Excerpt:
She
touched her glass to his and thought he was certainly that and more. She’d had
no expectations for their date, but here she was, having a nice time. So far
Adam was funny and charming. There had even been hints of his being genuinely
nice. She knew better than to get her hopes up, but the evening was turning out
better than she’d anticipated.
“Tell
me about the family that doesn’t let you get away with anything,” she said.
“I’m
one of five kids and I could practically walk to four of their houses from
here. Same with my parents.” He shrugged. “My youngest brother is back east,
but then he’s always felt he had something to prove.”
She
stared at him. “You’re one of five?”
“I
know. I told my dad they figured out what causes pregnancy, but he said he and Mom
always wanted a big family. I have to say it was a fun way to grow up.”
“And loud,” she murmured.
“Yeah,
there was noise.”
“How
many boys and girls?”
“Three
boys, two girls, and we alternate. I’m in the middle. My older brother was
never interested in the family business. He’s a graphic designer. Very
talented. My older sister always wanted to be a veterinarian, so by the time I
was six or seven, Dad was starting to get nervous that no one was going to go
into the business. Fortunately my idea of a good time was building things. I
got my first job at the company when I was fourteen.”
He
took a piece of cheese. “I know. Not very exciting.”
“Exciting
is highly overrated,” she murmured. All this and stable, too. So what was the
flaw? Emotional unavailability? A secret life as a serial killer? There had to
be something, because to be honest, her luck simply wasn’t that good.
“Where
did you grow up?” he asked.
“Riverside.
I’m an only child, so I can’t relate to your noise. My house was always quiet.”
“Were
you the smartest girl in the class?”
“Sometimes.
I liked math, which made me unacceptable to most groups. But I wasn’t brilliant
enough to major in it. Finance seemed like an interesting way to spend my
days.”
His
brown eyes crinkled with amusement. “If I had nickel for every time I looked
forward to spending time working on the company’s financial records…”
“You
wouldn’t have a nickel?”
“Something
like that.”
She
smiled. “Your profile said you’re divorced?”
He
nodded. “Nearly a year now. We were separated before that.” He shrugged. “It
wasn’t anything dramatic. We were married young and over the past few years
realized we didn’t like spending time with each other.”
There
was something about the way he spoke that had her leaning forward. As if there
was more to the story.
“That’s
no fun,” she said quietly.
“Tell
me about it.” He looked at her, then swore softly. “Hell. Okay, she cheated. I
don’t like to say that because it makes me look like an idiot. I didn’t know.
She came to me one day and said she’d been having an affair and that she’d
fallen in love with the guy. She didn’t want to marry him or anything, but
she’d realized that if she could be in love with someone else, she wasn’t in
love with me anymore.”
He
moved his glass back and forth on the table. Tension pulled at his mouth. “I
was shocked and hurt and didn’t know what to do. I grabbed some stuff and moved
out that night. About a month later, when my pride and ego weren’t so much in
the way, I realized we’d been growing apart for a long time.”
“That
must have been hard,” she said, thinking that if he was telling the truth, then
she was liking him more by the second.
“It
was. We have two kids. Charlotte is nearly nine and Oliver is six. We share
them. One week on, one week off. Tabitha and I live about two blocks away from
each other. Slightly awkward for us, but easy for the kids.” Humor returned to
his eyes. “Of course, my parents and three of my siblings live in the
neighborhood, too, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s way more
awkward for her than for me.”
“As
long as it works,” Shannon told him.
“And
you?” he prompted.
Yes,
the inevitable questions. “No kids, no ex-husband. I was engaged twice, but
never quite made it down the aisle.”
“Who
made the decision?”
“One
time him, one time me.”
She
also had a long-term on again, off again relationship with a music producer,
who’d been very bad for her, but there was no reason to mention him. At least
not on the first date.
“What
do you do for fun?” Adam asked.
“I
love to travel. Take two or three weeks and go somewhere I’ve never been.”
“Like?”
She
smiled. “I’ve been on every continent except Antarctica. I was thinking of
taking one of those ships there, but after one got stuck a couple of years ago
and made headlines, I changed my mind.”
“What’s
your next trip?”
She
laughed. “You’re going to be shocked.”
“I
doubt that.”
“Okay.
Machu Picchu.”
His
eyes widened slightly. “Remind me to listen to you next time. That’s Peru,
right?”
“Yes.
I’m going with a girlfriend and it’s going to be great. We’ll be hiking the
Inca Trail. The ruins are at seven thousand feet above sea level so I’m a
little worried about my athletic ability. I’m—”
A
familiar ringtone drifted from her purse. She reached for her bag.
“Sorry,”
she said as she pulled her phone out of its pocket and glanced at the screen.
“It’s work. I need to take this.”
She
was already standing and heading out of the restaurant. When she stepped onto
the sidewalk, she pushed talk.
“This
is Shannon.”
“Len
Howard in the Seoul office. Sorry to bother you but we have a problem with the
South Korean finance minister. He’s insisting on speaking with you.”
Shannon
glanced back at the bar and saw Adam glancing her way. Adam, who appeared to be
pretty darned close to perfect.
“Based
on my other conversations with him, I’m guessing he wants me to phone him in
the next few minutes.”
“If
possible.”
Because
he was a man of power and she needed his help with some banking regulations.
Nolan, her boss, wanted their Asian headquarters in Seoul, which meant Shannon
had to make nice with the finance minister.
“Please
tell him I’ll call him back in fifteen minutes,” she said. “From my office.”
“Will
do.”
Text Copyright © 2015 by
Susan Macias Redmond
Permission to reproduce text granted by
Harlequin Books S.A.
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New York Times bestselling
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with books described as “immensely entertaining, intensely emotional” (RT Book
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Weekly). One major retailer recently described her as “the queen of romantic
fiction.” While she deeply appreciates the accolades of critics and
booksellers, Mallery is even more honored by the enthusiasm of her readers and
the word-of-mouth that catapults her toward the top of the bestsellers lists
time and again.
Mallery lives in not-so-sunny
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