{"id":645,"date":"2018-02-26T02:25:02","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T02:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/?page_id=645"},"modified":"2024-03-09T16:15:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-09T16:15:32","slug":"gentleman-nine","status":"publish","type":"books","link":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/books\/gentleman-nine\/","title":{"rendered":"Gentleman Nine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward, comes a new, sexy standalone novel.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Growing up, the three of us were friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was the nerd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was the playboy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She was the beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deep down, I only ever wanted her. I kept it inside because Rory and I made a pact that our friend, Amber, was off-limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He lied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I went off to college, and he got the girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amber never knew how I felt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They were together for years\u2014before he broke her heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through it all and across the miles, she and I casually stayed in touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When my job sent me to Boston for a three-month contract position, Amber let me stay in her spare room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still reeling from her breakup, she\u2019d sworn off men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One night, I opened her computer to find the shock of my life. She\u2019d hesitantly contacted a male escort company. Afraid to date and get her heart broken again, she was looking for sex with no strings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every emotion imaginable ran through me: protectiveness, jealousy\u2014curiosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amber had chosen Gentleman Number Nine and sent him a message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She opened up to him, confessing, among other things, her physical attraction to her friend\u2014me. But she considered me off-limits\u2014and she thought I was a manwhore. (Ironic, considering the circumstances.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually, she set up a date to meet Gentleman Nine at a hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When she showed up several nights later to meet him, she was stunned to see me standing there\u2014with an offer I hoped she wouldn\u2019t refuse.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":733,"template":"","format":[21,19,20],"meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false},"series":[26],"trope":[66,67],"writtenby":[16],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"series":[{"value":26,"label":"Standalones"}],"trope":[{"value":66,"label":"Close Proximity"},{"value":67,"label":"Friends to Lovers"}],"format":[{"value":21,"label":"Ebook"},{"value":19,"label":"Audiobook"},{"value":20,"label":"Paperback"}],"writtenby":[{"value":16,"label":"Penelope Ward"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/GENTLEMAN-NINE-636x1024.jpg",636,1024,true],"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/books\/645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/books"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/books"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=645"},{"taxonomy":"trope","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trope?post=645"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/format?post=645"},{"taxonomy":"writtenby","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penelopewardauthor.com\/clds-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writtenby?post=645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}