Ari's brother, Gideon, had sent his regrets. He was a quiet one and difficult to know. But Daniel had found him to be a hard worker since he'd started at Top-Notch. Ari's friends Rosie and Chi were welcomed too. They were fast becoming extended family, right along with Rosie's dynamo kid, Jorge.
The Mavericks were expanding exponentially. Pretty soon, he thought with a grin, they'd have to find his parents a bigger house in Chicago just to handle the holiday parties.
Francine Ballard accompanied Sebastian and Charlie. Daniel loved Charlie's mom, and he plopped down on the sofa beside her while Charlie was off getting the elderly woman a plate of food.
"How's my favorite lady doing?" He took one of her arthritic hands in his.
"Oh, I'm in good shape for the shape I'm in." She laughed, giving his fingers a squeeze, at least as much as she could. Charlie's mom was a doll, pushing her walker a mile a day, never giving up, always offering a smile, no matter how much pain her arthritis caused.
She looked at Evan with his arm around Paige. "They're glowing, aren't they?"
"They are."
"And Evan's new brother and sister are darling."
"Darling is exactly the right word for it." Daniel smiled at her charming expression.
"They certainly take care of their mother. Such good children." Then she leaned close to whisper, "I wonder how the other wife would have handled it all." The other wife. What a diplomatic way of referring to Whitney. "I met her once, you know, at Charlie's opening. She ran for the hills." She laughed again. "Beautiful people who are as vain as she is are terribly afraid of old bags like me. They see their future in the lines on my face."
"Promise me you'll never again call yourself an old bag," he admonished, raising her hand to his lips. "You're a lovely lady. We're so glad you've become a Maverick right along with Charlie."
"Did I hear my name?" Charlie arrived carrying a plate laden with appetizers--meatballs, spring rolls, chicken skewers.
"Hey, you brought enough for me." He gave her his most devilish smile. "Thank you."
"Get your own," Charlie chided him, handing her mom the plate and a napkin.
"Thank you, dear. Daniel's a growing boy. He can share. I can't eat all this."
He was already reaching for a spring roll when Charlie said, "You are so bad."
"I am. Totally." Daniel's grin widened. "That's why no woman will have me."
A hand moved around Charlie's waist, and Sebastian was right behind her. "Are you stealing Francine's food, Daniel?"
"I offered," the little lady beamed, spearing a meatball for him, which he happily ate. "Charlie brought too much," she whispered as if they couldn't hear.
Charlie smiled down at her mother indulgently, and Sebastian kissed Charlie's cheek.
The Mavericks did know how to pick their women, even if it had taken Evan a couple of tries. The dark shadows Sebastian had once carried were gone now too. Charlie had banished them forever.
Matt suddenly broke up all the conversations with a clink of a fork against his champagne glass. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have an announcement." Taking Ari's hand in his, Matt raised it to his lips, kissing the backs of her fingers. Both of them were almost sparkling they were so happy together, like two shining stars.
"I'm beyond pleased to let you all know that Ari has agreed to be my wife."
A chorus of hurrahs went up. Rosie and Chi hugged each other, then group-hugged Matt and Ari.
"We're planning the wedding for the summertime because we'd like to have it in the puppet theater at Noah's favorite petting zoo in San Jose."
Noah jumped off his seat at the dining room table and threw his arms in the air. "Yay! I love the zoo and the puppet theater. Daddy and Ari take me there all the time. They have talking parrots, and you can pet the animals, and the puppets are funny." He turned to Jorge, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet. "This is awesome."
Everyone laughed at his enthusiastic awesome as they surrounded the happy couple with good wishes. It was so like Ari, Daniel thought, to turn her wedding into an event just as much for Noah as for her and Matt. Matt was a lucky guy, no question about it.
"You, young man," Francine said with a poke at his ribs, "are the holdout. When are you going to find your special sweetheart?"
"You're sitting right here."
Though she blushed, she poked him again. "Answer the question."
"I'm not looking right now." And it was the truth. He enjoyed women, of course, but not all the entanglements that came when they inevitably wanted more than he did.
His parents were the blueprint. Unless he found what they had, he wasn't interested in anything more than a sexy fling.
"That's exactly when it happens. When you're not looking."
"Maybe," he said, only to appease her. "But I'll tell you what I'm really looking for." He swiped a piece of chicken from one of her skewers. "Some time to get back up to Lake Tahoe to work on my cabin."
The exterior walls were up, the roof was on, and with a space heater, he could work on the interior until the snow melted and the weather warmed up. He couldn't wait to have a quiet space. A place where he could go to think. To get away from it all.
He loved his family, but he needed this too. Needed something that was all his own. Away from business meetings, away from women in clinging dresses. Just the sun and the sky and the lake and the mountains.
Francine meant well with all her talk of love. They all did.
But Daniel hadn't yet found anything that matched his parents' love for each other.
And he wasn't sure he ever would.
