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Wondering what else happened at Grant’s beach house where Allison and Russell met? Read EXPLOSION OF LOVE, a story of friends to lovers. Grant Paxton and Samantha Armstrong have been friends forever, until she comes running to him for consolation. Heat rises and soon they’re confronted with a totally different kind of relationship.
EXPLOSION OF LOVE
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Please enjoy a preview of the story of Samantha and Grant
EXPLOSION OF LOVE
The Armstrongs, Book Six
Jessica Gray
Preview Explosion of Love
Samantha Armstrong grabbed another handful of tissues from the box in a futile attempt to get a grip on her running nose and her streaming eyes. The box fell to the floor with a bang, and she left it lying there. She had bigger problems to worry about than a stupid tissue box. Her world had just turned upside down, in more areas than one.
At the age of twenty-four, the world should be her oyster. She was a highly sought-after top model in New York, but today, she’d probably lost it all because of her temper, and the underhanded dealings of someone who’d said he cared about her. After today’s debacle, you’ll be lucky if you can land a job advertising dog food.
She gave in to her tears for another few minutes and wallowed in self-pity. But if she was honest, she had to blame herself and her lack of self-control for what had happened. She pushed away that insight and dug through the pile of magazines, receipts, and other contents that had spilled from her purse, in search of her cell phone. Why did that stupid cell phone always have to hide somewhere? The whole imbecile world is conspiring against me!
When she located it, she scrolled through her contacts until she found the one she wanted, her best friend Grant Paxton.
“Hello, Sammie. Long time no talk.” Grant answered the phone with a smile in his voice.
He was the only person in the world she let get away with calling her Sammie. Not even her brothers were allowed to do that. But with Grant, she actually liked the way he pronounced it, sweet and fun at the same time. Just like him.
“Hi, Grant.” Samantha heard his cheerful tone, but it didn’t penetrate though her sadness and despair. Not today. She struggled not to unload her sorrow on him right then and there. He’d take it in stride, but it wouldn’t make her feel any better. She needed a hug in the worst way.
Making a rash decision, she told him, “I’m coming to Chicago. Can you pick me up at the airport?”
After a slight pause Grant replied, “Sure, Sammie. When do you arrive?”
Sam mumbled something into the phone, while opening her laptop to search for a flight, and trying to dry her tears at the same time.
“I didn’t catch that. What time does your flight arrive?”
“I’m working on it.”
“What do you mean? You haven’t scheduled your flight yet?” Grant asked in disbelief.
As he spoke, she booked the last remaining seat on a flight leaving in over an hour. “I’ll be there around 6:40 tonight.”
“Say that again. Sorry, I dropped the phone and only caught the last word.”
Samantha repeated the time of her arrival, a little louder this time, but there was no way to disguise the huskiness in her voice, left behind by her tears. She’d just given herself away.
Grant’s sigh echoed over the phone line. “What is it this time?”
Damn, I can’t hide anything from him. Sam blew her nose and answered his question on the verge of breaking out into tears: “I broke up with Craig.” And I need you to make me feel better.
“Again?” Grant asked.
This wasn’t the first time she’d called him after breaking up with the slime bag, but it would definitely be the last one. She felt stupid because she hadn’t seen through Craig before. How stupid could a girl be and go back to the same unworthy guy time and again?
“Yes. But this time it’s for good.”
Grant said nothing, but she envisioned the eye-roll her comment produced. He might not believe me right now, but I’m serious this time.
“So, how long are you staying?” Grant asked, moving away from the subject of her breakup. He’d made his opinion of the man known a time or two, and now she wished she’d listened to him – or to her brothers. If she wasn’t so stubborn, she might have taken their advice and kicked that guy to the curb years ago.
“I’m not sure…”
“You’re not sure.” Grant repeated her words as if there was a mystery he needed to solve. “Aren’t you a busy supermodel, who’s booked out for weeks in advance?”
“Yeah, but not right now.” And maybe never again. I more than likely ruined my career. After my temper tantrum today, nobody will want to work with me ever again.
“Well, you know I love seeing you. Text me your flight number and I’ll pick you up. Take care.”
Samantha hung up the phone with a small sense of relief. Grant always had that special way of making her feel good. Secure. She didn’t spend much time analyzing it, but given the choice between running home to her family, or to Grant, she would always choose Grant.
The thought of her family had her trying to remember where all of her siblings were, and she sighed in relief at the realization that only one or two of them were in Chicago at the moment.
Whew! I don’t need them breathing down my neck right now. Sure, they’d be sympathetic to her plight, threaten bodily harm to Craig for his actions, but it wouldn’t stop there. No, it would continue, becoming more than she was willing to put up with in her frame of mind.
She wasn’t up for the lectures she would more than likely receive from her brothers. They had never liked her ex-boyfriend, and as much as she hated to admit it, they’d been right all along. She just hadn’t wanted to see it or to listen to anyone. But today, she couldn’t handle even one “I told you so” from them. Getting her nose rubbed in her failures was the last thing she needed. I need a shoulder to cry on and someone to make me feel good about myself. I need Grant.
