The Edge Series Stand Alone Novels:
Edge of Disaster
Shattered Edge
Kissing Fire
The Tragic Duet Stand Alone Novels:
Tragically Flawed, Tragic 1
Tragic Desires, Tragic 2
The Hart Brothers Series:
Freeing Her, Book 1
Freeing Him, Book 2
Kestrel, Book 3
The Fall and Rise of Kade Hart
The Hart Brothers Series Boxset
Sabin, A Seven Novel
A Hart Brothers Novel Spin-off
YA/NA Clean Romance
The Guardians of Vesturon Series:
Survival
Resurrection
Determinant
reEmergent
Co-Authored Adult Books
Cruel & Beautiful:
Cruel and Beautiful
A Mess of a Man
One Wrong Choice
A Beautiful Sin
The Wilde Players Dirty Romance Series:
Sidelined
Fastball
Hooked
Worth Every Risk—
A Wilde Players Spin-Off
About A.M. Hargrove
Reader, Writer, Dark Chocolate Lover, Ice Cream Worshipper, Coffee Drinker, Lover of Grey Goose (and an extra dirty martini), Puppy Lover, and if you’re ever around me for more than five minutes, you’ll find out I’m a talker.
A.M. Hargrove divides her time between the mountains of North Carolina and the upstate of South Carolina where she pursues her dream career of writing. If she could change anything in the world, she would make chocolate and ice cream a part of the USDA food groups. Annie writes romance in several genres, including adult, new adult, and young adult. Her books usually include lots of suspense and thrills and she sometimes ventures into the paranormal, sci-fi and fantasy blend.
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Adult Novels
The Kent Brothers Stand Alone Novels
ACER
RAIDEN (TBD)
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CRUZE (TBD)
The West Sisters Stand Alone Novels:
One Indecent Night
One Shameless Night
One Blissful Night
The West Brothers Stand Alone Novels:
From Ashes to Flames
From Ice to Flames
From Smoke to Flames
Stand Alones
Secret Nights
For The Love of English
For The Love of My Sexy Geek
I’ll Be Waiting
The Men of Crestview Stand Alone Novels:
A Special Obsession
Chasing Vivi
Craving Midnight
The Edge Series Stand Alone Novels:
Edge of Disaster
Shattered Edge
Kissing Fire
The Tragic Duet Stand Alone Novels:
Tragically Flawed, Tragic 1
Tragic Desires, Tragic 2
The Hart Brothers Series:
Freeing Her, Book 1
Freeing Him, Book 2
Kestrel, Book 3
The Fall and Rise of Kade Hart
The Hart Brothers Series Boxset
Sabin, A Seven Novel
A Hart Brothers Novel Spin-off
YA/NA Clean Romance
The Guardians of Vesturon Series:
Survival
Resurrection
Determinant
reEmergent
Co-Authored Adult Books
Cruel & Beautiful:
Cruel and Beautiful
A Mess of a Man
One Wrong Choice
A Beautiful Sin
The Wilde Players Dirty Romance Series:
Sidelined
Fastball
Hooked
Worth Every Risk—
A Wilde Players Spin-Off
Playlist
Leaving California—Maroon 5
Piece By Piece—Kelly Clarkson
My Heart Is Open—Maroon 5, Gwen Stefani
I Won’t Give Up — Jason Mraz
Forever Young—Rod Stewart
Can’t Stop The Feeling—Justin Timberlake
September Song—Agnes Obel
Lost Stars—Adam Levine
The Conversation—Mat Kearney, Young Summer
Shasta—Mat Kearney
Summertime Romance—Johnnyswim
Wicked Game—Johnnyswim
Cry of The Celts (with taps)—Ronan Hardiman
CLEAR—NEEDTOBREATHE
Slow It Down—The Goo Goo Dolls
Brand New—Ben Rector
Copyright
First Edition
One Shameless Night (A West Sisters Novel #2)
All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2019 A.M. Hargrove
AM Hargrove LLC Up All Night Romance
UAN Publishing
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in form or any manner whatsoever by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or a book review. Scanning, uploading and distribution of the book via the Internet or via any other means without permission is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support for the author’s rights is appreciated. For information address to permissions coordinator at [email protected]
A.M. Hargrove LLC All rights reserved.
Cover Design by Maria @ Steamy Designs
Cover Photo by Eric David Battershell Photography
Cover Model: Parker Ramsay
Editing: My Brother’s Editor
Proofreading: iScream Proofreading Services
This book is dedicated to all of my Italian readers. In 2018 when I visited your beautiful country, the idea for an Italian main character struck, and here is the result of that. I love you all more than I can say. I hope Alessandro, Gabriele, and their family live up to your expectations.
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”
– Les Brown
Chapter 1
Piper
My belly lurched at the thought of leaving my family, but mostly my sister, Sylvie. I had flown in from the U.K., where I was studying for my master’s, in order to attend her wedding. She had twins that were only a couple of months old and they were absolutely adorable. I loved school, but I loved my family more. Homesickness gut-punched me, and it was all I could do not to bawl like my tiny nephews did when they were hungry. The entire crew piled into a van and we all left together in order to get me to the airport on time for my flight from Vail to Denver. My connection to Lo
ndon was a direct flight from there. Evan, my new brother-in-law, had been kind enough to buy me a first class ticket, so I'd have a bed on the way. I doubted I'd use it because of my sadness at leaving.
We said our goodbyes, but Evan had to practically pry me off of Sylvie. When I attempted to kiss the twins, he rerouted me toward the airport doors and told me it would probably be best if I just went inside. Dad hugged me and promised he'd visit soon. Most likely he said that to make me feel better because you could barely get him away from the babies. Who could blame him? I sniffed again at the thought of how those cute little humans would look entirely different the next time I saw them.
Waving to everyone through the doors, I eventually turned to check in. The rest of the family would be flying back to New York in Evan's private jet. Tears threatened again when thoughts of snuggling the babies during the flight circled in my mind. The flight to Denver turned out to be fine, other than I sobbed all the way. One of the flight attendants brought me a box of tissues, and I pitied the poor woman sitting next to me. As soon as we landed and they opened the door of the plane, she scurried away without a glance at me. I didn't blame her. Who wanted to sit next to a blubbering mess like me?
When I got to my connecting flight, I was told there was a problem. The plane had mechanical issues and they were rescheduling all passengers. Everyone scrambled to get onto another flight. Luckily enough, I got re-ticketed, although it was in coach. That was my only option if I wanted to get back to London in time for class the following day.
I found the new gate and waited to board. As luck would have it, I was in the very back of the plane, by the bathrooms and galley. So much for sleeping. Then I cried again as the thought of everyone on Evan's fancy jet, on their way back to New York, struck. My only salvation was I had the aisle seat so at least I could stretch my legs out during the flight. I was wiping my leaky eyes when a raspy voice said, “Mi scusi.” He pointed to the seat right next to me. I was sure he spoke either Italian or Portuguese, because I was familiar enough with Spanish to know it wasn't that.
I stood so he could get to his seat and even then, I had to look up. He was tall, with blond to light brown hair, amazing hazel eyes, and wore glasses. There was something about men in glasses that I'd always found hot. Sexiness oozed from him. I even noticed it in my depressed state. I checked to see if he wore a wedding ring. He had on several rings, but I didn't know if they were the kind that indicated wedded bliss. I dropped my gaze down to his ass because it was right in front of me now as he slid into his seat, and it was delicious. I'd been so focused on it, it wasn't until I heard him clear his throat that I snapped out of my ass-trance and sat down.
Sniffing back my tears, his gaze burned through me. I'm sure he was thinking how rotten his luck was because he'd gotten stuck next to an emotional wreck of a woman. Some tissues appeared next to my hand. Turning my head, I noticed he was smiling. God had gifted this man with a smile that was full of sexual promise. If only.
“Thank you.” I wiped my eyes, which I was sure looked like hell. Mascara must've been perched on my chin by now.
“You're welcome. I hope everything is okay?”
“I'm only being foolish,” I answered, sucking back more tears. “I left my family behind. My sister just got married and has infant twins. My mother recently died, I'm on my way back to the U.K. I was supposed to be on a different plane in first class, but it had mechanical problems, so here I am, crying my eyes out next to you. I'm sorry.” I just vomited out my life story to this poor guy. What the hell was wrong with me?
“You too? I was supposed to be on that flight in first class. This was the only option, unless I wanted to wait two days, and I have to get back to the U.K. as well.”
His beautiful smile had me smiling in return.
“I guess we're in this together then.”
“I'm sorry about your mother. I lost mine at a very early age.”
I grabbed his hand, which surprised him by his startled expression. “Oh no! That must've been horrible. I can't imagine. I'm twenty-five, and it's killing me. Mine passed in January and I keep telling myself it'll get better. But I constantly want to call or text her, until I remember she's gone. I don't know how a young child could manage. My heart hurts for you.”
