Tropical Tryst: 25 All New and Exclusive Sexy Reads

by Nicole Morgan

  “I know that. But you deserve the best of everything. Starting with the most beautiful engagement ring we can find.”

  “And ending with?” she teased, pulling him down on top of her.

  “As many babies as you want.”

  The tears welled up and she blinked, making them flow down the side of her face.

  He knew her now.

  “I love you, Samara. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life making you happy.

  EPILOGUE

  18 MONTHS LATER.

  Samara caressed the small swell of her new baby beneath the satin of her fitted, white wedding dress. When she’d planned her ceremony and picked out her slim line gown, she hadn’t thought she’d be pregnant for the second time.

  “Are you ready, my girl?” her father asked, stepping up next to her and holding out his arm. His face beamed with pride and her heart swelled with the knowledge that her beloved parents adored Julian.

  “Yes. Most definitely.”

  She took her father’s arm in the lobby of the hotel she’d help rise from the ashes.

  The marble floor shone and there was a general happy buzz all around her from the many staff and all the people currently visiting the old dame of a hotel.

  Her father marched forward and they began to walk outside, the automatic doors opening smoothly making her smile. Such a small thing, but it really did make such a difference.

  The bright sunshine shone on their faces, the once dreaded humidity wrapping around her and making her grin. They walked across the main road and as she approached the large group of people gathered for them, she slipped out of her shoes as she stepped onto the sand, her wedding party set up before her.

  A hundred people stood on the golden dune, staring at her and as she looked back, her heart began to gallop in her chest. She’d waited for this moment for so long, and it was finally here.

  Separating the wedding guests was a long red carpet, leading up to the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

  “Last time to turn back, my girl,” her dad whispered at her as she took a deep breath, her heart continuing to flip flop in her chest.

  She whispered back at him, “Hurry up, Dad, or he might change his mind!”

  Her dad chuckled in good humor, because they both knew that wasn’t happening any time soon, and together they began the slow walk down the aisle.

  Soft music played as her bare feet touched the carpet and she stared at the place her husband should be. He stepped out of the crowd and suddenly, there he was. Julian. Holding their son in his arms, their proud little ring bearer.

  Julian had been a better partner and father than she’d ever imagined. He had turned around everything in their lives. And now, after waiting longer than they’d both wanted to, they would be husband and wife.

  Her dad stopped, lifted up her veil, his eyes suspiciously shiny as he kissed her cheek and handed her over to Julian.

  She turned to look at the man in the expensive suit. A man who’d taken her breath away the moment she saw him, and hadn’t stopped doing so ever since.

  “You look so beautiful,” he said, smiling at her in that way where she could see the love that shone from his eyes. Yet there was a kink to his mouth that made her think that he was imagining taking this dress off her later.

  They turned toward the ocean, the celebrant standing beneath a canopy.

  “Dear friends and family, we are gathered here today…”

  The celebrant’s word faded into the back ground as Thomas, her son, walked around to her side, clinging to her left hand as Julian held on to her right. Her family.

  She had everything she’d ever wanted and it had all begun here. Her miracle in Hawaii.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Fiona Miers has a super busy life, like most modern women, but always finds time for reading and writing romance. Her love affair with the romance genre started when she was only 11 years old, when her mother, and nana, handed her, her first mills and boon.

  Since then she's built her own business, become a mother to two beautiful little girls, and fallen in love with the most spectacular man on the planet. (JMHO)

  Fiona writes MF contemporary and historical romance, writing more erotic stories under the pen name Tamsin Baker.

  Thank you for reading this, and hopefully you'll love reading about her characters as much as she loved creating them.

  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fiona.miersauthor

  Email: fiona.miers@gmail.com

  PERFECTLY SKEPTICAL

  A PERFECTLY SERIES NOVELLA

  LINDA O’CONNOR

  Dr. Brianna Scott looked forward to sleeping away her staycation, until a lucky windfall meant an upgrade to palm trees, an ocean view . . . and the sexy Dr. Matt Gaelen. She’ll play and have fun, but can a holiday fling really turn into a soul mate for life? Doubtful.