Before rushing off to the airport, she tossed a few clothes into her suitcase, packing the essentials and nothing else. She needed out of New York, and away from the possibility of running into her ex. Fast. That douche bag had just officially ruined her career. As far as the fashion world was concerned, she was as good as dead now.
Samantha put on her huge sunglasses and hailed the first taxi to pass by her building, instructing the driver to take her straight to the airport. She’d been lucky enough to secure a seat on the last flight to Chicago this afternoon, and hoped it wouldn’t take her too long to get through airport security. With one carry-on bag, and already checked in online, she should be able to make it in time for boarding.
It’s not like you’re prepared for any instant photos anyway. If the media gets wind of what went down today, you’ll be sought after, but for the wrong reasons.
That unpleasant notion had her rehashing recent events in her mind. Again. It seemed that was all she’d done for the last few hours: replay the events of earlier today over and over in her mind. No matter how many times she rehashed things, they didn’t make her actions look any better the twentieth time around.
It hadn’t been enough for Craig to put his needs before hers. No. He’d had to destroy her in the process. Lying piece of…
Samantha started sobbing again, drawing the attention of the taxi driver. Thankfully the driver was too occupied with rush-hour traffic, navigating the numerous cars trying to get out of the city and home for the evening, to start a conversation with her.
When the taxi arrived at the airport, she attempted to mop up her face with the soggy tissues in her hand. She swallowed several times before she stepped out of the taxi, taking the suitcase the driver was holding for
her and handing him a roll of cash. “Thanks.”
She entered the terminal, eager to get on the plane and home to Grant.
Grant would know what to do. He always knew.
They had been friends for as long as she could remember. As they grew up and became adults, their friendship had stayed strong. She trusted him. He’d always had her best interests at heart, even though his brutal honesty was often a lot to cope with. Especially when he pointed out things she knew but didn’t want to admit. Like her lack of self-control, or that Craig wasn’t the right guy for her.
Their close friendship had been one of the things she’d missed most in New York. Since she’d left the Windy City four years earlier, they’d seen each other once or twice a year, at the most, and she’d missed him. A lot.
(End of Sneak Peak)
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EXPLOSION OF LOVE
Preview POWER OF LOVE
Haven’t started the Armstrong series yet? If you enjoyed Momentous Kisses, you’ll love the Armstrongs as well. You can read the first book in the series POWER OF LOVE for free.
Please enjoy a preview of the story of Trevor and Nicole
POWER OF LOVE
The Armstrongs, Book One
Jessica Gray
Sometimes Trevor Armstrong hated his job. It was a sentiment that made him question why he’d gone into law to begin with. The courtroom was slowly emptying out, the conversations fading away, leaving an unsettling quiet behind. He was beginning to hate this particular courtroom, as the only cases he ever mitigated inside it were marriage dissolutions!
Tamping down his irritation, he gathered up his paperwork and tapped it on the wooden table a few times to align the edges of the papers together. He stuck them inside the manila folder with the name of his client emblazoned in red across the top tab, and put the folder inside his opened briefcase.
Closing the brown leather case, he lifted his head up to see his latest client, the ex-Mrs. Cecilia Patton, watching him with a calculating gleam in her eyes. He smiled at her, trying to maintain his professional façade for a few moments longer. “Mrs. Patton, congratulations.” His voice lacked any enthusiasm, despite the fact that he’d just won a major commission for his firm.
The blonde bombshell gushed her thanks a little more profusely, stepping close enough to lay an elegant hand with fire-engine red nails against the stark white of his dress shirt and bright yellow of his tie. “No, thank you! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate how well you handled Dennis. Without you, I’d probably be out on the street right now!”
And looking for another sucker to marry and divorce! Trevor kept that observation to himself, backing up a step and making it look as if he’d been allowing her to precede him from the courtroom. “All in a day’s work. Can I walk you out?”
Mrs. Patton batted her eyes at him and gave him a smile that was more enticement than it was appropriate. She was the worst type of client; the longer he stayed in her presence, the dirtier he felt.
Making short work of the walk towards the exit of the justice center, he excused himself at the men’s restroom, in dire need of ending his association with Mrs. Patton and trying to salvage what was left of this day. He saw the opposing counsel as he exited the restroom, and schooled his features into a normal mien, not giving any indication whether or not he was happy he’d just won his client nearly $35 million of her ex-husband’s money. “Trevor, you realize the only reason you won was because of a technicality?” the man he’d just faced across the courtroom asked.
Trevor inclined his head. He liked the opposing lawyer, but he wasn’t in the mood to talk to him today. And this was business. “I followed the letter of the law. Persons under the age of twenty-one in this state cannot enter into legally binding agreements of any kind without a parent’s or guardian’s signature. Mr. Patton should have been more diligent and allowed his legal team to more thoroughly research the woman he chose to marry.”
At the time Cecilia Patton had signed the prenuptial agreement, she’d been three days away from her twenty-first birthday. This detail made her signature invalid on the prenuptial agreement, but perfectly legal on their marriage license. The only exception to the age restriction was for marriage, which allowed persons upon reaching the age of eighteen to marry whomever they wanted without a parent’s or guardian’s cooperation.
