by Anna DePalo
He gave his trademark devilish smile. “In lieu of a jumbotron or big screen...”
OMG.
“I’m making a public declaration—”
Some people hooted.
“—that I think my teammates never thought they’d hear from me.”
There was scattered laughter.
“This should be good,” someone called out.
“I’m declaring my undying love for—”
Jordan took her hand and kissed it.
“The Puck & Shoot?” someone else wisecracked.
“Hey, maybe it’s Angus or his beer.” One patron elbowed another.
“Nah, Angus has been married for ages,” Vince Tedeschi put in.
“—Serafina Perini,” Jordan finished.
“Aww.”
“Makes my heart flutter.” Marc Bellitti clutched his chest dramatically.
Several women gave audible sighs.
Jordan turned to the peanut gallery lining the far side of the bar, including Vince and Marc. “Hey, guys, knock it off. This is difficult enough. Wearing my heart on my sleeve with no clue about my chances...”
Sera swallowed hard because she’d been getting choked up. Jordan was putting it all on the line for her—in public. She could spurn him, make him pay...or confess that she loved him, too.
Jordan opened his mouth to say more, and Sera impulsively leaned forward and shushed him with a kiss. She could feel his surprise, and then he relaxed, his lips going pliant beneath hers as he let her kiss him.
“Aw.”
There were a few laughs, and some women gave audible sighs again.
When she broke the kiss, her gaze connected with Jordan’s.
“Is that a yes?” he asked.
She nodded and then slid her arms around his neck. “Yes, yes...yes to everything. I’m all in with you.” She looked into his eyes. “I love you, Jordan.”
“I think I have a new lease on life in professional hockey thanks to you, and with your help, there are going to be new facilities at the hospital, too.”
Sera felt her eyes glisten, so to make up for it, she teased, “They’re going to name it the Serenghetti Pavilion?”
“Let’s talk. Maybe we should name it after our firstborn.”
“You’ve got big plans, Serenghetti.”
“Yup.”
“Our families will go nuts over the news. And our kids would be double cousins with Dahlia.”
He pulled her in for another kiss.
There was a smattering of applause around them.
“I love a happy ending,” a woman in the crowd commented.
“Hey, who’s going to be the most eligible New England Razor now that Serenghetti has retired?”
“Angus is going to start changing the TV channels from hockey to the feel-good drama of the week,” a guy at the bar grumbled.
“What’s wrong with that?” a woman beside him demanded.
As they ended their kiss, Sera laughed against Jordan’s mouth. Nothing, nothing at all.
Epilogue
If someone had told her a year ago that she’d be planning her wedding to Jordan Serenghetti, Sera would never have believed them. Life was good in unexpected ways...
As she stood next to Jordan, Sera surveyed the assorted Serenghettis mingling in Serg and Camilla’s Mediterranean-style mansion before the engagement party began. Soon, she’d be one of them. Serafina Perini Serenghetti, or SPS for short. She’d tried out the name numerous times already in her mind, and it always made her heart thrill. It felt right...like she was exactly where she should be.
Of course, the Serenghettis already treated her as one of them. She was Marisa’s cousin, but they’d also embraced her as Jordan’s fiancée. In fact, they’d been thrilled with news of the engagement months after she and Jordan had reconciled at the Puck & Shoot.
Camilla had exclaimed that she’d known all along that Sera would be a perfect match for her youngest son. Serg had congratulated Jordan on making a wise decision. Cole and Rick had called their brother a lucky man and joked that he’d soon be joining them in the ranks of fatherhood—making Sera flush. And Marisa had been thrilled that she and Sera would be sisters-in-law as well as cousins.
Mia Serenghetti came up and gave Sera’s arm a quick squeeze. “Congratulations. I just wanted to say that again before your family and the other guests get here.”
“Thanks, Mia.”
Glancing at Jordan, Mia added, “You’ve made my brother very happy...and he’d better behave himself.”
“Now that I’m engaged, you’re next,” Jordan teased.
His sister feigned offense. “How can you say that, after I kept your and Sera’s secret at Constance and Oliver’s wedding?”
“Simple. Mom. She’s ready for her next starring role. Mother of the bride.”
Mia rolled her eyes. “Don’t jinx me. I’m married to my fledgling design business.”
Sera nudged Jordan. “Good luck, Mia. I’ll prolong Jordan’s wedding planning as long as I can.”
Mia threw her a grateful look. “Thanks. I’m glad I’m gaining an additional ally in this family.” She gave her brother a baleful look. “It’s been rough going.”
As Camilla called Mia over with a question, Jordan glanced at his watch. “Your family should be here soon.”