  * * *

  Matt has no radar for sniffing out gold-diggers and protecting his heart. Until now. Brianna is more turned off than turned on by his wealth. What are his chances of getting her to overlook it? Dubious at best.

  * * *

  Improbable and uncertain, iffy and unlikely – the typical path to love.

  * * *

  Perfectly Skeptical . . . love when you least expect it.

  A NOTE FROM LINDA

  Welcome to the Perfectly Series!

  * * *

  I’m delighted to share this Perfectly novella with you! I wrote the Perfectly Series because I love escaping into romantic comedies. The setting of the Perfectly stories spans from a mid-sized city to two smaller towns nearby, and the characters range from doctors to painters (and a doctor who paints :D). There are twists and turns to keep it fun, and there’s a bit of medical know-how thrown in, too. Laugh, love, and learn!

  * * *

  The six stories in the Perfectly Series are full-length, stand-alone stories. Reading them in order isn’t necessary, but if you do, it’ll keep you in the loop. And for more Perfectly fun – character interviews, recipes, medical myth busters – visit my website www.lindaoconnor.net.

  * * *

  I hope you enjoy a taste of the Perfectly Series with this novella!

  * * *

  Laugh every day. Love every minute.

  Linda

  * * *

  OTHER BOOKS IN THE PERFECTLY SERIES

  * * *

  Perfectly Honest

  Perfectly Reasonable

  Perfectly Planned

  Perfectly Unpredictable

  Perfectly Christmas

  Perfectly Together

  * * *

  Perfectly Skeptical (Perfectly Series novella)

  Perfectly Crazy in Love (Perfectly Series novella)

  CHAPTER 1

  Dr. Brianna Scott snipped the last suture and set the needle driver and forceps on the tray. “All done,” she said to the elderly gentleman lying on the stretcher. “We’ll need to see you back in a week to take those stitches out, but it was a nice clean cut, so it should heal well.” She took off her gloves and threw them in the trash. “I’ll send the nurse in with a tetanus shot.”

  “Ah, doc, is that really necessary? Surely at my age …”

  “If you’re young enough to play in the dirt, you still have to be concerned about tetanus.”

  He smiled wryly. “I do love my garden.”

  She squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll see you in a week.”

  She spoke to the nurse and then went to a quiet spot in the busy emergency department to make a note in his chart. She signed it and looked at the stack of charts for patients still waiting to be seen. It was going to be a long night.

  Before she headed to the next in line, she checked her phone. Her new countdown app was great. Six days, twenty-one hours, and forty-two minutes until she was off on vacation. Three weeks of sleeping in, napping, and going to bed early. She couldn’t wait.

  “Miss Brie, come on over here and buy yourself one of these lottery tickets. The dra
w’s tomorrow.”

  Brianna looked at Maisy James, the charge nurse, thirty years her senior, and her favorite person at Rivermede General Hospital. “Sweet Maisy, I can’t afford to gamble my money away. A hundred dollars a pop is completely out of my price range.” She wished she were kidding. But she wasn’t. Four years of undergrad, four years of medical school, and another two for the family medicine residency left her drowning under a hundred thousand dollar debt. Her credit line was maxed out, and she still needed to scrape up a thousand dollars for the last set of qualifying exams coming up in May.

  “Oh, but I got a good feeling about this one, Miss Brie. And all the money raised goes back to the hospital. If you think of it, it’s goin’ right back to payin’ you.”

  Brianna smiled. “Good sales pitch, young Maisy, but I dunno …” She was already skimping on meals and was down to two a day. She couldn’t get any leaner.

  “How about we split it? You pay fifty, I’ll pay fifty, and if we win, we’ll split the prize.”

