Lucky the Hard Way

by Deborah Coonts

  Travel, it changes a person.

  And it dawned on me that I’d never called my father.

  Jean-Charles waited for me at the bottom of the stairs, as he’d promised. In fact, he’d never made a promise he hadn’t kept. Just the sight of him took my breath. Christophe waited next to him. When he saw me at the top of the stairs, he launched himself up toward me. Jean-Charles smiled over the boy clambering toward me. I crouched and caught him as he reached the top. Drawing him tight, I breathed him in. Baby soap and mischief. And I was right back to being me. “I have missed you so much!” I whispered in his hair, afraid to let him go.

  He clung to me like a tiny human monkey, his hand fisted in my sweater. “You came back. You promised. And you did.”

  I leaned back as I tickled him just a bit.

  He rewarded me with a giggle.

  “Of course, I came back. You doubted me?”

  A serious look darkened his eyes, and I knew he thought of his mother. I couldn’t take that hurt away, but I could show him people didn’t always leave, especially not when they made promises.

  “I will never leave you.”

  We both fell into Jean-Charles’s embrace.

  “You are home,” he said simply, but his voice reverberated with emotion.

  “Home.” I thought I understood the full breadth of the word for the first time.

  Jean-Charles stepped back. He tried to take Christophe, but the boy would have none of it.

  “He’s good.”

  “You okay?” my Frenchman asked me.

  “Way more than okay.”

  “Good,” he clapped his hands, and Christophe started giggling. “It is someone’s birthday, and there is a very big party, with fireworks, and fancy food, and handsome men.”

  “The hotel?”

  “It is more perfect than you dreamed. That Brandy, she has saved the day with your father and all.”

  “My father?”

  “He has driven us all mad wanting the most perfect birthday for his daughter. Have you spoken with him?”

  “Not yet.”

  Jean-Charles looked like he understood.

  “Papa!” Christophe wiggled so much I thought I’d drop him. “You forgot to say the presents.” Then he clapped a hand over his mouth. Clearly, he’d been instructed not to say anything.

  Jean-Charles tried to look stern and failed miserably. “Yes, there are also presents.”

  “Well, good. You know how much I love presents.”

  The first whistle of a firework launching drew our attention. Fired from the top of Cielo, it burst in an explosion of colors and light.

  Jean-Charles took my elbow. “Come, my love, the party is starting.”

  “What did you wish for for your birthday, Lucky?” Christophe asked.

  “To be home. Right here. Right now. With my two most important men.”

  “So your wish came true.” Christophe seemed to accept that, as if this kind of magic happened all the time.

  As I looked at them, their faces alive with excitement and love, I thought perhaps he was right.

  Magic happened all the time. And that was the best present of all.

  NEVER THE END, ONLY THE BEGINNING….

  Thank you for coming along on Lucky’s wild ride through Vegas. If you enjoyed the book please consider leaving a review at the outlet of your choice. It would make Lucky’s day!

  NOVELS IN

  THE LUCKY O’TOOLE SERIES

  Wanna Get Lucky?

  A woman falls from a tour helicopter to the horror of the 8:30 Pirate show crowd.

  Was it suicide? An Accident? Could she have been pushed?

  Lucky’s day began with the invasion of the Adult Video Awards and Trade show convention.

  It got more hectic when the spouse-swapping annual event checked in.

  And if adding a body to the mix wasn’t enough, Lucky’s got a new suitor. Her best friend, Teddie, a female impersonator who is pressing to take their relationship to the next level.

  Can she really date a man who looks better in a dress?

  What happened to the woman over the pirate show?

  Will her sleuthing skills catch the killer and save her job?

  DOWNLOAD WANNA GET LUCKY? FOR FREE

  Lucky Stiff

  Someone fed Numbers Neidermeyer to the tiger shark in the tank at Mandalay Bay resort .

  Lucky’s friend, the Beautiful Jeremy Whitlock, is suspect Numero Uno.

  Miss P, Jeremy’s squeeze and Lucky’s right-hand man, is in a tailspin.

  A tractor-trailer full of honeybees jackknifes on the Strip in front of the Babylon, spilling its load.

  The district attorney—apparently the odd man out in a threesome—is hiding in the buff in a laundry room.

  And Lucky’s mother decides to auction a young woman’s virginity.

  Can Lucky get Jeremy out of the hot seat, handle the new hot French chef and her mother… restore order in her life?

  So Damn Lucky

  Renowned magician, Dimitri Fortunoff apparently dies while trying to pull a Houdini.

  Then his body actually disappears.

  Lucky is less than amused. She has enough problems already.

  Paxton Dane, a handsome Texan long on charisma, short on history, is pressing for an opening.

  And the new French chef is equal parts charm and venom, seasoned with a dash of irresistible.

  But Lucky can’t shake the question: did Fortunoff really die or is this some elaborate hoax.

  With his connections to the UFO convention in town, outlandish theories abound.