Sera squeezed her hands together. Not out of nervousness but excitement. “Yup. And Mom is bringing a date.”
Her mother’s male friend, as Rosana Perini referred to him, had turned out to be a mild-mannered, middle-aged guy with glasses and a quiet sense of humor. Sera had liked him instantly and was glad her mother was taking the next step by inviting him to be her date today.
Dante, of course, wouldn’t miss today, either. Once he and their mother had understood that Sera and Jordan had worked out things between them, and how in love they were, they’d been just as excited as the Serenghettis about the relationship. And Dante naturally had been thrilled about becoming the brother-in-law of the Razors’ star player.
Sera hooked her arm through Jordan’s and beamed at him.
He was having his best season yet with the Razors. And as a result, Marv had had a great negotiating position. In fact, Jordan’s new contract with the Razors had exceeded expectations, and his endorsement deals had so far been renewed for impressive sums. The result was that Jordan’s plans to fund the rehabilitation facility at Welsdale Children’s Hospital were right on track. Even Bernice was happy with all the new sports-team business that Astra Therapeutics was getting after their success with Jordan.
He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Have I told you recently that I love you?”
“Not in a few hours.”
“Maybe it’s time to find another cloakroom.”
Sera half laughed, half gasped. “We’re at our own engagement party.”
Jordan straightened and his eyes gleamed. “It wouldn’t surprise anyone. And Mia might even be expecting it.”
“Something tells me we’ll be searching for a cloakroom for the rest of our lives.”
Jordan leaned in for a kiss. “I’m counting on it.”
* * *
Don’t miss a single story
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Second Chance with the CEO
Hollywood Baby Affair
Power Play
from USA TODAY bestselling author Anna DePalo!
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Texas-Sized Scandal
by Katherine Garbera
Prologue
Sterling Perry has to be feeling pretty smug now that he has been released from jail on fraud charges. Damn. The evidence should have been enough to keep him in jail. Nothing is going as planned. Ever since Vincent—Well, that doesn’t matter. No one has any idea who killed the man. I guess I’ll just have to direct them toward a suspect.
Perry is the most logical choice. The hatred the thought of him stirs inside me makes me want to punch someone. But instead I just take a deep breath and fight to find the calm part of myself. The part that makes it easier for me to plot the demise of the men who have stolen everything from me.
It’s not as if they are good men. They both have flaws, too many to name, and they’ve hurt many people along the way. Collateral damage like me. But not anymore.
Ryder Currin and Sterling Perry are doing a good job of torturing each other, which doesn’t hurt the plans that have been put in motion. But it wouldn’t hurt to get Sheriff Battle on the case. He’s a bulldog and would help to add fire to the charges simmering around Sterling Perry.
That text was sent from Vincent on a Perry Holdings phone. Everyone knows that no one does anything at Perry Holdings without Sterling’s approval. That should be enough to get the case focused back on Sterling.
Glancing down at the email that has just arrived, a feeling of self-satisfaction spreads throughout me. Ryder Currin has some employment issues. Interesting. It shouldn’t be that hard to get the information into Sterling Perry’s hands and then let him use his information to ruin Currin.
It’s hard not to feel self-satisfied. So embezzling didn’t work out. There are still a couple of irons in this fire. Both of them are going to pay for what they’ve done. No matter how long it takes.
One
Melinda Perry glanced at her phone as she put the last hot roller in her hair. She was trying to ween herself off her social media addiction. While she loved knowing exactly what her faves were doing, she had learned she functioned better with far less FOMO if she started her day with a mug of... She wanted to say hot lemon water, but she’d never been able to make herself acquire a taste for it. No matter how unhealthy it was, she always started her day with coffee, a teaspoon of hot cocoa mix and nonfat half-and-half.
She glanced at the clock on her vanity mirror; she was running ahead of schedule. “Okay, Jeeves, give me the latest society news from the Houston Chronicle,” she said. She’d programmed her electronic assistant to answer to Jeeves because she thought it was funny to pretend she had a proper British butler and because it had been going off whenever the commercial for it had come on prior to that.
“Good morning, Mels. Here’s today’s headline—‘Heiress and philanthropist Melinda Perry is going hot and heavy with notorious playboy Slade Bartelli. Photos available on Houston Chronicle dot com.’”
“Okay, Jeeves, stop,” she said, fumbling for her phone and opening the Houston Chronicle app. Oh, no. She didn’t want to be on the society pages. She didn’t want the world to know about her love affair with Slade.
Her family had been a hot mess for the last year and she had struggled to remain above it. Going about her business and acting as if everything were okay. Her father had been accused of running a Ponzi scheme, arrested and released from jail. Her sister was having a scandalous relationship with one of her father’s most hated business rivals. And of course, she had started a romance with the son of notorious mobster Carlo Bartelli.
