Blurb:

He’ll make her a bet she can’t refuse…

Lily McIntire is alone in the creepiest mansion in town, at night, all because she couldn’t back down from a dare issued by her cocky, infuriatingly hot coworker, Marcus Black. She’ll be damned before she gives him the satisfaction of winning.

What Lily doesn’t know is that Marcus has wanted her for ages. The plan is simple: scare her out of the house and into his arms. But scaring her turns to protecting her, and protecting her turns to seducing her—and that’s when the plan starts working a little too well.

Suddenly Lily is having real trouble filing Marcus under “insufferable.” He’s funny. Charming. Sinfully good-looking. One unforgettable night still isn’t enough to make her break her no-love-at-work rule—but surviving the mansion turns out to be the easy part. Surviving Marcus’s charms is going to take every ounce of her willpower. And for Lily, losing is not an option.

Perfect for readers who love:
– Workplace enemies-to-lovers romance
– A cocky hero and a heroine who won’t back down
– Flirty, steamy, banter-driven heat
– A dare, a dark mansion, and forced proximity

https://www.jessicalemmon.com/if-you-dare

*****

Review:

I found this one to be enjoyable. From the beginning where they are spending the night in a haunted house to the epilogue, it was light-hearted fun. Marcus may spend a decent amount of time the adult equivalent of pulling on Lily’s pigtails but he isn’t mean about it. And of course she does find herself struggling to back down when he does. Lemmon does a good job of making their time in the house a little bit scary, a little bit steamy, and a little bit flirty. And then it becomes a dance as they battle their attraction and their doubts. Both of them could benefit from a little more open communication tho. They make a lot of assumptions about each other – motivations and wants and feelings. If only they could have just gotten out of their own way 🙂