Book Boyfriends Cafe Summer Lovin' Anthology 2015
Contributors:
Mel Curtis
Raine English
Donna Fasano
Patti Forsythe
Mona Risk
Ari Thatcher
Rachelle Ayala
Carly Carson
Kelly Collins
Suz deMello
Keta Diablo
Cheryl Harper
Lyssa Layne
Susan Ann Wall
Copyright © 2015 by:
Melinda Curtis
Raine English
Donna Fasano
Patricia Forsythe
Mona Risk
Ari Thatcher
Rachelle Ayala
Carly Carson
Kelly Collins
Suz deMello
Keta Diablo
Cheryl Harper
Lyssa Layne
Susan Ann Wall
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
This book was built at IndieWrites.com. Visit us on Facebook.
Introduction
Summer is heating up with 14 traditional romances from USA Today, national bestselling, and award-winning authors, brought to you by Book Boyfriends Cafe.
Foreword by USA Today bestselling author, Leanne Banks.
Cora Rules by Mel Curtis, USA Today Bestselling Author. NBA coach Trent Parker is a stickler for the rules, until he meets Cora Rule, the biggest rulebreaker of the Rule clan.
Surrender to Love by Raine English, USA Today Bestselling Author. When Tara Spencer agrees to spend the summer caring for her ailing grandmother, she has no idea how her life will be changed by the handsome stranger next door.
The Merry-Go-Round by Author Donna Fasano, USA Today Bestselling Author. When Lauren divorces her husband, her life quickly turns into a 3-ring circus. Will she step off the merry-go-round--or reach out and grab the brass ring?
Twist of Fate by Patti Forsythe, USA Today Bestselling author. Rebecca Perris is on a dangerous quest to find her sister, but when she meets Aaron al-Rashid again, it's her heart that's at risk.
Her French Count by Mona Risk, USA Today Bestselling Author. A Da Vinci Code in a French Chateau. The lovely American architect has turned his life upside down, but are his chateau and a missing statue worth endangering her life?
Love Me Forever by Ari Thatcher, USA Today Bestselling Author. Escaping to Maui to get over her divorce, Jen runs into her first love, who blew her off at the end of her vacation. Matt had given up hope of ever finding her again. Can he convince her to give him a second chance?
Playing the Rookie by Rachelle Ayala, National Bestselling Author. A rookie pitcher and a sports intern on the rebound connect to get over their exes. Will their fling turn into true love or destroy both of their careers?
Duke of Devonwood by Carly Carson, National Bestselling Author. Sparks fly as Miranda plots to gain control of her inheritance from a modern day Duke who tries his best to resist her wiles. Can both of them win?
True North by Kelly Collins, National Bestselling Author. Alexa leaves Los Angeles with a scarred heart, a beat up car and a secret. She's fleeing her hopelessness to find her future. Can a sexy stranger mend her heart and be her compass?
Fashion Victim by Suz deMello, National Bestselling Author. Hot isn't a hot enough word to describe corporate raider Fletcher Wolf, but since he's suing couturier Cara Fletcher for, oh, a gazillion dollars, she figures she shouldn't hit on him...at least not too hard.
Season, Unforgettable by Keta Diablo, National Bestselling Author. He promised his mother he'd wrap up the Pine Bay project, and he would have if not for a nature lover who can't be bought at any price. Now he's fighting for the other side, fighting to recapture his abandoned dreams, and fighting to win her heart.
Most Likely to Turn up the Heat by Cheryl Harper. Sue Walker's "no soldiers, no cops, no coworkers" policy doesn't stand a chance against injured cop turned high school security guard Max Holt. His mission to return to Dallas and danger could be the dealbreaker.
My Favorite What If by Lyssa Layne, National Bestselling Author. Jacob "Smitty" Smith and Sloan Talbott have both have been hurt. Neither is looking for love. Will one week in paradise be a fling to remember or could it possibly lead to something more?
Relay For Love by Susan Ann Wall, National Bestselling Author. A cancer survivor who celebrates in silence...a widow who remembers the man she lost...a fight back where two hearts battle to be together.
Foreword
Ahhh. Summer romance. Do you remember the sensation of your feet on crackling hot sand? The sound of the ocean? Do you remember seeing a guy who turned your head and flirted with you and made you feel pretty? Do you remember your stomach taking a dip when you met a guy who was everything you’d ever dreamed of, but was sure you’d never find? What is your favorite beach? Are you a west coast California girl or an east cost Jersey girl? Or are you a girl who favors the Redneck Riviera? Think Myrtle Beach.
But don’t forget Maine or the Hamptons. The summer is calling us and we need to go!
After this hard winter, we’re all overdue for a dose of some Summer Lovin’.
There’s something wonderful about a contemporary romance. I’ve spent over twenty-five years of my life writing these books. I’ve decided that a contemporary romance collection is like receiving a box of chocolates. One may be caramel. One may be cream, but they’re all delicious and they won’t take too much of my time. What a bonus that this collection is such a bargain. You could “nibble” on these romances for weeks! What could be better?
