He’d known she would say it when she was ready. The words sounded like an angelic symphony to him.
“Ya tozhe tebya lyublyu,” he said when they came up for air. “And I do want to hear that many times over.”
“I can do that.”
“Now I have something to tell you.”
“OK.” Her eyebrows furrowed.
“My brother Alex is coming for a visit with my niece and nephew next month. I’d like you to meet them.”
“I look forward to it,” she said. “Were you able to get in touch with Theo?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact I had a crystal clear ten minute conversation with him. He’s fine and he’s surfing in Australia. When I told him that I had a steady girlfriend and Alex and the kids were going to meet you, he said he wanted to see for himself that I was in a relationship. So, he’ll be dropping in as well.”
“The more the merrier. I’m glad he’s coming. You see Theo about as often as I see Trevor.”
“Maybe we can shine a beacon to make wayward relatives come home more often.” He smiled.
Grandma Reed was sitting at the dining room table waiting for them. Tonight her grandmother promised to pull out the family photos. He insisted the ladies sit while he served the food. Gone were the days of photo ops and meaningless escapades. He’d found happiness in spending quiet moments out of the spotlight getting to know the woman who had captured his heart. When Charisma looked up and smiled at him, his heart melted. It was amazing to him that she never realized how beautiful she was on the inside. It was his mission to help her see that, to accept it. He looked forward to the next chapter in their lives.
~ About the Author ~
Rhonda Laurel is a contemporary interracial/multicultural romance writer whose two great loves are writing and landscape photography. She uses both as a vehicle to convey the complexity of the human spirit and the beauty of the world around her. Ebb Tide, For the Love of the Game and Masquerade were released in 2012. Shutter, Memories of You, Star Crossed, MVP, California Bored and Tourism and The Blake Legacy in 2013. The print anthology, The Rhonda Laurel Collection, featuring Ebb Tide, For the Love of the Game and Shutter released June 2013. Texas Heat, Love Notes & Football and The Perfect Storm, books 4, 5 and 6 in The Blake Boys Series released in 2014. Slow Burn, Hollywood Heat, Cowboy’s Heart, Tempting Fate, Executive Desires, Meet the Blakes, and The Final Play released in 2015. Stranded in Paradise and Slap Shot released in 2016.
The author is happily building her backlist.
Discover more about Rhonda Laurel here
http://www.rhondalaurel.com
http://www.facebook.com/authorrhondalaurel
http://www.twitter.com/rhondalaurel
http://pinterest.com/rhondalaurel/
~ Also by Rhonda Laurel ~
>
Stranded in Paradise
The Blake Boys Book Thirteen
Rhonda Laurel
Will love bloom when stranded in paradise?
Jared Reed, a handsome, divorced architect, has been busier than ever since he started doing business with his in-laws, the Blakes. He won't need a social life if he consumes himself with work. Everyone seems determined to set him up with software executive Autumn Waverly, but who has the time for romance? Besides, his ex-wife has resurfaced with an outlandish request that will change his life forever if he agrees. In dire need of some alone time to clear his head, Jared decides to vacation at the Executive Desires resort...where he runs into none other than Autumn.
As Autumn's twin sister prepares to take a walk down the aisle with her soul mate, Autumn can't help but feel a little separation anxiety about the different paths they are taking. When her sister surprises her with a vacation to the Executive Desires resort, Autumn gets the shock of her life when she arrives to find that Jared Reed is there. They agree they've been tricked, but they don't have to fall for the matchmaking trap thrust upon them. Besides, Jared has baggage, and she isn't ready to give her heart away just for a fling in paradise...
Buy Stranded in Paradise here
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Rhonda_Laurel_Stranded_in_Paradise?id=fOlhCwAAQBAJ
Cowboy’s Heart
The Blake Boys Book Eight
Rhonda Laurel
Reconciling the past. Speeding toward the future. Can a cowboy's heart survive the now?
Country singer Tate McGill has never been happier. He's engaged to Isabelle, the woman of his dreams, and his music career has shot him straight to the top. With his adopted Blake clan gathered in Las Vegas for the last leg of his world tour, Tate's excited to publicly announce his engagement. But his excitement is bittersweet. Isabelle has found a collection of beautiful, unpublished country songs by Tate's late birth mother and a lifetime's worth of letters between her and his adopted mother, Teri-Lyn, matriarch of the powerful Blake family. Tate's given all he has to overcome his abusive past and build a future for himself and Isabelle, but he's not sure if his birth mother's words will bring him closure, or more pain.
