Would he concentrate on her pleasure? #SoutheastAsia #EroticRomance #MFRWHooks

It’s Wednesday once again, time for another Marketing for Romance Writers Book Hooks blog hop. Today I’m featuring the first title in my Asian Adventures series, Singapore Fling, a fun romance set in Southeast Asia featuring a couple of young entrepreneurs.

If you like what you've read, you can find buy links for the single title here: https://www.lisabetsarai.com/singaporeflingbook.html.

Alternatively, you can snag the boxed set for the entire series, free on Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/Asian-Adventures-Erotic-tales-East-ebook/dp/B08XW69V2R

Blurb

In the cleanest city in Asia, things can still get messy.

Thai entrepreneur Ploy Kaewkornwattanasakul has come to Singapore to close a deal. Ploy needs to convince tech whiz Jason Chow to license his ground-breaking innovation to her company on favorable terms. The future of her startup depends on her negotiating skill. When she meets Jason, though, she realizes she wants not just the invention, but the inventor, too.

Jason Chow is a brilliant engineer, a successful businessman and a bit of a rebel. He’s attracted to Ploy from the moment he sets eyes on her. However, he doesn’t dare respond to her advances, for fear she’ll discover his secret vice.

Ploy doesn’t understand why the sexy CEO has rejected her. She figures she’ll have to content herself with the cold comfort of a signed contract—unless the strength of Jason’s desire overwhelms his shame.

The Hook (PG)

The broth was oilier than in Thailand and three teaspoons of roasted chili sauce barely raised the spice level. Still, Ploy emptied the bowl. She’d had to leave her condo at four AM to catch her seven thirty flight; there had been no time for breakfast.

The sacrifices I make for my business! She grinned to herself, snagging the last bit of pork with her chopsticks. Most Thais would awaken an hour earlier rather than forgo a meal. It would all be worth it, though, if she could convince Interia to sign the joint development agreement.

No sooner had Ploy pushed the dish away than a uniformed staff member rolled up next to her with a plastic bin of dirty utensils. It took no more than a few seconds for the employee to grab the bowl, balance it on top of a pile, wipe the table clean, and disappear.

Ploy glanced around the open space. Every table was full, most with multiple people, eating with single-minded determination. Clearly at the height of lunch hour, available tables were rare. Throughput was critical.

Probably she should vacate her table, but she didn’t like feeling pressured. Anyway, she’d just paid the equivalent of two hundred baht for a single bowl of not-very-exciting noodles. For that price, she could buy a full dinner in Bangkok. She had the right to sit here for a while.

She glanced around at the other customers in the busy, noisy hawker center, a mixture of shoppers and business people judging by their clothing. Most alternated between animated conversation and shoveling food into their mouths. Others sat glued to their phones, swiping away with one hand while manipulating chopsticks in the other. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry.

Three tables away, though, she noticed an anomaly: a solitary young man, reading a hard cover book. She couldn’t make out the title at that distance—it could have been in Chinese, for all she could tell—but whatever it was, it completely engrossed him. He was oblivious to the bustle around him, including the frequent accusatory looks he received from the cleaning staff.

A real, printed book! Ploy was surprised to see anyone his age opting for dead trees as opposed to a touch screen.

There was nothing remarkable about the man himself. A bit taller than average for a Singaporean, slender but not skinny, he had typical Chinese features. He wore the dark pants and white shirt, sleeves rolled up, that was the common business uniform in the steamy climate. His slightly shaggy black hair fell into his eyes as he bent over the book. A pair of dark-framed glasses and a phone rested on the table next to him.

Something about his utter stillness drew her, though. Attracted her, in fact. She found his focused concentration exciting. This was a man with a powerful will, a person who had no difficulty ignoring what did not concern him. A bit of a rebel, too, given his willingness to flaunt social convention in this aggressively polite city. Like her, he wasn’t about to bow to the unreasonable demands of his inferiors.

Ploy licked her lips, tasting the residue of the chili sauce. Her nipples tightened under her suit jacket. What would he be like in bed? Would he take charge? Would he concentrate on her pleasure, with the same single-mindedness with which he addressed his book?

New heat simmered between her thighs as she tried imagining the young man naked. This was a game she often played back in Bangkok, observing and fantasizing about strangers. Once or twice, she’d gone further, propositioning a guy she found attractive. She’d learned from those disappointing experiences. Now and for the foreseeable future, at least while she was building her company, she relied on her imagination and the high-tech vibrator her younger sister had brought back from the Netherlands to keep her sexually satisfied.

A relationship with one of her peers simply wasn’t possible. Oat was a bright guy, and very sweet, but he and her other engineers had to be off limits if she was going to maintain her authority as CEO. Her mother’s matchmaking efforts had fallen flat. Most Thai men couldn’t handle an intelligent, independent woman like Ploy.

The man with the book continued to ignore everyone around him. Ploy continued to stare, fascinated. All at once, as if he felt the weight of her attention, he looked up. Their eyes met. A shuddering wave of arousal rocked Ploy’s body. The faintest of smiles twitched at his lips. His expression suggested that he knew exactly what was going on in her mind.

Flustered, she broke away to examine her phone. One fifteen! Barely time for a quick visit to the ladies room before her meeting. Without looking back at the stranger, she scooped up her things and headed for the elevator. Still, she imagined his gaze following her. Sweat dampened her blouse, despite the air conditioning. She splashed some water on her face and willed her pulse to slow. She wanted something from Jason Chow of Interia; she’d need a clear head to get it.

 

I hope you’ll visit the other authors participating in today’s hop. Just follow the links below.

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