I’ve written many novels in this wonderful genre. I love writing about characters with whom I can identify. Characters I root for. Characters for whom I cheer to find love. As we all know, the path to true love can be rocky. In my next Harlequin Special Edition, coming December 2015, A PRINCESS UNDER THE MISTLETOE, I match up a secret princess and a single father. Who would have thought a princess would fall for this single man and his grieving family?
But love happens. Thank goodness.
That wonderful, exhilarating journey to love is what you’ll find in this fantastic collection of contemporary novels and novellas from fabulous authors like Donna Fasano, Melinda Curtis and Mona Risk. I’m sure you’ll be entertained and swept away. I may be a contemporary author, but I’m also a contemporary reader. This collection is a bargain you won’t want to miss. Take it to the beach or to the pool. Or just enjoy it in your cool, air conditioned home. Let the heroes warm you up.
Enjoy your summer romance reading. You’ll be happier for it.
xo,
Leanne
Leanne Banks is a national #1 best-selling author of romance novels. She is the winner of the Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards in Series Sensuality and Love and Laughter. She is also the winner of the Florida Writers Beacon Award, the Golden Quill Award, the Georgia Romance Writers' MAGGIE Award and Booksellers' Best Award. Her books have been recognized by the Award of Excellence Contest, the Romance Writers of America Rita Contest, and the National Readers' Choice Awards. Learn more about Leanne at www.LeanneBanks.com.
Cora Rules
Book 3 in the Hollywood Rules Series
Mel Curtis
Copyright © 2014 by:
Melinda Curtis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
This book was built at IndieWrites.com. Visit us on Facebook.
Acknowledgments
I couldn’t have finished this book without the love and support of my family and friends. As always, Mr. Curtis was patient during the completion of this project and was a good sport about keeping the refrigerator stocked (or at the very least ordering pizza). My undying thanks to my writing group – the Tiny Killer Bees! Readers can thank Anna Adams, A.J. Stewart and Cari Lynn Webb for the redemption of my heroes/heroines. Cora was especially hard to redeem, giving she’d been searching for love in all the wrong places (through two previous books!) and needed quite a bit of character growth and soul searching to earn her happily-ever-after. Thanks to PurplePapaya LLC and IndieWrites for helping spread the word about my writing. And thank you, dear reader, for reading.
Praise and Awards
USA Today Bestselling Author
Kindle Top 100 Bestselling Author
Holt Medallion Winner – Best First Book 2002, Contemporary Series
“Sharp, sassy, modern version of a screwball comedy from Hollywood's Golden Age except a lot hotter.”
~Jayne Ann Krentz of Amber Rules (Book 1 in the Hollywood Rules Series)
“Season of Change has found a place on my keeper shelf.”
~Brenda Novak
L.A. Happenings by Lyle Lincoln
…Basketball coach, Trent Parker, is just as hot as he was when his team won the Final Four last March. If you can overlook his squeaky clean image (nicknamed the Reverend) and his underdeveloped fashion sense (Lordy, I can), you’ll enjoy watching him transition to coaching the NBA’s L.A. Flash. Will he clean up their bad-boy image? Or fall prey to the dark side?
…True or False? Sources say L.A. Flash owner, Jack Gordon, wants to divorce wife, Vivian, but the disposition of assets is too cumbersome. I’m not saying this isn’t true, but I did see the pair a month ago looking friendly as they dickered over…shall we say…more personal assets?
Chapter 1
“You’re making that face.”
Cora Rule’s morning espresso twerked in her stomach. She crumpled her toes in her zebra Badgley Mischka heels. She wanted to crumple her new client schedule with her new client list, but that wouldn’t be wise in front of her boss.
“You know the face I’m talking about.” Amber, her half-sister and boss, sat in the same chair in which their father had built the Dooley Foundation. She looked like a cross between a centerfold and a red-headed Disney princess, especially in her emerald green, gauzy peasant blouse with gold lacings over her cleavage.
Neither sister took after their father in the looks department, thank God. While Amber was Tinkerbell-short and curvy, Cora was taller than average, less stacked than average, with average brown hair. When she was young, Cora’s supermodel mother had compensated for Cora’s coltish, mediocre appearance by making sure Cora wore the latest fashions. When she was in high school, Lucia made low-cut blouses part of Cora’s fashion repertoire. This was, after all, Beverly Hills. Cleavage was de rigueur and – large or small – a display evened the playing field.
Cora sighed, tugging at the sleeves of last year’s gray, scooped-neck Michael Kors, feeling drab and trapped. In some twisted slight against her mother, her father’s will prohibited Cora from buying new clothes until she achieved her sales quota. If only meeting her sales quota didn’t involve becoming a life coach to a handful of ex-lovers.
Her gaze landed on the schedule again. Relations with ex-lovers always got messy after you put your clothes back on. And estranged wives of ex-lovers? She did not want to go there.
The espresso shimmied in her stomach once more.
