San Francisco Brides, Book One
The last place Vincente DeGrazia wants to be on Valentine’s Day is at a charity bachelor auction. But he participates to honor the memory of his mother, who died of heart disease when he was a teen. His grandpop, who took Vincente in after his parents’ deaths, pushes him onto the stage with the assurance that Vincente’s dream woman is out there. And when Vincente spots a woman in white—who wins the bid for him—he wonders if Grandpop is right.
Gina D’Angelo comes home to San Francisco with one plan—to save her family’s ailing business by uncovering the truth about the DeGrazias. But her plan goes up in flames when her attraction to Vincente burns out of control. After a night together, Gina and Vincente struggle to discover the truth about each other, and to solve the decades-long conflict between their families. As Vincente realizes he needs Gina in his life, Gina sees that Vincente isn’t the man she thought he was—and they’re ready to fight for their always, together.
125 pages
Heat level: sensual, some graphic language and scenes
San Francisco Brides series:
Ready for You
Book 1: Always
Book 2: Believe
Book 2.5: Mistletoe Magic
Book 3: Dare (coming 2015)
Excerpt:
She
hugged her arms. Seeing her family again only made her more sure of
her plan for saving D’Angelo’s Market. She’d grown up there, at
Grandpa Frank’s store, helping Grandma Celeste with the baking,
serving customers with her father, stocking the shelves and going
over the books with her mom. The market was her home, her
grandfather’s legacy. Baking had been her tenuous connection to
home for the years she’d been gone. Now she wanted more.
“Cold?”
a man’s deep, intense voice said.
Before
she could turn, a soft but weighty coat draped around her shoulders.
She warmed but her back tensed. What was she doing? Some stranger was
trying to pick up on her—again. This one was doing the gentleman
bit. She turned and faced Vincente DeGrazia.
Her
body tingled, not from the cold, but from his intensity. His steady
gaze took her in, his short black hair and clean-shaven, square-jawed
face, along with the tux, made him seem even more the gentleman. His
body, almost stocky, but lean, an athlete’s physique, increased the
sizzle crackling through her. No.
She stepped back, pressed into the railing. Every time she felt this
way, it ended in disaster. Because, every time, she’d fallen for
cheaters, liars, womanizers.
He
ran his finger under his collar. Damn, he reminded her of her
favorite actor crush, the guy who’d played Lorenzo Alcazar on
General
Hospital,
all those years ago, when she used to watch with her Grandma Valeria.
She turned again and lifted her mask to dab at her eye. She wouldn’t
cry, no matter how much she missed Grandma, no matter how far her
life had strayed from where she’d dreamed.
Vincente
touched her shoulder. She almost gasped from the sensation—a lit
fuse speeding its way to exploding.
“You
okay?” He sounded genuine, concerned.
She
gripped the railing. No way was she going to fall for his deception.
She knew about men like him and his corrupt, immoral family. He was a
mobster, a lowlife gangster. Talk about life imitating art—that’s
just the kind of guy fictional Lorenzo Alcazar was. But he’d also
been smoking hot, intense, ready to do anything, risk anything, for
the people he loved.
She
slid the mask back on. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Like hell she was. She
was practically drooling over Vincente. So she hadn’t had sex in
almost a year. “I thought the dates didn’t start until later.”
“It
was hot in there.”
She
turned in time to see him shrug. He shoved his hands in his pockets.
Was he uncomfortable? Good, better to have him off-balance.
“I
didn’t realize this was a masked ball,” he said in an offhand
tone, but the way his lips curved slightly, she figured he was trying
to tease her.
“I’m
a woman of mystery,” she said.
He
laughed. She hugged her arms to herself to keep from trembling at his
deep, rich laugh. Making him laugh—and enjoying the sight and
sound—was not part of her plan.
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