eyes are the windows to the soul."
William: "Eyes are not windows."
Jenna: "It's a metaphor, Wil. It means that a person's eyes can show what's going on with them beneath the surface. So maybe you're feeling like a Peeping Tom?"
William: "Yeah, so maybe if I make eye contact with you as long as you want, you'll let me peek though your window."
Jenna: "Ha ha. Then again, you do stare at my boobs enough."
William; "I like your breasts."
Jenna: "I can tell."
William: "And your butt. And your legs. And -"
Jenna: "All right, all right. I get the picture."
Helena: "For me, Janja, and for him. Fall in love again. You must free yourself before it will even be possible."
Jenna: "We're going to ground and center using a mental image ..."
William: "What am I picturing? TIE fighters? Snow speeders? Imperial walkers?"
Jenna: "A tree.
He raised his brows and smiled
William: "Ewoks?"
Jenna: 'Nope, no Ewoks. A tree. You are a tree."
William: "But -"
Jenna: "It's pretend, Wil. Imagine you are a great oak tree and you are going to connect with the earth. You are going to be solid and sturdy and unflappable as a tree. You will be dug in so deeply that not even the strongest storm can blow you over. Because your roots run deep into the earth."
He was staring at me as if I'd sprouted a third eye on my forehead.
Jenna: "No, I'm not crazy. Close your eyes and imagine roots extending from your body into the ground below us."
William: "But the ground isn't below us. We're two floors above the ground."
Jenna: "just do it."
His eyes snapped closed.
Jenna: "Good. Hold out your hands. It might help to connect with me. Now breathe in and send those roots down into the soil below you."
William: "Out of my butt?"
Adam: "You ready to go? I really need to get home and crash?"
Mia: "Oh, did all that beer finally catch up with you? Poor baby ... even if you do fall asleep right away, you're going to be up half the night peeing it all out."
Adam: "I love it when you talk dirty to me."
Jenna: "That wasn't nice of you."
William: "What?"
Jenna: "What you just said."
William: "About how you run away? Why does the truth make you mad?"
Jenna: "Because I'm not running away."
William: "So you're ... walking away?"
Jenna: "You make me crazy."
William: "I get told that a lot."
Doug: "Let that be a lesson to you, because she'll do the same to you. She'll lead you on like some small dog until she's gone with you."
William: "You do act like a little bitch, so why not treat you like a small dog?"
Jenna: "Men."
William: "Women say that a lot."
Jenna: "It's because men tend to annoy us quite often."
William: "Mia says that same thing."
Jenna: "She's an ally, even though she's defected to the other side."
Adam: "I've been sent as the messenger to let you know that it's dinnertime."
Mia: "Great."
Pressing up against him in the doorway, she snagged the phone out of his pocket.
Mia: "I'll be right there after I throw this in the pool."
He laughed and kissed her on the nose
Adam: "Don't be grumpy. It was important."
Mia: "You promised ..."
He let out a long sigh
Adam: "Okay. Turn it off, then."
And he didn't have to tell her twice. She powered down the phone, then slipped it into her bra with a laugh and trotted down the hallway.
Adam: "I'm going to enjoy going after that later."
Jenna: "Wil ... I want you to draw me. Like one of your French girls."
His gaze slid down my body, warming the parts of me that it touched.
William: "I have already."
Jenna: "Like this?"
He didn't answer, but heat crept across his face.
Jenna: "You did?"
William: "I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate me."
Jenna: "Please don't let go."
William: "I won't. I won't ever."
William: "You have just ruined every orgasm I will ever have."
William: "I wanted to ask you about sex. I have a lot of questions, and the pornographic material I've been reviewing -"
Adam starts choking on his water. Perhaps it was the mention of pornography.
Mia: "Are we going to be able to go home in the same car? Because I don't want to get caught between four hundred pounds of male bonehead going at it in the back of a limo."
Jenna: "Maybe we're more alike than you think. Despite the fact that I'm neurotypical."
William: "I don't hold that against you."
Jenna: "Thank goodness."
Jenna: "I don't kiss and tell."
Fiona: "Do you fuck and tell?"
I rolled my eyes
Jenna: "Goddess, you are all so crude."
Jordan: "Who could say 'no' to a good luck kiss like that? If it hadn't been for my advice -"
William and Adam: "Your advice is shit."
As she turns to go, I sat to Adam, loudly, so that she'll hear,
William: "Adam, you can tell Mia later what date you've decided on for your wedding."
Mia comes to an abrupt halt and spins around to look at me. Her mouth and eyes are rough. Adam's dark eyebrows scoot up his forehead.
Adam: "That's, uh, great news."
He and Mia exchange a look, but I have no clue as to it's meaning.
Adam: "I love winning."
William: "I'm the one who won, dickhead. You're just benefitting."
Jenna: "I was afraid ..."
William: "I was afraid, to. Afraid to go into that duel and fight Doug again. Afraid I'd be defeated and lose all my friends and your tiara. I was afraid, but I did it anyway. I showed you how I felt with my actions, not just words."
William: "Volim te." I love you
William: "You are beautiful, Jenna. The most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Bit as gorgeous as I find your face and your body, they're nothing compared to your heart ... your gentle, loving heart. I was wrong, and it was unchivalrous to hurt that pure heart of yours."
Jenna: "Wil -"
William: "I'm not done. I'm a knight, and you are the woman whom I hope might become my lady. And a wise man once told you that you were a princess and someday you would be queen. He was right. You're my queen. The queen of my heart."
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