  “Saw the car in half?”

  “Hah, you can drive it in the winter, and I’ll take it in the summer,” Maisy said with a grin. “I’ve got my eye on the five chances to win big money. I could do a thing or two with that. The first on the list would be a kitchen upgrade. Think about what you could do with two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

  Brianna snorted. “Pay off my student loan.”

  “Yup, and then some. You could take a trip to a hot island and meet up with a sexy beach bum.”

  Brianna laughed. “Is that your fantasy or mine?”

  “If it ain’t yours, it should be.”

  “Sleeping in a hammock under palm trees sounds idyllic, but I could do without the male companion. I’ve got exams coming up in three months. The last time I tried to study and balance a relationship, I almost failed. I don’t need that again.”

  “Who said anything about a relationship? I’m thinking more of a … tropical tryst to get you through the home stretch. Nothin’ like a little spring fling to get the blood flowing and the hormones surging,” Maisy said with a wink.

  Brianna stared at her. “Yeah, thanks. I think I’ll just slog through it with caffeine.”

  “You’re just worried he’ll leave sandy footprints on your floors.”

  That and a bruised heart, making it impossible to concentrate and study. “You know me too well.”

  “Here’s my advice. Life’s short, so fill it to the brim. Don’t just live a little. Live a lot. If a hot hunk comes your way, and he ain’t married and he don’t have nail fungus, you just jump his bones and have some fun.”

  “Oh my god, saucy Maisy. I wish you were forty years younger so you could lead the way.”

  “Get behind me, brave Brie.” Maisy grabbed the next chart and nudged her in the shoulder. “Better yet, step ahead of me. I’ll buy the ticket.”

  Brianna watched Maisy walk away with a sway to her hips. Oh, to have that swagger. She’d have to work on it.

  The rest of the night went by in a blur. She checked urines, listened to chests, zapped an atrial arrhythmia, and ran two cardiac arrests under the supervision of the emergency staff doctor. By the time her shift finished at eight a.m., she was too tired to make one more decision. The only good thing was that she was now six days, seven hours, and twelve minutes away from three weeks of staycation bliss.

  She bundled up in a hat, mitts, and scarf and trudged along the snowy sidewalks to her apartment. She changed into pajamas and brushed her teeth without eating breakfast. A few more pennies saved. The skies were gray, but she pulled the blinds to darken her room and crawled into bed. If she could get seven hours of uninterrupted sleep, she could recharge before her next shift that night. And she’d be only five days, twenty-three hours, and thirty-three minutes away from no responsibility for three heavenly weeks.

  SIX HOURS LATER, Brianna surfaced from a deep sleep with the incessant buzz of her phone. She groaned. She had forgotten to turn it off. Grumbling, she padded into the front hall where she’d left it.

  “Pack your bags, Miss Brie. You are off to the sunny south.”

  “Hey, chirpy Maisy. I hope that’s not your way of luring me to work early. If it’s not an emergency, I’m going back to bed.”

  “Oh, you’ll want to be up for this. We won! We won the five-hundred-thousand-dollar prize. Little ol’ you and me.” Maisy laughed gaily.

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No, I am most certainly not. I will be shopping for new kitchen cabinets this afternoon, and you, Miss Brie, need to pick a tropical destination. Sun, sand, and surf await you.”

  And sleep. Lots and lots of sleep. “I can’t believe it. Thank you, lucky Maisy, for insisting I buy a ticket. I wouldn’t have, on my own.” She paused, remembering. “Are you sure you want to share?”

  Maisy didn’t hesitate. “No question. It multiplies the joy. You could’ve said no, but you didn’t. It’s rightfully yours.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes. “It couldn’t have come at a better time.” Student loans, the cost of the exam, setting up a practice … the win would ease the burden of the big-ticket items looming in the near future. But spending it on a holiday? Seemed frivolous and self-indulgent. She bit her lip. “I don’t know if I can blow it on a vacation, as wonderful as that sounds. I should probably put the money in the bank.”