Isabelle Reed has a wonderful secret—and terrible timing. She's engaged to her sexy country music star, Tate McGill, and after months of physical therapy to heal the arm broken by her abusive ex-husband, she's finally able to play her violin professionally again. But best of all, she's pregnant! Unfortunately, her timing couldn't be worse. Tate's afraid to have children, fearing he'll perpetrate the cycle of abuse he suffered as a child. And with the shadows of his birth mother's letters, and Isabelle's disapproving father coming to meet “that cowboy,” Tate has enough on his plate. His entire career is riding on this last gig of his tour and on the film that’s being made about him and his band. He can't be distracted by the ghosts of his past that Isabelle knows her news will raise. If she can just hide her morning sickness until after Vegas…
But Isabelle's father won't be appeased, and when Tate’s past follows him to Vegas, it only fuels her father's disapproval. With the baby coming, Isabelle wants everyone to get along. Will she really have to choose between her new life with Tate and her father's love?
Buy Cowboy’s Heart here
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Rhonda_Laurel_Cowboy_s_Heart?id=D6N3BwAAQBAJ
Tempting Fate
The Blake Boys Book Nine
Rhonda Laurel
Love can heal the most stubborn heart…
Attorney Channing Blake is looking forward to a new chapter in his life. He’s graduated law school in Washington, DC and has returned home to the Twelve Horseshoes Ranch to take a job with Blake Enterprises. But he’s not the only one who’s back in town. Emma Winterbourne, his on-again, off-again girlfriend, has failed to make it in the Big Apple and is back in Texas, looking to pick up where she left off with good old Channing. Although the chemistry between them has always burned hot, Channing isn’t sure he wants to be her whipping boy any longer.
But when he heads back to DC to attend a friend’s engagement party, he becomes sure of it. A chance meeting with the beautiful Cassidy Shaw dredges up all the old feelings he’d felt for her in law school. He’d dated her once or twice, but she’d mysteriously disappeared without a word. His attempts to find her had come up empty. He’d had no choice but to move on. Now, with Cassidy right there, looking at him with that same longing he was feeling, he knew he owed it to himself to follow his heart. But when Cassidy disappears again and won’t take his calls, he knows something isn’t right. Cassidy is keeping something from him, and he’s not above using Blake resources to find out what.
Buy Tempting Fate here
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Rhonda_Laurel_Tempting_Fate?id=_p11CQAAQBAJ
Love Notes and Football
The Blake Boys Book Five
Rhonda Laurel
New baby. New adventures. Love deluxe.
Philadelphia Titans quarterback Seth Blake couldn’t be happier. Toddler Jake is growing like a weed, and Seth’s wife Morgan is expecting another baby. He’s just signed a new contract to p
lay football for five more years and has a plan for retirement. Things couldn’t be better...until an unexpected family crisis turns the world upside down for them all.
Morgan Blake is ecstatic to become a mom again. The bookstore owner is happily balancing work life, homelife, and love life while preparing for their new arrival. But the family is keeping a secret from her. And the secret will threaten the very happiness she’s worked so hard to find.
Buy Love Notes and Football here
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Rhonda_Laurel_Love_Notes_and_Football?id=1QvYBgAAQBAJ
~ More Romance from Etopia Press ~
Once a Marine
Patty Campbell
A one-night-stand, or the first day of forever?
BD James is on an upward career path. She works for a tyrant who has already cost her one fiancé, so the last thing she needs is another manipulating man. She’s tired, angry, and ready for a meltdown. What she isn’t ready for is Rafael Cruz—a retired Marine who lives a secret and dangerous double life.
Rafi Cruz is a man who makes things happen, but his timing couldn’t be worse. He’s leaving on a hostage rescue mission in two days, which means he won’t have time for a long slow seduction. He’ll have to work fast, or the hot little BD will slip right through his fingers. She’s the only woman in a long time who’s been strong enough to challenge him—a quality he values highly. He’s reluctant to change his footloose life, but he’ll do whatever it takes not to lose her. She’ll understand. Eventually…
But when BD learns Rafi has deliberately kept her in the dark about his black ops missions, she questions whether he’s the kind of man she can trust, and if he can be as faithful to her as he is to the Corps…
Buy Once a Marine here
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Patty_Campbell_Once_a_Marine?id=TQrvBgAAQBAJ
The Ranch Hand
Hannah Skye
A rugged cowboy, an ambitious cowgirl...and a whole lot of rope.