To be fair, Slade wasn’t part of his father’s crime syndicate and she had met him at a charitable committee meeting. He was an upstanding citizen but the media never seemed to care about that.
As soon as she opened the app, she saw a photo of herself and Slade embracing...okay, kissing. Hot and heavy kissing in one of the alcoves of the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall.
She felt panic rise inside of her and her pulse raced. She was hot and bothered not only from being exposed but from remembering that kiss. She had to end this. It was getting out of control. She was behaving in a way that didn’t suit her at all. Sure, she was thirty-nine and, as her twin had pointed out, not getting any younger.
If not now, then when? That’s what Angela had said when Melinda had shyly mentioned she was seeing someone different from her usual type of guy.
But this wasn’t what Melinda had had in mind. She liked her charity work, her quiet life. Also, Angela had been very plain in her disapproval of Slade as a lover for Melinda. Not that she needed her twin’s approval of the man she dated.
She heard the sound of Pixie, her miniature dachshund, barking and then her bedroom door opened and her sister Angela walked into the room. They lived in the same building and always nipped into each other’s places. The design of the condo was an open concept on the main living level and then an upper-level loft that was the master bedroom, bathroom and a living/sitting room that Melinda used as a workout space.
“I thought you weren’t sure that Slade was the right man for you. Didn’t you say you wanted to be a mom? He’s a legendary playboy, you know that, right?”
“No need to ask how you found out,” she said. “I just didn’t know if we were serious or not and I didn’t want to make a big deal.”
“That photo looked pretty serious to me,” Angela said. She sat down on the tufted bench at the end of Melinda’s bed.
Her sister had a thermal mug in her hand and looked fashionable as always. No matter how hard Melinda tried, she always felt like the serious, preppy twin. She knew that no one else would ever call her that, but she was the quieter twin, in fashion and in personality. If anyone should have been dating Slade, it was Angela.
“That picture... I had no idea anyone would see us, or I never would have kissed him like that,” Melinda admitted.
“You’re blushing! We’re thirty-nine, Mels. It’s time for you to stop blushing when you talk about sex.”
“I wasn’t talking about sex! Slade just makes me hot. It’s not embarrassment, it’s—Oh, never mind. What am I going to do?” she asked her sister.
“Do you like him?” Angela asked.
Like him?
She hadn’t thought about it that way. He was so intense. She knew about his family’s rumored mob connections, but when she was with him, he focused on her. He made her feel...like she was the only woman in the world. And the most passionate person he’d ever met. But honestly, she knew that was only because of him. Donald, her ex-boyfriend of eight years, always complained that she hadn’t brought any va-va-voom, but with Slade that wasn’t an issue.
“I know you don’t approve of him. You’ve made
that very clear and I’m not sure how I feel about him. He’s on the art council, which is how we met.”
“He’s on the art council? I thought his family were all mobsters—which, by the way, concerns me.”
“He’s not a mobster, Angela. He is also the only grandson of Philomena Conti. So he’s representing the family. I think Mrs. Conti had a hip replacement earlier this year, which is why he filled in at the meeting. We just hit it off. He likes art as much as I do. It was my description of a Van Dyck that made him notice me.”
Angela stood up and walked over to her, putting her hands on Melinda’s shoulders and making her face the mirror. She met her sister’s gaze, avoiding looking at herself. She had the big rollers in because it made doing her hair easier, and she hadn’t put on any makeup yet so her freckles were visible.
“Look at yourself,” Angela said.
She glanced up at her own reflection. She always smiled at herself because that helped her start the day in a good mood. Angela smiled back at her as well.
“That man noticed you because of you,” she said. “And it’s about time that you found a man who can make you forget yourself at the opera.”
Melinda sighed. She knew her sister was right. No matter what Slade made her feel, at the end of the day their lives simply didn’t fit together. He was more Cristal champagne and parties at his penthouse and jetting off to Dubai than local artist openings.
“I know. Not the danger part—he’s really not a bad man, Angela. But he’s not for me either. Honestly, I sort of thought after we slept together, he’d move on to someone else,” Melinda said. “But he hasn’t. There’s something between us that makes it hard to keep our hands off each other.”
“Passion, Mels. Finally, you’ve found a guy who brings out the fire in you,” Angela said. “But not a Bartelli. Find someone else.”
Melinda shook her head. She didn’t want the fire... Well, not all the time. Fire was dangerous. She knew that had led to trouble in her parents’ relationship and she’d always striven to keep her life on an even keel.