  “You’ll do no such thing,” Maisy said firmly. “Brie, you need to get away.” Her voice softened. “I’ve been worried about you. You’re getting too thin, you look worn out, and you’ve lost that sparkle in your eye. You need a real vacation, and now you can afford it. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but there’s to be no doctoring, no studying, no Wi-Fi, no worrying. Just surf and sleep. Promise me.”

  Brianna sniffled. “I promise, kind Maisy,” she whispered. “I’ll book it today.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Brianna rolled over and pulled the light blanket up to her chin. The sound of the ocean waves outside her window lulled her back to sleep. She woke much later to the sweet scent of oleander and the late afternoon sun peeking into her room.

  She should get up, but wasn’t it bliss that she didn’t have to? She had arrived on Little Cayman Island two days ago and had slept for most of it.

  She yawned and stretched, feeling more rested than she’d been since her last vacation a hazy two years ago. A spark of excitement had her sitting up, and she jumped out of bed to look out the window. Stunning. Pink sand, turquoise water, a gentle breeze stirring the leaves of half a dozen palm trees, and a very inviting-looking hammock steps from her door. And she had another sixteen days to soak it all in.

  In the end, she’d chosen to go to Little Cayman. It wasn’t the cheapest island getaway out there, but after she’d paid off her student debt, she’d still had a tidy little sum of money from the lottery winnings. She’d decided to take Maisy’s advice and splurge. Little Cayman was exactly what she wanted – seclusion and quiet. She had her own private villa right on the beach. For the next sixteen days, her biggest decision would be whether to go snorkeling, bike riding, or bird watching. Her stomach grumbled, but she ignored it. The ocean water shimmered in the fading sunlight, and it looked too inviting to resist. She’d go for a quick dip first and then see about dinner.

  She changed into her bikini and tied a sarong around her waist. Beach towels, in a variety of colors, were stacked neatly on a shelf. She chose a happy yellow, slipped her feet into a pair of sandals, and headed out the front door.

  She stopped in her tracks and squealed, almost bumping into a man standing on her porch. He put out his hand to steady her.

  “Oh my god, you scared me,” she said, taking a deep breath.

  Laughing blue eyes looked back at her. “Sorry about that. I was about to knock, but you beat me to it.” His eyes swept the length of her. “I was sent to see how you’re doing.”

  Brianna stiffened. “I’m fine. Why?” She hadn’t advertised she was going away. Her parents and Maisy were the
only ones who knew where she was.

  “You haven’t been out and about.”

  Who’s keeping tabs? And who would send this dark-haired, all muscle, all-male hunk with the relaxed island smile and disarming blue eyes? Not her parents, that’s for sure. Maisy? It was entirely possible. Maisy’s reach was surprisingly long.

  Don’t live a little. Live a lot. Maisy, you’re a cheeky devil, sending a male escort. He looked at her with a patient smile, waiting for her to catch up. Something about a tropical paradise and his sexy bod made her consider. Brianna narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you married?”

  “Nope.”

  “Do you have nail fungus?”

  He blinked and his smile faltered. “No. Are you feeling okay?”

  “I’m feeling great.” She stepped closer to him. His eyes darkened. He didn’t step away. What the hell – she could play this game. Be cool. Fake nonchalance. Cultivate some of that swagger that came so easily to Maisy. Her heart pounded, but he didn’t need to know.

  She went on her toes and brushed her lips against his. When he responded and took control, Brianna felt a tingle from her head to her toes. She pressed closer and felt the hard muscle of his chest through the thin shirt he wore. He caressed the bare skin of her back and skimmed her waist. She opened her mouth to take him deeper and their tongues danced. This wasn’t the kiss of a boy. This was the kiss of experience. Maybe Maisy had it right – if you were going to play, you might as well play with top-of-the-line equipment.