by Cara Marsi
“I love you, Samantha Greco.”
Joy mingled with relief, shaking her to her core. “You do?”
He nodded. “I always have. You couldn’t guess that?”
“I was afraid to hope.”
He opened his arms and she moved into them, feeling like she’d finally come home as he took her lips in a tender kiss, a kiss filled with love and promise. She kissed him back, giving him her love, her heart, and her soul.
After long minutes, they pulled apart, but Aiden kept her loosely in the circle of his arms. The love and wonder shining from his eyes sent ecstasy through her and filled the lonely places in her heart.
“I have something to tell you,” he said.
“Yes?”
“When you knocked I was on the phone with my brother Joe, asking if I could borrow his SUV. I wasn’t sure my truck could make it all the way to Richmond.”
She wound her arms around his neck. “You were coming to see me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He smiled and brushed a light kiss on her lips. “I’ve done my share of thinking today, too. I couldn’t let you walk out of my life again. I figured you might tell me to pound sand and leave you alone, that you didn’t love me, but I had to make my case, to tell you I love you, and that I’ll go anywhere you want to live.”
“You’d move from here for me? Give up your business?”
“I’ll go anywhere you want, Sam—London, Richmond, the other side of the world. As long as we’re together I don’t care where we live.”
“You said you wouldn’t move for any woman again.”
“You’re not any woman. I’ll do whatever it takes to have you by my side. I want and need you in my life.”
“You don’t have to move anywhere, Aiden. I’m here to stay.”
He studied her, frowning. “You’re sure? I want you to be happy.”
She beamed up at him. “More sure than I’ve ever been about anything. As long as I’m with you, I’m happy.”
“Then marry me, Sam. Soon.”
EPILOGUE
THE AUGUST SUNLIGHT filtered through the stained-glass windows, bathing the pews and the guests who crowded into the tiny church in a rosy glow. Sam held tightly to her bridal bouquet, trying for calmness. She inhaled the fresh air, laced with the salt scent of the ocean, wafting through the open doors as she waited in the vestibule for the music to signal the beginning of the service.
“Let me fix your veil,” her mother said beside her. Lisa reached over and adjusted Sam’s veil for what seemed like the hundredth time. “Your friends at Wedding Dreams Bridal over in Loving did a wonderful job, didn’t they?”
Sam caught her mother’s gaze. “They did, and everything’s fine, Mom. You’ve been fussing over me all morning.”
Lisa smiled. “I want you to look perfect.” She stepped back and scanned Sam. Tears sprang into Lisa’s dark brown eyes. “You’re so beautiful, Samantha, and I’m so proud of you.” She gripped Sam’s hand.
Sam blinked back her own tears. “You look beautiful too, Mom.” Lisa, her black chin-length hair cut in a stylish bob, and dressed in a form-fitting sea green dress that showed off her lush curves, could have passed for one of Sam’s bridesmaids and not her mother. Sam was glad she had asked Lisa to both give her away and act as her maid of honor.
Sam’s bridesmaids, two friends from high school, who had introduced her to Tami and Jennifer at Wedding Dreams Bridal, stood in front of them, waiting for their cue to walk down the aisle.
Sam and Lisa had made their peace with each other months before. One night when they met for drinks at Rourke’s after Sam had passed the Delaware bar, they’d had the talk they should have had long ago. Lisa had again apologized for her selfishness in using Kurt to help her deal with the death of Samantha’s father. She said that incident had taught her a lesson. She’d matured, turned her life around, and that had allowed her to open her heart to Sean.
Lisa and Samantha might never have the mother-daughter bond some women enjoyed, but Sam understood her mother better and had come to terms with what had happened between them. A part of her might never completely forgive Lisa, but she’d made peace with her. Better still, Sam had made peace with herself.
Sam had grown too, had opened her heart to Aiden, the man she’d always loved, but, too afraid of repeating her mother’s mistakes, she’d ignored what was in her heart.
The past was over and done. It was time for a new beginning.
A new beginning with Aiden.