*
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BREATHLESS IN LOVE (Will's story), RECKLESS IN LOVE (Sebastian's story), and FEARLESS IN LOVE (Matt's story) are out now! WILD IN LOVE (Daniel's story) will be released in early 2017!
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Enjoy an excerpt from BREATHLESS IN LOVE, Will's story...
Will Franconi has a dark past that he's kept a closely guarded secret--very few people have ever heard his real story and he plans to keep it that way. After surviving a hellish childhood, he's now living the dream life where everything he touches turns to gold. But something's missing. He doesn't quite know what, until a simple letter from a teenage boy brings Harper Newman into his life--a woman who just might fill up the empty places inside him...if only he could ever be worthy of her love.
When a man has more money than he could spend in five lifetimes, Harper has to ask herself what Will Franconi could possibly want from a woman like her. She's learned the hard way that rich men always get what they want no matter the cost. If it were only herself she had to worry about, Harper would manage, but she's guardian to her younger brother, who depends on her for everything. After he nearly lost his life in a car crash, she's vowed never to let anyone hurt him ever again.
Still, sometimes Harper can't help but long to change her story from that of the always cautious woman to an adventurous tale of a heroine who's wild and free...especially when Will's kisses and caresses make her utterly breathless. And as he begins to reveal his story to her, she discovers that he's so much more than just another wealthy, privileged man. He's kind and giving, and he fills up all the spaces inside her heart that have been empty for so long. Together, can they rewrite their stories into a happily ever after that neither of them would have believed possible?
Harper was utterly gorgeous, the sun sparkling in her wind-tossed hair, ecstasy glowing on her face. She didn't shout or cheer--but she did hold up her arms. And she smiled.
The most beautiful smile Will had ever seen.
He wasn't even near freeway speed, yet the shriek of the motor, the rumble of the pipes, and the open sky above them made it seem as if the car were flying at over a
hundred miles an hour.
Just as he'd promised, he took her around only once. He didn't want to push her limits.
Not yet, anyway.
While harnessing her in, it would have been so easy to touch her, to let his fingertips graze her gorgeous skin. His heart had hammered with the desire to put his hands on her. Even now, his fingers sizzled with her heat, and her sweet scent filled his head. But he could tell that she wasn't like the women he usually spent his time with--women who knew the score and were in it for what they could grab before he moved on.
Harper Newman was different. And he liked that, liked knowing that wooing her would be unlike anything else he'd ever done in his life. Even if a voice in his head reminded him that he shouldn't be looking for anything more than a quick roll between the sheets with her.
Not because she didn't deserve more, but because she did. So much more than a fundamentally broken man like Will could ever give her.
He slowed after the last turn, heading back to her brother. Back to sanity for both of them.
For now.
She let her arms drop, and her sleeve brushed his arm as she said, "That was fast."
She was trying for a noncommittal tone, but he could hear the breathlessness she was trying to hide. She might normally be good at hiding her feelings, but Will was too interested in her to miss one single thing. Especially the thrill of the speed still coursing through her veins.
"Too fast? Or just right?"
Her eyes met his and sparks jumped between them again. Sparks that had been there from the very first moment they'd looked at each other.
Finally, she admitted, "It was good," her words a little huskier than he imagined she wanted them to be.
Ahead of them, Jeremy was hopping, skipping toward the car. He looked so happy. Which, Will was glad to see, made Harper very happy, too.
They rolled to a stop and he said, "Let me give you a hand."
But she didn't wait for his chivalry, simply unbuckled before he could help her and said, "I'm fine, thanks," then turned to grab the roll bar and hoist herself up.
Jeremy ran over to them. "Wasn't it cool, Harper?"
"I enjoyed it."
Her answer was far too tight-laced, but Will knew that for a few moments out there, she'd been one with the car and the rush of speed. Just as he had.
"But once was enough," she added, smoothing her jacket, then her skirt, and finally her hair.
"Once is never enough," he said softly.
Despite how hard she was working to rein herself in, he heard her breath catch on the slightly sensual undertone to his words. Will knew that if her brother hadn't been standing right there, he would have done something crazy, like grab her and kiss her.
No, he wasn't good enough for her. But that knowledge didn't keep him from wanting her. If anything, he was even more powerfully drawn to the good in her, to the sweetness and warmth she shared with her brother.
"I don't have to be anywhere special for another couple of hours. I can show you the Aston Martin at my place."
In truth, Will had a dozen important things to take care of today, but Jeremy was like a bright, mystical sphere that beckoned him closer, a breath of something clean that made him feel young instead of jaded.
And then there was Harper.
Beautiful, unique Harper with all that tightly leashed passion inside of her just waiting to be set free...