After growing up on her uncle’s ranch, Carol McCreedy has longed for a place of her own to put down roots, raise a big herd of cattle, maybe a few horses, and make a name for herself. And now, with the ink barely dry on the deed, she’s finally made it happen. But leaving Snowbrook to go off on her own isn’t going to be easy. Not only is she in debt up to her eyeballs, but she won’t have the excuse to flirt with her uncle’s long-time ranch hand, Harlan Lee. He’s a mighty fine specimen—rugged, hard-working, and drop-dead sexy, and Carol’s going to miss watching him ride the fences and haul bales of hay in the Colorado sun. There’s heat between them, she can feel it every time his eyes meet hers and that slow smile spreads across his amazing mouth. But she just can’t get the man to make a move.
Harlan has held his feelings in check for about as long as he can take. And now that the beautiful, headstrong Carol is leaving Snowbrook, it’s time to cowboy up. She deserves more than he can give her—all he has is his horse, and a woman like Carol deserves the moon. But he can’t let her go without risking one little kiss…and maybe another… and maybe showing her that he’s pretty darn good with a rope…
Buy The Rand Hand here
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Hannah_Skye_The_Ranch_Hand?id=tArPBgAAQBAJ
Touched to the Core
Touched Book Three
Elsa Winckler
He gave her his heart, but can he give her the truth?
Schoolteacher Dana Roux doesn't need sexy hotel tycoon David Cavallo to add to her troubles. They have absolutely nothing in common—she's a simple schoolteacher in a small coastal town, and he has more money than he knows what to do with. Besides, as a former journalist, he'd remember the news stories about her dad's alleged involvement in a dirty, Ponzi-like scheme, and his subsequent suicide. The last thing she wants is for the dark shadow of that scandal—and tragedy—to fall upon her once again. Especially since she knows her dad was innocent.
For David, flirting with a beautiful woman comes as naturally as breathing. So when he winds up kissing his sister-in-law's best friend, he realizes Dana isn't just another pretty pair of lips. But things between them get complicated quickly when he discovers who her father was, and that it was David's own news story that blew the case wide open and sent her father to jail—and to his death. David's not sure what to believe, but he knows he can't let Dana blame him forever. Especially since she insists her father was an innocent man. But when Dana's life is threatened, he realizes that he might not have uncovered the whole story. And that now, older and wiser, he just might be the only one who can uncover the truth.
Buy Touched to the Core here
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Elsa_Winckler_Touched_to_the_Core?id=MZffCgAAQBAJ
Texas Summer
Leslie Hachtel
Greed. Lust. Murder…just another day in Snakewater Texas.
When Wylie Nichols's car breaks down just outside of Snakewater, the last thing he expects is for his life to irrevocably change. Nothing in the sleepy little Texas town is what it appears, and neither is the pretty, enigmatic Kennedy, who he can't seem to get out of his head.
Kennedy has been named the beneficiary to her late father’s fortune, and her two half-sisters are none too happy. Seems their father was murdered, and her half-sisters are certain Kennedy had something to do with it. Then one of Kennedy's half-sisters turns up dead, and a third body is found as well. The entire town seems to think Kennedy's to blame, and who better to have as an accomplice than that strange newcomer, Wylie Nichols?
Kennedy can't keep Wylie out of her thoughts either, and something about the mysterious stranger makes her wish she could change the past. But when a fourth body is found, the evidence implicating Wylie and Kennedy seems unshakable. Wylie knows they're being framed, and if it’s the last thing he does, he's going to prove Kennedy's innocence. But when Kennedy disappears, it’s all Wylie can do to stay free—and alive—long enough to find her...
Buy Texas Summer here
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Leslie_Hachtel_Texas_Summer?id=I5rNCgAAQBAJ
Bidding Wars
Love Strikes Book One
A sheriff plus a nurse plus a house equals trouble…
Nurse Molly Harper has had a tough year. But when she decides to regain control of her life, buying her dream house becomes her first priority. Finding the perfect house and falling in love with it—that’s the easy part. The hard part is getting rid of the obnoxious man who thinks he’s going to be the new owner. Even if he is gorgeous. And the sheriff…
Sheriff Luke Logan needs to buy a house. Getting out of the renting game will help in the custody battle for his son, so when the perfect place pops up right on his street, he can’t believe his luck. But there’s already an offer on the table, and the woman won’t back down. Too bad she doesn’t know that he always goes after what he wants, and he has no intention of letting her have “his” house. Even if she does make him feel that he might need more than just a house to make a home…
Buy Bidding Wars here
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Lacey_Wolfe_Bidding_Wars?id=2CizBwAAQBAJ
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