The law was confusing, and not something that most people would even think to research, but it was on the books, and therefore, enforceable. Mrs. Patton had received half of her ex-husband’s money on a technicality, even though the prenuptial had said she’d get next to nothing if the marriage lasted less than five years or failed to produce a male heir.
The marriage had lasted sixteen months, and Cecilia Patton took fertility shots, not wanting to chance losing her youthful figure by becoming pregnant!
He had discovered the age discrepancy, shutting down the court case and winning for his client. The decision left no room for a counter-defense. He’d won, so why wasn’t he happy? It was a shallow victory at best. Another marriage flushed down the toilet.
He headed towards the rear entrance and his vehicle. He knew that the front entrance would contain numerous reporters waiting to question and congratulate him on his latest win, and he simply didn’t have the heart for it today.
They’d come to his office to pester him there, but his secretary would take care of it. She was very good at shielding him from unwanted intruders. She’d give a press release and soon the reporters would be bored waiting for him – off to the next sensation. If there was one thing he hated even more than awful clients, it was those reporters.
He was disappointed with the idea of love, and after days like today, he wondered if it was anything more than a fantasy. In his work as a divorce lawyer, he saw failed marriages every day. His clients weren’t the happy couples one saw on television, or in advertisements, they were real people, hurting and hating the person they had once professed undying love for.
Most of the time he did his best to find the good in them. He tried to see things from their perspective, and that strategy worked about half the time. The other half fell into the same category as today’s client. Cecilia Patton was not a nice person. She wasn’t even the injured party. She was an awful fortune-seeker who had used her ex-husband’s desire, to spend the rest of his life happily spending his fortune on his beautiful young wife, against him in the most heinous way.
As he pushed through the glass door at the rear entrance of the courthouse, he shook himself, taking a breath of fresh air to rid himself of the last few hours. Cecilia Patton had gotten her divorce, and her money. She’d also attempted to lure him into becoming the next notch on her bedpost, but Trevor had absolutely no interest in her or her type of woman.
Trevor had a hard and fast rule about sleeping with clients. He didn’t do it! Ever! It would only bring trouble.
He knew his good looks were viewed as a challenge by some members of the female population, especially some of his clients like Cecilia Patton, but he detested being viewed like a piece of meat on the market of available men.
Sure, he worked out – a lot. But not to impress women; no, it was because he liked being in shape. And as a high-profile lawyer he always had to look impeccable. He kept his appearance neat, allowing his dark hair to grow just long enough to touch the top of his collar, but never any longer. His dark blue eyes were framed by thick dark lashes that more than one woman had lamented didn’t belong on a man. And at his core, he was a gentleman. A fact that many women tried to use against him.
He wasn’t looking for love, or anything even close to resembling the emotion. He worked too much. He used the little free time he had to visit the gym or play squash with his buddies, and any remaining hours in his week were spent with his family.
As he entered his vehicle, his thoughts drifted to his younger brother Dean. Dean had just recently found the love of his life, and Trevor found him
self skeptical at first. After meeting Melissa, though, he’d changed his opinion. Dean and Melissa looked at each other with such affection; it was plain to see they were made for each other. They complimented each other perfectly, in every way!
Trevor was happy for his brother, he really was. But he wasn’t expecting to ever find that kind of relationship for himself. He saw so many broken relationships in his everyday life; a love like Dean’s and Melissa’s only happened once in a blue moon.
No! He was perfectly happy with the way his life was going. He had a small collection of women who would go out with him, knowing that nothing serious or exclusive was part of the deal. And given his current workload, the last thing on his mind was finding a woman to spend the rest of his life with. In fact, she didn’t exist, and he was fine with that.
He activated the hands-free car kit with the words “Call Ryan.” He just loved that little technical toy. It allowed him to use the driving time in his car for work. Then he waited for his brother Ryan to pick up. Ryan was an artist who worked with precious metals – gold, to be specific. He made and sold his own jewelry, and together they were working on a special surprise for Dean’s engagement.
“Hey, how’s it going?” he asked Ryan, not having to identify himself as he knew Ryan had a specific ring tone for each of his siblings. All seven of them!
“Trevor, are you finished with court for the day?”
“Yeah. I won.”
“Do I congratulate you? Shouldn’t you sound a tad bit happier?”
“No, it’s fine. Just a lousy client who worked the legal system to take her husband for a cool $35 million for sixteen months of so-so sex and no loyalty.”
“Whoa there, bro! You’re sounding jaded. I never understood why you went in for law. And divorce law of all things!”
They’d had this discussion many times. Ryan loved all things beautiful. Gold, precious metals, gemstones, diamonds. That was why he had chosen his career as goldsmith and jeweler, to make the world a more beautiful place. At least, that was his explanation. Trevor believed it was because it gave him the opportunity to hook up with many beautiful women.
Momentous Kisses: Love in Sandy Beach Page 12