  Love, laughter, and a few evil spirits from the Great Beyond or the Great Void—

  Lucky Bastard

  Tonight, someone turned a young woman, a Jimmy Choo embedded in her carotid, into a hood ornament for the latest Ferrari in the Babylon’s dealership.

  And one of the big-name players in a huge poker tournament ends up dead.

  Are the two deaths related?

  Lucky starts making connection putting her in the crosshairs of a killer.

  Her former lover, Teddie, comes back from his rock tour to deliver a bombshell.

  Then life deals another major complication to her personal life… and it’s not going to be pretty.

  Can Lucky handle the fallout and catch a killer?

  Lucky Catch

  For Lucky O’Toole, she finds killers.

  As the Chief Problem Solver for the Babylon, Las Vegas’s most over-the-top destination, murder is a bit outside of her normal.

  But, armed with a wicked wit and an even more wicked right-cross, Lucky takes it all in stride.

  But tonight taxes even Lucky’s formidable skills.

  Lucky’s former lover, Teddie, shows up, hat in hand.

  A gaggle of egomaniacal chefs appear for a televised cook-off.

  And Lucky’s current lover, Jean-Charles stops answering his phone.

  Since trouble comes in threes, Lucky is sure this is the extent of tonight’s trouble.

  As usual, she’s a tad optimistic.

  A prized Alba truffle disappears from Jean-Charles’s restaurant.

  A young chef is murdered in Jean-Charles’s food truck.

  Jean-Charles still isn’t answering his phone.

  And when Lucky’s path crosses the killer’s will her goose be cooked?

  You want to know…I know you do.

  Lucky Break

  For Lucky O’Toole it’s a break from murder.

  As the Chief Problem Solver for the Bablyon, Las Vegas’s most over-the-top destination, Lucky is used to cracking heads and cracking jokes.

  Besides, it’s Christmas.

  But even Santa can’t give Lucky what she wishes for.

  Holt Box, a beloved country singer on the comeback trail is killed in Lucky’s lover, Jean-Charles’s, kitchen.

  Mr. Box dies in Lucky’s father’s arms.

  Her former lover, Teddie, is accused of the murder.

  A heavy-hi
tter in the Macanese underworld is working over Lucky’s father

  An old nemesis salivating for revenge gets out of jail on a technicality.

  Lucky’s mother is ramping up an ill-advised political campaign,

  And the holidays racing to a crescendo.

  And then things get really messy…

  Lucky the Hard Way

  For Lucky O’Toole, living with murder is, well…murder.

  As the Chief Problem Solver for the Babylon, Las Vegas’s most over-the-top destination, mischief is in her job description, but murder? Not so much… until recently….

  Facing a murder indictment, Lucky’s first love, Teddie, has flown to Macau on the heels of the real killer.

  A powerful figure in the Macanse underworld has Lucky’s father and his empire over a barrel.

  Lucky’s own hotel is days away from opening.

  And her engagement is very new.

  So, there’s only one thing for Lucky to do…

  Take a trip.

  Macau.

  Five days to catch a killer, save Teddie, and rescue her empire from financial ruin.

  Piece of cake for someone with Lucky’s superpowers…

  Right?

  LUCKY O’TOOLE NOVELLAS

  Lucky in Love

  Lucky O’Toole, the vice president of Customer Relations for the Babylon, one of Las Vegas’s most over-the-top strip properties, is seriously regretting booking a reality television show, The Forever Game, in the hotel’s small theater.

  Lucky Bang

  Missing dynamite, an old grudge, and whispers from the past, force Lucky to delve into dark secrets best left alone. And when her father disappears, things become personal.

  Lucky Now and Then (Parts 1 and 2)

  Las Vegas, the City of Reinvention.

  No one knows this better than Lucky O’Toole, V.P of Customer Relations at the Babylon, Vegas’s newest, most over-the-top Strip property. As the daughter of one of the men responsible for shaping Vegas from its ignominious Mob beginnings to its full current glory, Lucky has witnessed the constant rebirth. So, when the time comes to implode her father’s first hotel, The Lucky Aces, she feels the angst, but moves on.

  Until skeletal remains are found in the foundation and her father is implicated in a murder.

  Then it is a race to uncover the long-buried past. A past no one wants revealed, least of all the killer, who has tried to kill Lucky once before. Lucky must unravel the twisted knot of lies, Mob hits, Vegas power plays, passions, and corruption.

  Her father’s life hangs in the balance.

  Lucky Flash

  Lucky O’Toole, Vice President of Customer Relations at the Babylon Resort, one of the premier properties on the Vegas Strip, is back. This time she wises-up and sends her down-and-dirty best friend, investigative report “Flash” Gordon on the trail of Johnny Pismo. Pismo, a washed-up-never-been singer shows up at the Babylon singing a song about a ring of thieves stealing Vegas’ music memorabilia. They replace each piece of Vegas’s music history with a fake, selling the originals on the black market. Pismo even claims to have the prize piece in Lucky’s father’s collection—a large diamond ring given to the Big Boss by Liberace himself.

  Lucky is shocked to learn he’s telling the truth.