The next few days played out in agonizing 3D:
“Brian, I’m here to help you on a path to self-discovery,” she’d say at eight o’clock Saturday morning. The young screenwriter would raise his carefully groomed brows suggestively, so she’d have to add, “A path that doesn’t include sex.” Because Brian was a sex-addict. She often suspected his life had inspired Californication.
Then, on to the next ex at nine-thirty.
She’d smile at Jean Claude and say, “Let me help you overcome your super-sized ego and achieve happiness.” It was a toss-up as to how the stuntman would respond given the last time Cora’d seen him, she’d told him his dick was too small to justify his being such a huge head-case.
And then there was the estranged wife, scheduled for an initial meeting tonight.
Hard to be tactful when she had to say, “Vivian, it takes balls to hang onto a man who wants to divorce you. But sometimes you’ve just got to say what the hell, move forward, find some balance in your life, and a man who appreciates you.” Because Jack Gordon cared about one thing and one thing only – his NBA basketball team, the L.A. Flash. Anything else was superfluous, including the woman he’d vowed to love until death parted them.
Cora sucked on the sour taste of espresso and frustration.
Luck always gave her the middle finger as it drove past. She’d grown up in Beverly Hills and run in social circles with the area’s young, fashionable, and famous. She hadn’t planned on becoming a life coach or working for her father’s company. She’d graduated from the Fashion Institute, accepted an apprenticeship in Paris, and then Daddy died, tying her inheritance to this job. And guess who could afford the Dooley Foundation’s life coaching fees? Yeah, that’s right. The area’s young, fashionable, and famous. Her acquaintances, her peeps, her exes and the six degrees of separation therein.
“If you don’t want to talk about your face…” Amber sounded like a schoolteacher in a parent-teacher conference regarding a misbehaving child. “How about we discuss the list of clients I gave you? It has someone on it you slept with or pissed off, doesn’t it?”
Damn Luck to hell.
“First off, I don’t make a face.” As the only child of an Italian supermodel, Cora wasn’t allowed to make faces other than derisive pouts. “Faces” caused wrinkles.
There was a hint of hurt in Amber’s eyes as she shook her head slowly, sending soft ripples through her long hair. “I remember the first time I saw it. You were in time-out after humiliating me in front of your friends.”
Cora could have asked which time. As half-siblings, they’d been pawns in a much larger parental game. But she knew. “You’re bringing up fat camp? After all these years?”
Preteen Amber had been sent to lose weight, and Daddy had brought along a 60 Minutes camera crew. The resulting footage, including Amber raiding her hidden stash of Hershey bars and still losing weight, had been used to promote the Dooley Foundation, rocketing up sales. It had been prime fodder for a young Cora, who’d been quick to lash out at any perceived threat – especially by Amber – to her father’s carefully doled-out affection.
“You’re making that same face.” Her sister showed no mercy. They’d both agreed recently that Cora didn’t deserve any for her childhood tortures of Amber. Still… “The expression that says you know you’ve been bad, but you aren’t about to apologize. And when it comes to signing on new clients you don’t want to apologize to…” Amber sighed, while Cora formulated a defense. “Tell me who they are. I’ll assign those clients to someone else.”
Amber’s words rendered Cora defenseless. After years of antagonism, it was hard getting used to her sister watching out for her. It gave Cora a rare, sweet feeling, like a warm slice of Starbuck’s lemon loaf.
But the list hadn’t gone away. Names leapt off the page and took up residence on her shoulders, weighing her down. Every client she took on brought her nearer to meeting her sales quota, earning her inheritance, and getting on with her life. It wasn’t as if any of their clientele were easy – egos (fragile or bloated), anger (repressed or feral), performance anxiety, romance troubles, confidence issues…The list of their insecurities wa
s long. But ex-lovers…Ex-lovers added a level of complexity Cora chose not to deal with in her personal life, much less on a professional level.
A too-brief knock on Amber’s office door and Gemma, their receptionist, tromped in wearing a long flowered skirt over her scuffed combat boots. Two toy-sized dogs, one of them Cora’s fluffy black Chihuahua, Brutus, danced around her skirt. “Here’s your mail.” Gemma placed a small stack of letters on Amber’s desk, and then dropped an envelope in Cora’s lap. She stomped out, taking the dogs with her.
“Personal delivery?” Cora called after her. “What is it? Christmas?” Cora glanced down. Junk mail. She should have known. She tossed the offer for breast implant surgery in the trash.
“So.” The schoolteacher was back, arching a brow at Cora. “Which is it? Ex-lover or someone you pissed off?”
The truth balled in Cora’s mouth like a spoonful of peanut butter.
A seagull swooped past the window, headed toward the Santa Monica Promenade a block away. There was a time when Cora might have followed that bird to a shopping mall rather than share anything personal with Amber. But this tentative new family unit she, Amber and their half-brother, Blue, were forming – and the possibility of a three million dollar inheritance – kept her in her seat.
“You want me to guess? Okay.” Amber perused her copy of the list. “Five guys fit your type.”
“Types are such a cliché.” The seagull swooped past again, as if offering Cora one last out.
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