The lilting strands of Here Comes the Bride began to play. The bridesmaids walked slowly down the aisle, timing their strides to the music. Sam and Lisa waited, then Sam hooked her hand through Lisa’s arm, and mother and daughter walked together toward Aiden and Sean, his best man.
When they reached the men, Lisa gave Aiden a kiss on the cheek and handed Sam over to him before moving to the side. With a broad, loving smile, Aiden took Sam’s hand and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
She squeezed his hand. “And you are the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Happiness bubbled up in Samantha. From this day forward she and Aiden would forge a future. Despite the setbacks they might face, she knew that the passion, desire, and love between them would weather any storm.
The priest cleared his throat, signaling the ceremony was about to begin. Smiling, Sam and Aiden turned to face the priest and their new life together.
**I hope you enjoyed Storm of Desire. On the following pages are excerpts from Cara Marsi’s Loving Or Nothing and California Girl by Sandra Edwards.**
LOVING OR NOTHING
by
Cara Marsi
CHAPTER ONE
“I NEED A MIRACLE.” Tami Morrelle dropped the phone receiver back on its cradle with a loud clunk and rubbed her aching temples. I will not cry. I will not cry.
“Trouble?” Jennifer, her assistant at Wedding Dreams Bridal, looked up from a small table tucked in a corner of their crowded office. An expert in calligraphy, Jennifer sat addressing wedding invitations for one of their clients.
“That was Nancy Rizzo,” Tami said. “She cancelled her wedding plans. Money issues. She says she’ll have a very small wedding and wear a dress off the rack from one of the department stores.” Tami glanced at the large calendar posted on the wall. This was April. Although they had weddings scheduled almost every week for the next year, their bookings were down ten percent from last year.
“Not another cancellation.” Jennifer dropped her pen and pushed back from the table. “What’ll we do with all those dresses?”
“Hope for a fairy godmother to wave her magic wand and fill this place with brides all wanting the gowns we’ve already paid for,” Tami muttered. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be selfish, but that’s the second cancellation in two months. Why do the brides always wait until after we’ve ordered the gowns to cancel?” When a wedding was cancelled, the bridal shop was obligated to pay the manufacturer for the gowns already ordered.
Jennifer swallowed. “Are you going to close?”
“Not if I can help it. Things will get better. They have to.” Tami grimaced. “We’re still fighting our way back to the surface after the hurricane last year.”
Jennifer shot her a wry smile. “We sure didn’t need that kind of gift from Mother Nature.”
Although insurance had covered most of the flood damage to the basement and to the inventory, Tami had taken out a loan and maxed out her credit cards to pay for expenses not covered by insurance. She had four weeks to come up with the next loan payment.
She looked at her aunt’s picture on the desk. Sorry, Aunt Pauline, I’ve tried, I really have.
The bell over the shop door tinkled. Tami closed her eyes and sent out a silent prayer. Please let that be a new client. She stood up and put on her best professional face. Then, smoothing her slacks over her hi
ps, she went into the shop—and lost her smile.
Standing there, a look of boredom on her face, was Olivia Shea, real estate agent and local barracuda. The blonde was dressed as usual in the latest style and wearing a spectacular mohair coat. Tami resisted the urge to growl at the woman who since high school had rubbed her the wrong way. Homecoming queen turned real estate predator, Olivia hadn’t changed a bit since school.
Tami shifted her attention to the tall man with Olivia. She knew him from somewhere. But where? The sunlight coming through the bay windows brought out reddish highlights in his dark brown hair. But it was his eyes, deep green and shuttered, that captured Tami and held her. There was something familiar about—.
“Daniel? Daniel Ramsey?”
“Danny insisted on coming here,” Olivia said, with a sniff of disdain.
“I hope we haven’t come at a bad time,” he offered quietly. His voice, deep and rich and dripping with masculine sensuality, slid over Tami like chocolate warmed by the sun as his eyes lit with an appreciative gleam.
“Tamsen, you’re even more beautiful than I remember,” he said.