  Teddie, Lucky’s former lover, offers a few choice pieces of his memorabilia collection as bait. Of course, Lucky must join the chase to protect Teddie’s treasures.

  But can she protect her heart from him in the process?

  OTHER BOOKS BY

  DEBORAH COONTS

  After Me

  Kate Sawyer, a former NYPD undercover cop, injured badly in a takedown gone terribly wrong, is living in Portland, Oregon safe in the Witness Protection Program, while she undergoes experimental stem-cell treatment for a genetic case of early-onset Alzheimer’s. Everyone thinks Kate can provide vital evidence that will lead to the recovery of twenty million dollars of diamonds that disappeared during the takedown.

  If she could only remember.

  One night, Kate returns to her condo to find a dead man in her bathtub with a note stuck in his pocket.

  I know what you’ve done.

  Her cover blown, Kate runs, knowing the clock is ticking. Chased by shadowy figures she can’t remember, Kate must solve the mystery before it’s too late. People close to her are being killed. Shadowy memories tease her. Some she recognizes as her own. Others don’t seem familiar at all.

  Running from people she can’t remember, dogged by a past lost in the haze, Kate discovers no one is who they appear to be, perhaps not even herself.

  MORE ABOUT AFTER ME. . .

  Deep Water

  Oil—the currency of global economic power. Alter the supply a country controls; alter the power they wield.

  Patrick Donovan, Texas wildcatter, sitting on a deep-water well, has tapped into a reservoir so vast it could totally alter the balance of economic power.

  A software scatter-bomb planted in the trading software at the New York Mercantile Exchange. A software security engineer is killed.

  And the price of oil is dropping like a stone.

  Donovan goes missing, and an influential senior Senator from Texas is presumed dead.

  Sam Donovan, Patrick’s daughter, finds herself in the bullseye of a world scramble to gain control of her father’s well. A helicopter pilot operating between the rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, Sam knows how the game is played.

  But this time, the stakes are life and death.

  As a hurricane bears down on the Gulf of Mexico, a man with everything to lose sets in motion sets in motion a disaster that will bring down the global oil market.

  The price of oil will skyrocket.

  Sam, with help from Commander Kellen Wilder of the U.S. Coast Guard, must avert disaster before global economic stability is forever altered.

  MORE ABOUT DEEP WATER. . .

  Crushed

  In Napa Valley, he who has the best grapes wins.

  And in the pursuit of perfection, dreams and hearts can be crushed.

  Sophia Stone is a widow on the brink of an empty nest, stuck in an unsatisfying job managing the vineyard for a mediocre Napa vintner. Faced with an uncertain future she wonders how do you choose between making a living and making a life? Between protecting your heart and sharing it? Five years ago, after her husband was killed in an accident, Sophia put her heart and dreams on ice to care for those around her. Now her home, her dreams, and her family’s legacy grapes are threatened by the greed of the new money moving into the Valley. Sophia has a choice—give up and let them take what is hers, or risk everything fighting a battle everyone says she can’t win.

  Nico Treviani has one goal in life: make brilliant wine. A woman would be an unwanted distraction. So, while recognized as one of Napa’s premier vintners, Nico finds himself alone… until his brother’s death drops not one, but two women into his life—his thirteen-year-old twin nieces. In an instant, Nico gains a family and loses his best friend and partner in the winemaking business. Struggling to care for his nieces, Nico accepts a job as head winemaker for Avery Specter, one of the new-money crowd. And he learns the hard way that new money doesn’t stick to the old rules.

  When Sophia Stone gets caught in the middle of Nico’s struggle to remain true to himself or sacrifice his convictions to make stellar wine, both Sophia and Nico are faced with a choice they never imagined. A choice that might extinguish the hope of a future neither expected.

  MORE ABOUT CRUSHED. . .

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Deborah Coonts swears she was switched at birth. Coming from a family of homebodies, Deborah is the odd women-out, happiest with a passport, a high-limit credit card, her computer, and changing scenery outside her window. Goaded by an insatiable curiosity, she flies airplanes, rides motorcycles, travels the world, and pretends to be more of a badass than she probably is. Deborah is the author of the Lucky O’Toole Vegas Adventure series, a romantic mystery romp through Sin City. Wanna Get
Lucky?, the first in the series, was a New York Times Notable Crime Novel and a double RITA ™ Award Finalist. Her contemporary romance inclinations found wing in The Heart of Napa series, set amid the bucolic vineyards of Napa. For thrills and dark mystery, she penned, After Me an iBooks Best Of and a Nook First choice. And to further flex her writing abilities, Deborah penned the Sam Donovan series, a romance suspense series highlighting her love of flight. Right now, Deborah calls San Francisco home, but, since it’s her we’re talking about, this too can change. But, for sure you can find Deborah at www.deborahcoonts.com.

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2016 Deborah Coonts

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance of fictional characters to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author and publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  ISBN: 978-1-944831-80-6

  V022617L

  Digital formatting by Austin Brown (cheapebookformatting.com)