by Violet Duke
For the past few months, Brian had done a ton of research trying to find out for one, if the White Egret Orchid could even survive in Arizona, and secondly, if he could get any growers to ship the rare flower to Arizona. Luckily it could, and he did. The orchid had come in about a month ago, around the time he and Abby decided to give their relationship a try. Unbeknownst to her, that’s why he hadn’t let her go out back for the past few weeks; he wanted to make absolutely sure he could keep the little flower alive. With Skylar’s help and a whole lot of googling, the flower had done very nicely in their secret hideout on the back porch.
Since then, he’d spent his free time building an orchid shade house that doubled as a gazebo in his back yard using redwood lattice, similar to the ones in the photos Abby’s mom emailed him. He’d always planned on having a pergola back there anyway so the gazebo fit just as well.
The White Egret Orchid was the first of a bunch of orchids native to California and Arizona that he was already lining the shade house with. He wanted to surprise her with it today after her defense so she could see that he wasn’t just building a sanctuary for her.
He was building a life with her.
After one more glance at the delicate white flower, Brian replayed Connor’s words back in his head.
Don’t bring Abby up again unless it’s to tell me you’re ready to propose…or let her go.
He picked up his phone.
It was time to call Connor.
ABBY WAS PRACTICALLY GIDDY as she unlocked her office door and set down her laptop and books and posterboards and handouts...
She did it.
The past two hours of her dissertation defense had gone by like two minutes. But of course, it had been fully balanced out by the fifteen minutes she’d spent waiting outside afterward while they deliberated—that had felt like a lifetime.
And though she had planned, prepped, and dreamed of the moment, she still hadn’t been prepared to be so overwhelmed when her five distinguished panel members called her back in the room and greeted her with a simple, “Congratulations, Doctor.”
She’d been replaying that moment on loop in her head ever since.
Through all the paperwork and the celebratory hugs, those two words just kept reverberating in her brain.
After four long years of work, almost three hundred dissertation pages that had gone through nearly as many drafts, and an absolutely indecent number of books on loan from the library, she was now Dr. Abby Bartlett.
Like a complete dork, she whispered it aloud to herself in the privacy of her office.
And then grabbed the phone to call Brian.
He picked up on the first ring. “So are you going to let me call you doctor in bed tonight? Because I’ve been having all sorts of wicked fantasies about that.”
She giggled. “You’re determined to make this dirty aren’t you?”
“Absolutely.” His voice warmed. “I’m so proud of you, sweetheart.”
And that right there was just the icing on an utterly perfect day—nothing could top how insanely happy she felt right now.
“By the way, I have another gift for you. I’m heading over to you right now to drop it off.”
Clearly, Brian was intending to raise the bar for her definition of perfection.
After hanging up with Brian, Abby made sure to text Skylar, and then call her parents. By the time she was finally alone with just her thoughts in her office, the future ahead of her suddenly seemed so clear. For the past year, heck, the past four years, getting to this point had been the goal. Now that she’d reached it, she had some big decisions to make.
She went into her calendar on her smartphone and slid over to the four dates highlighted over the next three weeks, each with the word INTERVIEW in all caps. She’d been extremely lucky to have received four final round tenure-line faculty callbacks—two professor interviews in California, one in the Midwest, and a final one for a position right here in Arizona.
The only thing was that her employment priorities now were vastly different from what they’d been over winter break when her applications had gone in. Those applications had gone in before her relationship with Brian and Skylar had become what it is now…before she knew that she, Brian, and Skylar could really, truly have the happily ever after she’d never fully allowed herself to believe could come true.
Now, as she gazed at the interview dates for the three universities outside of Arizona, it seemed crazy for her to even go to the interviews. She certainly couldn’t ask Brian and Skylar to uproot their lives and move to a different state. And there was no way she was leaving them behind. Ever.
So Arizona it was.
It hit her then how different her life was now. Brian and Skylar were no longer just factors in her decisions of what she’d be doing today, but rather, the deciding factor of what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
She loved that.
She loved them.
A knock on her office door broke her out of her thoughts. And the flowers that appeared in the doorway made her smile broaden even more.
Brian really was going all out to make this the perfect day for her. He was just so—
…And that’s when it occurred to her that only one man had ever given her a doorway-filling flower arrangement like the one she was looking at right now.
Only one man could eat up all the oxygen in the room and make her pulse rate go from zero to sixty without letting it go back down to zero.
Connor.
“God, I’ve missed the hell out of you, Abby.”
END OF BOOK TWO
BOOK THREE: CHOOSING THE RIGHT MAN
(Series Finale)
COMING JULY 31, 2013
Book Three of the NICE GIRL TO LOVE (serial romance) series
Connor’s back. Just when Abby’s life seems all but perfect, the infuriating man comes charging back in to wreak havoc on her emotions once again. And in typical Connor fashion, he has yet another proposal for her. But instead of a wild and fast fling, he’s proposing…forever.