...Excerpt from BREATHLESS IN LOVE by Bella Andre & Jennifer Skully (c)2016
Buy BREATHLESS IN LOVE
BELLA ANDRE BOOKLIST
The Sullivans
The Look Of Love
From This Moment On
Can't Help Falling In Love
I Only Have Eyes For You
If You Were Mine
Let Me Be The One
Come A Little Bit Closer
Always On My Mind
Kissing Under The Mistletoe
One Perfect Night
The Way You Look Tonight
It Must Be Your Love
Just To Be With You
I Love How You Love Me
All I Ever Need Is You
Every Beat Of My Heart
Now That I've Found You
Since I Fell For You
Sweeter Than Ever
The Best Is Yet To Come
Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You
The Maverick Billionaires
Breathless in Love
Reckless in Love
Fearless in Love
Irresistible in Love
Wild in Love
The Morrisons
Kiss Me Like This
Tempt Me Like This
Love Me Like This
Game For Love series
Game For Love
Take Me series
Love Me
Take Me
Stand-alone Novels
Candy Store
Ecstasy
Red Hot Reunion
Tempt Me, Taste Me, Touch Me
Hotshot Firefighter series
Wild Heat
Hot As Sin
Never Too Hot
Bad Boys of Football series
Game For Anything
Game For Seduction
BELLA ANDRE writing as LUCY KEVIN
Lucy Kevin is the "sweet" pen name of Bella Andre. Lucy Kevin books are fun, flirty and romantic--without the steamy scenes.
Married in Malibu Series
The Beach Wedding
The Summer Wedding
The Barefoot Wedding
The Walker Island Series
Be My Love
No Other Love
When It's Love
All For Love
Forever In Love
The Four Weddings and a Fiasco Series
The Wedding Gift
The Wedding Dance
The Wedding Song
The Wedding Dress
The Wedding Kiss
Stand-alone Lucy Kevin novels
Falling Fast
Sparks Fly
Seattle Girl
JENNIFER SKULLY BOOKLIST
Cottonmouth
She's Gotta Be Mine
Fool's Gold
Can't Forget You
Stand Alone Novels
Baby, I'll Find You
Twisted by Love
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Sheer Dynamite
It Must Be Magic
Be My Other Valentine
JENNIFER SKULLY writing as JASMINE HAYNES
Max Starr Series
Dead to the Max
Evil to the Max
Desperate to the Max
Power to the Max
Vengeance to the Max
The Jackson Brothers
Somebody's Lover
Somebody's Ex
Somebody's Wife
Jackson Brothers: 3-Book Bundle
Open Invitation
Invitation to Seduction
Invitation to Pleasure
Invitation to Passion
Open Invitation: 3-Book Bundle
West Coast Series
Revenge
Submitting to the Boss
The Boss's Daughter
The Other Man
Pleasing Mr. Sutton
Prescott Twins
Double the Pleasure
Skin Deep
Let's Misbehave
The Naughty Corner
Teach Me a Lesson
DeKnight Trilogy
Past Midnight
What Happens After Dark
The Principal's Office
Courtesans Tales
Yours for the Night
Hers for the Evening
Mine Until Morning
Fortune Hunter Trilogy
The Fortune Hunter
Show and Tell
Fair Game
Anthologies
Unlaced
Laced With Desire
Anthology: Beauty or the Bitch & Free Fall
Stand Alone Stories
Take Your Pleasure
Take Your Pick
More Than a Night
Not in the Game
Wives & Neighbors: The Complete Story
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Having sold more than 6 million books, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Bella Andre's novels have been #1 bestsellers around the world. Known for "sensual, empowered stories enveloped in heady romance" (Publishers Weekly), her books have been Cosmopolitan magazine "Red Hot Reads" twice and have been translated into ten languages. Winner of the Award of Excellence, The Washington Post has called her "One of the top digital writers in America" and she has been featured by Entertainment Weekly, NPR, USA Today, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and, most recently, in Time magazine. She has given keynote speeches at publishing conferences from Copenhagen to Berlin to San Francisco, including a standing-room-only keynote at Book Expo America, on her publishing success.
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BellaAndre.com/Newsletter
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www.BellaAndre.com
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twitter.com/bellaandre
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facebook.com/bellaandrefans
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Skully is a lover of contemporary romance, bringing you poignant tales peopled with hilarious characters that will make you laugh and make you cry. Writing as Jasmine Haynes, she's authored over 35 classy, sensual romance tales about real issues like growing older, facing divorce, starting over. Her books have passion and heart and humor and happy endings, even if they aren't always traditional. She also writes gritty, paranormal mysteries in the Max Starr series. Having penned stories since the moment she learned to write, she now lives in the Redwoods of Northern California with her husband and their adorable nuisance of a cat who totally runs the household.
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https://bit.ly/SkullyNews
Jennifer's Website:
www.jenniferskully.com
Blog:
www.jasminehaynes.blogspot.com
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Twitter:
twitter.com/jasminehaynes1
Bella Andre, Irresistible in Love
(Series: The Maverick Billionaires # 4)
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