by Lisa Hughey
He was so getting fired.
As he lay there, his initial rage simmered and stewed as he kept reviewing their conversation. And dammit, the picture she painted wouldn’t leave him.
A new car for his sixteenth birthday. The promise that he’d never go cold or hungry again. The shiny idea that he could turn a failure into a success dangled out of reach like a sparkling lure on the hook of life.
He lay under the stars dreaming of that life and ignoring the reality that he was probably going to get fired. Which would mean no new part for his car, no awesome life, no perfect future.
But in the morning, a subdued, less sparkly Penelope Hastings never said a word to the camp director. She also never spoke to Diego again. He knew he should apologize. But he didn’t.
That regret festered in his heart. Once he got back to Dorchester, he decided he could apologize next summer. But after that first summer, he’d been able to work in his uncle’s garage, learning more about cars and mechanic skills. Then camp closed and he never got the chance to apologize.
But he never forgot her.
Excerpt from Everything He Wants
Excerpt from Everything He Wants
(Billionaire Breakfast Club #1)
D’Andre Smith had it all.
Fame. Money. Women. On the outside, his life looked fucking perfect.
And if it wasn’t, no way would he admit it to anyone. He flipped back the cuff on his hand-tailored Italian dress shirt, the cotton softer than the toilet paper he’d used as a kid, and checked the time on his Cartier Calibre watch. The reporter (how had he let himself get roped into that?) wasn’t late. He was early.
He had a few minutes to go over his game plan for dealing with this interview. He hated the press. He kept his private life private. His pal Jay—Jason Hollingsworth IV for the society crowd—had insisted that D needed to start playing the media game to build buzz for the launch of his new company and its extremely important product, the concussion detection helmet.
Nonetheless, he’d still been tempted to bail on this interview. But Peter Nguyen, another friend from his sounding board, the BBC—Billionaire Breakfast Club—had agreed with Jay. So here he was waiting for a reporter, some prep school friend of Jay’s, which was pretty much the only way he would agree to speak with the press. And when his momma found out, there was gonna be hell to pay.
Momma hated reporters. Hated. He wasn’t fond of them either but after a particularly rough interview and story printed about her, Mary Smith had made him promise not to talk to them. He hadn’t yet told her that he was going to have to break her cardinal rule.
The biggest problem with reporters was they always wanted to stick their nose in shit that was none of their business. As a result, he’d learned to dazzle and deflect like a pro.
He smiled at the hostess at Parker’s Restaurant as she led him to his regular table in the formal dining room of the Omni Parker House Hotel in downtown Boston. His mother’s favorite place. After the interview, he needed to meet with the catering director about his mother’s fiftieth birthday party. It was going to be a surprise. And he wanted everything to be perfect.
Mary Smith deserved a banging party and he was going to make sure she got one.
Within a few seconds, the waiter placed sparkling water in front of him. “Your usual, Mr. Smith.”
“Thanks, José.”
“My pleasure, sir.”
D pulled out his phone and clumsily texted his momma a good morning.
Predictably, his phone rang. “Hi, Momma.”
“You know I don’t like that texting. Why don’t anyone just pick up a phone and call anymore?”
D’Andre sighed. “I didn’t want to bother you.”
“Talkin’ to my baby boy is never a bother.” She sniffed.
He was six four and two hundred seventy pounds, down thirty from his NFL career days, but to his mother he was still her baby.
“Thanks, Momma.” His voice softened and his mouth curved. “Everything okay there?” He’d bought her the house in Brookline with his signing bonus ten years ago.
“The newfangled dishwasher is running rough.”
“I’ll get a repairman out there first thing.”
“Thanks, baby.”
“Anything for you,” D’Andre said softly. His mother had sacrificed her best years to support him. Now it was his turn. “What’s on your agenda for today?”
His mother kinda sounded like she was huffing and puffing. “Meeting some girls from church for an early birthday lunch.”
A rustling behind him caught his ear and D turned around to see a stunning woman approaching his table.
Once during his rookie year in the NFL, he’d taken a hit so hard he’d been flat out on his back, the turf prickling his calves, breath clawing to escape his chest. The sky had swirled above him, a bright brilliant blue while he tried to remember who, and where, he was.
With one glance at this woman’s dazzling ice blue eyes, his heart thunked in his chest and his head swirled, as if he’d taken a similar hit. That sensation of being flat out gobsmacked pummeled him just like that monster tackle from a three-hundred-fifty pound linebacker. He shook his head, trying to clear the sensation of having his bell rung.
Fuck him.
She wore a mannish navy suit with matching pointy flats. Not the least bit sexy. And yet he wanted to pull her into his embrace and hold on tight. A waterfall of straight platinum hair framed a stunning face of classic bone structure, bright blue eyes and a wide, unsmiling mouth.
“Mr. Smith.” Not a question. Slightly haughty, frosty, ice princess.
He realized he’d been far too silent and his mother had been chattering away on the other end of the line.
“Well then, have a good lunch.” He managed to finish his call without babbling like an idiot. He blindly pressed the end button. He guessed this was the reporter. She certainly didn’t dress like a groupie.
That untouchable queen to peasant thing was really doing it for him. He’d never had this kind of physical reaction to a woman in his life. But he had to ignore it. Because her profession killed any possibility of engaging beyond this interview. Reporters were off-limits. For so, so many reasons.
So instead of asking her on a date, preferably one that started right here and ended upstairs in the Harvey Parker suite with both of them naked, he was going to ignore this insane attraction and do what he always did.
Flirt, distract, deflect, and get rid of her fast after he got his message across. He’d be out of here in thirty. He’d ignore his visceral reaction and get it done.
Acknowledgments
We’re back at camp! I love this place so much and I had a lot of fun returning to Camp Firefly Falls with RJ and Sherry.
We also check in with the Billionaire Breakfast Club. Look for more BBC late in 2018.
Thanks to the usual suspects:
My editor, Deb Nemeth, who always helps me make the book better.
Lori Carter for the wonderful cover.
Adrienne Bell for the critique and the support.
The Pens Fatales for being my tribe for over nine years. <3
And thanks to all the readers who continue to read my work. <3
Also by Lisa Hughey
Black Cipher Files Romantic Suspense
The Encounter, A Prequel to Blowback
Blowback
Betrayals
Burned
Dangerous Game
**These books are also available in paperback
Black Cipher Files Box Set (includes Blowback, Betrayals, and Burned)
The Seven
Archangel Rafe
Archangel Jed
Archangel Zach
Snow Creek Christmas
Love on Main Street: A Snow Creek Christmas – 7 Author anthology
One Silent Night (from Love on Main Street)
Miracle on Main Street (standalone novella)
Family Stone Romantic Suspense
Stone
Cold Heart, (Jess, Family Stone #1)
Carved in Stone (Connor, Family Stone #2)
Heart of Stone (Riley, Family Stone #3)
Still the One (Jack, Family Stone #4)
Jar of Hearts (Keisha & Shane, Family Stone #5)
Queen of Hearts (Shelley, Family Stone #6)
Cold as Stone (John, Family Stone #7)
Family Stone Box Set (Stone Cold Heart, Carved in Stone, Heart of Stone, Still the One, & Jar of Hearts)
The Nostradamus Prophecies
View To A Kill #1
Never Say Never #2
ALIAS
Stalked (ALIAS #1)
Hunted (ALIAS #2)
Vanished… TBA
Billionaire Breakfast Club
His Semi-Charmed Life (Camp Firefly Falls #11 and Billionaire Breakfast Club #0)
Everything He Wants (Billionaire Breakfast Club #1 The Jock)
Queen of His Daydreams (Camp Firefly Falls #23 and Billionaire Breakfast Club #1.5)
About Lisa
USA Today Bestselling Author Lisa Hughey has been writing romance since the fourth grade, which was also about the time she began her love affair with spies. Harriet and Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys later gave way to James Bond and Lara Croft and Jason Bourne. Exploring the complex nature of a profession that requires subterfuge and lies fascinates her. She loves combining her two passions into fiction. As evidenced by her Black Cipher Files series.
Archangel Rafe was her first foray into the paranormal but after spending time in the Angelic Realm, it won't be her last. At their heart, the Seven novels are about the dynamics of family relationships. But the really hot Archangels don't hurt.
And recently she's been immersed in the Stone Family novellas, stories about a blended family of brothers and a sister who have a lot more in common than they realize. But of course she couldn't just write about family and romance. There are complex plots, bad guys, and suspense too.
Lisa loves to hear from readers and has various places you can connect with her, although, shh, Twitter is her favorite.
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