Brian’s not giving her up without a fight. Normally the tame one of the pair, Brian is holding nothing back in the battle for Abby’s heart. He has a decade-long head start in knowing and loving everything about Abby—but is that enough to break the intense hold his brother has on her heart?
In this third and final book in the Nice Girl to Love series, Abby must decide once and for all between the bad boy wanting to start a life with her and the good guy fighting for the life they’ve already built.
EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK
RUSH (Phoenix Rising)
by
USA TODAY Bestselling Author JOAN SWAN
Coming August 27, 2013
Pre-Order Now on Amazon
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
"Gutsy, jawdropping style!" Larissa Ione
"Joan Swan writes riveting twists and turns like no one else!" New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Tyler
Jessica Fury, Washington lobbyist, has money, connections, and her own firm. But five years ago she had something better: happiness. Her firefighter husband, Quaid, was handsome, courageous, and crazy about her. Then one day he walked into a chemical inferno and never walked out. Jessica has been through hell to get back on her feet. And then a rumor surfaces that could bring a miracle or shatter her world again.
Q has been a prisoner forever. He's honed his mind and body into weapons. He's developed abilities no one else understands. But he's still at the mercy of a cabal of ruthless men, who blank his memory, test him like a lab rat, and tell him lies. Although his past has been erased and his future looks grim, instinct tells him he has a woman to live for. What his mind can't remember, his body can't forget. . .
The heat is on.
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT:
© Joan Swan
She’d sat and watched the merriment all evening in the hopes that it would miraculously get her into the holiday spirit, maybe even convince her to go out for the night.
&nb
sp; It hadn’t.
Jessica focused on the man's eyes once more, and the breath left her lungs in a quiet swoosh. How many times had she dreamed of looking into her husband's eyes again? Millions. It had to have been millions.
This isn’t reality.You’re not really here. This man’s eyes look like Quaid’s because you want them to look like Quaid’s.
And she did. God help her, she did. She so badly wanted these eyes to be Quaid’s she would have sold her soul to the Devil. Which was exactly why she’d told Teague and Keira she couldn’t do this.
“Shit . . .” Her voice shook as her logical mind tried to make sense of what she saw even if her heart was ready to leap at the one-in-a-billion chance.
Then he smiled. Or tried to around the cuts. His lips curved and his deep brown eyes glinted beneath those heavy lashes . . . and . . . Jesus, Mary and Joseph . . . that was her Quaid in those grinning eyes.
“Haven’t . . .” He licked dry lips. “Seen you in so long.” His voice was rusty, not altogether different, but not familiar either.
He rolled toward her, and the chain above his head clanked. She lunged to grab the metal and keep it quiet. The move pressed her body against his and an instant, deep hit of tingling awareness penetrated everywhere they touched. His free arm curved around her hips as he made a sultry hum that sent fireworks through her body. He turned and pulled her into him until her breasts were snug against his chest. He kept his head tilted back, his eyes on her face with an expression of awe and pleasure and affection. But he was obviously a little gone, because he showed no fear, as if her presence didn’t pose a threat to them both.
“You have to be quiet.” Her breaths came quickly—because of the fear, she told herself, not the way her body lit up being pressed against him.
“I miss seeing you.” His hot gaze slid down her throat, lower to her chest and rested on her breasts. She knew that look. The hungry one. The one that make her skin tighten and her nipples harden. Like now. “Why were you gone so long?”
Confusion. Desperation. Suggestion. That’s what this was about. Because if this was truly Quaid, those comments didn’t make sense.
“Look at me.” She lifted his chin. When those brown eyes were on hers again, she quickly just pushed out the words before she couldn’t. “Who am I?”
His smile grew wider. His lids grew heavier. The man was half drugged out of his mind. This was a ridiculous effort. Then his arm tightened around her, drawing her close. “Woman of my dreams.”
She frowned. This was crazy. She was starting to believe she’d gone crazy. Or she was about to. Those eyes had to be a fantasy. A trick of the mind. Something she saw because she so desperately wanted Quaid. Or because she so desperately didn’t want this to be just another dream where she would wake up to the stone-cold reality that her husband was in the grave and she’d never touch him again.
“Who’s with you?”
His whisper brought her gaze up from full lips surrounded by several days of stubble to find his eyes filled with a liquid heat that made her body ache in ways she’d forgotten.
“No one.” Which reminded her of what a mess she was in. “It’s just me.”
“Then . . .” His smile faded. His gaze darted past her, scanned the room, and came back. “Why are you here?”