“Yes, it was a terrible time for my father and me. He was very, very sad. I remember he cried all the time, and I went to stay with my grandparents. I didn't understand why my mother didn't come to get me. Children can't understand those things.”
As he told me his story, I cried for the broken child he must've been.
“Ah, I didn't mean to make you cry. It was a long time ago, and, as you can see, this old heart has mended.”
“I don't believe you. That's something you never get over. You only learn to cope with the pain.”
He adjusted his glasses. “Perhaps you’re correct. My father eventually stopped crying. We grew very close again and time passed.”
“Did he ever remarry?” I was curious as I thought about my own father.
“Sadly, no. He is still a single man, but a very busy one. I believe he's happy in his own way.”
The flight attendant came through to check if we were buckled up and they did the safety video. Soon after, we took off. Maybe with this attractive man next to me, the flight wouldn't be so bad after all.
When they announced we could use all devices, he pulled out a computer and began typing away. About a half hour later, he shut it down.
“Were you in Denver on business?”
“Yes, and it was my first time there,” he said. “I would very much like to go back. It was an interesting city. You were there as well?”
“No, my brother-in-law has a house in Vail. That's where we were.”
“Do you ski?” he asked.
“Yes, do you?”
“Yes, I love to ski. I hear Vail is a wonderful place.”
“It is. If you ever get the chance, you should go. By the way, I'm Piper.”
He laughed. “Hello, Piper. I’m Alessandro. I’m very pleased to meet you.” We shook hands and I didn't want to let his go. It was warm and comforting.
“Same here. And I take it you're Italian?”
“Yes. How could you tell?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Your British accent gave you away.” We both laughed this time. “But honestly, your English is impeccable. You don’t have an accent, but it was when you first got here and spoke Italian.”
“My mother was American as is my grandmother. I learned English along with Italian growing up. They are both my native languages. I sometimes slip in and out of them by mistake.”
“I see. You're very lucky, you know.”
“Why's that?”
“I wish I were bi-lingual.”
“Ah. Yes, Americans are getting better at that, but most still only speak English. It's not too late, you know.”
“True.”
We checked out the movies and found we shared the same interests. We talked about books and discovered we both loved to read. He loved English and Italian literature and I shared with him my love for English literature. We discussed how we both loved hiking and biking. I told him a funny story about how I was mountain biking once and crashed into a ravine. He didn't find it funny. In fact, he was concerned I could've been injured.
“That part was true. The funny part was when I showed up at work the next morning. I had to teach, and my face looked like I'd gone ten rounds with a prizefighter. My principal wanted to know who beat me up. She thought I'd gotten mugged.”
“What did you look like?”
“I had a black eye and one entire side of my face was scraped raw. It was pretty bad. The students thought it was cool, though. You know how kids are.”
“You should be careful mountain biking.”
“I am. That was a freak accident.”
Sometime during the flight, I fell asleep. When I woke up, my head was on his shoulder, and my arm was hugging him. What the hell?
I jerked straight up in my seat and he chuckled, a deep sexy one that sent heat racing through my veins. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that.”
Embarrassment plowed into me and the last thing I wanted was to look up at him. But his gaze burned into me. My eyes lifted and fire exuded from him, turning the hazel orbs into a deeper golden hue.
“You were sleeping very soundly. I didn't mind a bit,” he murmured.
I strained to hear him even though my skin was scorched from his gaze. It was awkward, because he stared at me as though he wanted something more. Or was that my overactive imagination? And what more could he want? This flight would be over soon and then we'd go our separate ways. What good would it do? I didn't want to get involved with someone for a one and done. What the hell was I even saying? A one and done? No chance would I become a member of the mile-high club with someone I just met.
How could I have known after two vodka drinks, I'd be eating my words. It didn't happen in the bathroom. It happened in our seats. The lights were out, there was no one on either side of us, and blankets covered us. We’d been exchanging surreptitious glances and his were hotter than sin. My body was a live wire, waiting to ignite. His hand reached over, unzipped my pants as he watched me closely. Expert fingers soon had me stifling my moans as I worked his long thick cock. We each came quickly and as silently as possible, which was no easy thing for me. Technically, we hadn't done it, so I guess I wasn't truly a member, but still, I'd let this stranger bring me to a glorious orgasm as I bit my lips in ecstasy.
The Best of Forevers Page 32