A disconcerting wave of heat rumbled through her lower abdomen. Oh. My. God. She blinked, taking a startled moment to absorb both the sudden heat and his completely unexpected praise. Not to mention the smile that was about ten times sexier than she remembered. Daniel Ramsey. In her shop. With Olivia. The cheerleader and the bad boy.
“It’s…it’s Tami now. No one calls me Tamsen anymore.” She mentally pulled herself together. “The last I heard of you, you’d joined the Army right after graduating from Loving High.”
His mouth tightened. “That was seventeen years ago. A lifetime.”
Tami couldn’t help but stare. His shoulders had broadened and he’d gotten taller and filled out. Filled out very nicely. His beautifully tailored charcoal gray suit and snowy white shirt were out of place here at the Jersey shore. Too formal. But on him it looked perfect. He looked perfect. His thick hair was slicked back in a cut right out of GQ. So different from the shoulder-length hair he’d sported in high school. A light stubble of dark beard covered his firm jaw, giving him a roguish look that made her pulse speed up.
She looked from the too-appealing Daniel to the supremely bored Olivia. “What…what can I do for you…two?” God truly had a sense of humor if He’d sent this pair to her as miracle clients.
“Danny is my client. He has a business proposition for you,” Olivia said.
So they weren’t a couple. Tami exhaled, tamping down the strange and unwelcome relief that washed over her.
“A business proposition?” She looked up at Daniel. He towered over her by a foot. The intensity in his green eyes made her shift uncomfortably.
He glanced around. “This house has a lot of character. How old is it?”
The fine hairs on Tami’s arms rose in warning. “It’s over 100 years old. It’s been in my family for three generations. My aunt converted the bottom floors for her business.”
His gaze touched on the missing pieces of crown molding, the chipped paint and the fading, worn woodwork. “So you live upstairs?”
“On the third floor. Why are you asking?”
He moved closer. “I’ve bought the properties on either side. I want to discuss buying yours.”
Tami clutched the back of the nearest chair. “That’s you? We heard rumors a developer wants to put up a small hotel and spa. I didn’t believe them.”
“It’s true. I’m planning an upscale boutique hotel, spa, and catering facilities for romantic getaways.” He smiled. “With a location on the beach and a name like Loving, this town is perfect.”
“And the township approved this?”
“They will,” Olivia interjected. “It’ll bring in more tax revenues and jobs to the area.”
Despite the rumors, the township supervisors had been quiet—too quiet. Now Daniel Ramsey wanted her house, the house that had been Tami’s anchor ever since her parents had been killed. She was five years old again, all alone in the world. Except for Aunt Pauline. Except for this house.
She lifted her chin. “My home is not for sale.”
His confident smile told her he was a man who knew how to get what he wanted. “I know we’ve barged in on you today without warning and I apologize. Take some time to think about it and we’ll talk later. I’ll pay you fair market value just as I did your neighbors. The location of all three properties, at the end of the beach here, is perfect for what I’ve planned.”
Tami bristled. “But it doesn’t suit my plans. Wedding Dreams Bridal has been at this location for thirty years.”
“Your neighbors had no problem selling.”
“My neighbors only live here part of the year.”
Olivia stepped forward and put her crimson-tipped claws on Daniel’s arm. Somehow that irritated Tami even further.
“We need to go, Danny. We have that meeting.”
He nodded at Tami. “I’m willing to negotiate the price.”
“Money has nothing to do with it,” she snapped.
His lips tilted into the sardonic grin she remembered from school, only now it had a much harder edge to it. “We’ll see about that.”
He turned and followed Olivia from the shop. After they left, the bell over the door tinkled for several long seconds, as if warning Tami of an oncoming storm.
“Who was that?” Jennifer asked, coming up behind her. “New clients?”
Tami thought of Daniel’s intense green eyes and shivered. “No,” she said. “Trouble.”
**I hope you enjoyed this preview of Loving Or Nothing. If you’d like to read the book in its entirety, check Cara’s website for purchase info: CaraMarsi.com. Please turn the page for an excerpt of California Girl by Sandra Edwards.**
CALIFORNIA GIRL
by
Sandra Edwards
CHAPTER 1
THE CHATTER OF RAINDROPS coaxed Veronica Stanford awake. Soft, luxurious, indulgent bedding pleased her naked body and compelled her to keep sleeping.
Naked! What the—?
Veronica bolted upright in the bed. A French linen sheet settled around her waist. Too dazed to notice her exposed breasts, she shook her head trying to expel the sleepy fog.
Languor fading, her consciousness unfolded into a luxury hotel suite, at least she thought it was a hotel. The scent of Issey Miyake—she’d know that smell anywhere—filled the air. Veronica marveled at the upscale furnishings, they were spiffier than anything she’d ever seen, and Veronica had seen a lot.
The morning sunlight blazed through a wall of windows and pierced through pale-yellow curtains, searing her sight. A figure emerged, silhouetted by the luminosity. She squinted, trying to identify—what was it?
A man?
Standing in the midst of the sheer drapery, with his back to her, was the most exquisitely chiseled, half-naked man she’d ever seen. His bronze skin showed no signs of tanning. Nope, his complexion was natural.
Veronica drank in the sight of him, from his bare feet up to a pair of black boxers—probably silk—the only thing he wore. Oh, my. His trim waist bloomed into broad shoulders and splendid arms. All of it, the entire package, rippled with faultless muscles. Waves of jet-black curls tumbled down nearly to his shoulders, the perfect touch to a striking display.
Her head swooned and her stomach swirled. Oh, lord. She cradled her face in her hand. What had she gotten herself into? A sweet aftertaste lingered on her taste buds. Peach Schnapps? The tang churned her fragile stomach. She remembered something about a bartender enticing her with upside-down shots. That probably had something to do with how she ended up here.
Veronica peeked at the stranger through louvered fingers. He was still gazing out the window. She cleared her throat.
He looked over his shoulder; his eyes traveled from her face to her breasts and his lips curled into a mischievous grin.
Under his blazing glare, her bareness became painfully obvious. Panic flushed hot against he
r cheeks. She grabbed the silken sheet and tugged at it, covering herself.
“It’s a little late for shyness, don’t you think?” An accent—Greek, maybe—accompanied his smooth appealing voice. He moved toward her with such purpose and confidence that it made her nervous. Not the kind of nervous that scared her, but the kind that steamrolled a girl when she was being seduced by a man she was powerless to stop.
Her companion claimed a place on the king-size bed and left a gap between them. The empty space didn’t go unnoticed. It felt huge and small all at the same time. A lump, a big fat lump of exaggerated panic crowded her chest. She sucked in a gulp of optimism and pushed the dread down into the depths of her gut.
Curiosity nagged at her until she gave in and settled her sights back on the masterpiece. A Greek masterpiece. Yep, he must be Greek.
Cobalt eyes, as blue as deep sapphires, assaulted her. Giddiness rained over her like a cool, summer shower and settled low in her belly with a tug of lust. She wanted to laugh, but her nerves caught it and shoved the urge back down her throat.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Niko. My name is Niko.” He inched closer and reached for her hand, the one holding the sheet over her breasts, and drew it to his lips.
She scrambled to grab the sheet with her free hand to cover herself. Soft, sensual lips grazed the top of her hand. The thrill of his touch swelled through her like a pebble rippling a pond. It was distracting. She hated that, but she liked the sensations tingling through her.
Her breathing quickened. It’s a shame she couldn’t remember the particulars from last night. Not that she objected to sexing it up with him again. She was sure she had last night, even though the details were hazy. That truly was a shame, but she needed to stay focused. Getting wrapped up in an extended sexual diversion, as tempting as that may be, wasn’t conducive to her goal—staying one step ahead of the press.
Retrieving her hand, she let concern furrow her brow, hoping it would do its job and overshadow the yearning building inside her. “Where are we?”