What kind of question was that? And why the hell was she here? And where the fuck was here? Her mind wobbled on a razor-thin tightrope wire.
“To find you,” she only half-lied. “I came for you.”
“You came . . . for me?”
The astonishment in his voice, the surprise in his eyes, made her feel ten shades of guilty for having refused Keira and Teague. “Yes.”
“I’ve waited so long to hear you say that.”
The sexy timbre of his voice was still caressing her when he lifted his face and pressed his lips to hers. Jessica pulled back, an instinctive move made out of confusion. But his hand slid up her spine and cupped her head. And his lips moved over hers, firm and warm and oh, just . . . so . . . right.
His lids fell closed, and those long lashes lay just millimeters from her own. Her brain clouded. Her body softened. A fresh undercurrent of power flowed between them, sending adrenaline to her heart and energy to every cell in her body.
His kisses lengthened, deepened, until his lips caressed and suckled hers as if he were exploring them for the first time. And like waking from a deep, refreshing sleep, everything inside her lifted, stretched and filled. Each press, pull or slide of his mouth erased a shadow from her past.
A sound floated from her throat, one of pain and loss, disbelief and hope. She tried to remember if Quaid had ever kissed her so perfectly when the slow sweep of his tongue along her bottom lip stole her breath. Then he tilted his head, opened his mouth on a groan and fully tasted her.
And she knew.
This was her husband. This was Quaid.
Jessica whimpered, tightened her arms around his neck and kissed him hard and deep while a tidal wave of emotion flooded her chest. She couldn’t stop, couldn’t let go, couldn’t open her eyes for fear he’d evaporate into the mist of a fading dream. Nor was she able to conceive what she’d done to him by believing he’d been dead all these years. Guilt and pain and fear prowled like starved beasts waiting to attack, but she had to do whatever it took to remain strong long enough to get Quaid out of here. Then she could feel all she had to feel. Deal with all she had to deal with. Then she could spend the rest of her life making it up to him.
When she broke for air, Quaid’s dark eyes burned with lust beneath heavy lids. His lips were wet, his mouth open and ready for more. He breathed hard, his muscles straining as he pulled against the restraint to bring her closer. “I knew you’d taste amazing.”
“Don’t talk.” She pressed her fingers against his lips. His words were messing with her head, and she needed to stay focused. “You’re not making sense right now. It’s the drugs. I just want to get you out of here and then we can talk, straighten everything out.” All those emotions crashed in another heavy wave. She took his face in both hands and pressed her forehead to his. “Then we can be together forever. I won’t ever leave you again.”
He grinned—all straight, white teeth and uneven crescents curving deep on either side of his mouth. Her Quaid. She’d never forget his grin as long as she lived. Her heart blossomed, so big, so beautiful, she was sure her ribs would crack.
“I knew it would be like this with us,” he whispered before taking her mouth again with vital, life-affirming passion.
She was completely lost in Quaid when he turned his head sharply, breaking the kiss.
“What the fuck are you doing awake?” Another man’s voice came from the direction of the door.
The man lifted his foot and kicked out. A tingling rush zipped through Jessica’s whole body as his boot passed through her. She gripped Quaid tighter, trying to protect him, but the boot hit his chest, dead center, as if she weren’t even there. He jerked hard and flew back against the wall.
“Quaid!” She reached for him. The coin that had opened this door or hole or whatever it was that had enabled her to reach him, flew from her hand, hit the wall and rolled across the floor.
[END OF EXCERPT]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Violet Duke is the pen name of Nina Nakayama, lovingly chosen in honor of her two wacky children. A former professor of English Education at the University of Hawai‘i, Nina is ecstatic to now be on the other side of the page writing wickedly fun contemporary romance novels. Besides writing and feeding her book-a-day reading addiction, she can often be found tackling reno projects with her power tools and trying pretty much anything without reading the directions first, or cooking ‘special edition’ dishes that laugh in the face of recipes. Nina lives in Hawai‘i with her two cute kids and similarly adorable husband.
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http://www.violetduke.com
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NICE GIRL TO LOVE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION
(Coming July 31st)
The One She Never Thought She Could Keep…
The One She Never Hoped She Could Have…
A Decision She Never Dreamed She’d Have to Make.
Praise for the Nice Girl to Love books:
"A heartfelt, fast-paced, and fun read!" -- Lauren Blakely, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
"A sexy, often emotional treat that will resonate with the 'nice girl' in all of us." -- Lexi Ryan, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
"A sexy must read filled with humor, heart and smokin' hot love scenes!" -- Melanie Shawn, Author of The Hope Falls Chronicles and The Crossroads Series
“Absolutely amazing. Gave me the best (or worse) book hangovers I’ve had in a LONG time.” --Mama’s Reading Break Review Blog
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright © 2013 Violet Duke
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN