“What are you doing?”
“What?”
“You look like you’re waiting for someone.”
“No,” Rena said with a shake of her head. “Just thinking.”
Holy shit, what was that?
End of Excerpt from Home To Me, Book 2 of the Andrades
(Get the full book by clicking HERE)
Read on for an Excerpt from Maid for the Billionaire, Book 1 of the Legacy Collection
Excerpt from Maid for the Billionaire
Book 1 of the Legacy Collection
Available at all major eBook retailers for FREE!
Dominic Corisi knew instantly that Abigail Dartley was just the distraction he was looking for, especially since having her took a bit more persuading than he was used to. So when business forces him to fly to China, he decides to take her with him, but on his terms. No promises. No complications. Just sex.
Abby has always been the responsible one. She doesn’t believe in taking risks; especially when it comes to men – until she meets Dominic. He’s both infuriating and intoxicating, a heady combination. Their trip to China revives a long forgotten side of Abby, but also reveals a threat to bring down Dominic’s company.
With no time to explain her actions, Abby must either influence the outcome of his latest venture and save his company or accept her role as his mistress and leave his fate to chance. Does she love him enough to risk losing him for good?
Chapter One
By dying now, his father had won again. That old bastard.
Dominic Corisi slammed the door of his black Bugatti Veyron and stepped onto the sun baked Boston sidewalk without giving the million-dollar vehicle a backward glance. The joy of owning it was dead along with his desire to answer the incessant ring of the cell phone he’d ignored since yesterday. Rather than turning it off, he’d muffled the noise by burying the device deep within a coat pocket, maintaining the connection to his life like a distant beacon.
Despite the oppressive heat, he paused at the bottom stair of his old brownstone. There was nothing spectacular about it, outside of its location near the upbeat Newbury Street. If he remembered correctly, its rooms were small and the main staircase had a creak that he never did get around to fixing. It was nothing like the sprawling mansions he now owned in various countries around the world.
But it was the closest thing he had to a home.
His phone rang with a tone he couldn’t ignore. Jake. His second in command would simply call again, killing whatever chance Dominic had of finding a moment of peace inside those brick walls. “Corisi,” he barked into the phone.
“Dominic, glad I caught you,” Jake Walton said smoothly, as if he hadn’t unsuccessfully rung twenty times in the last two days. That was Jake, calm and professional, even in the storm of hostile takeovers. Nothing fazed the man.
Normally, Dominic appreciated his even temper, but today it grated on him. Maybe the forty or so hours without sleep were beginning to catch up with him. He fought an impulse to toss his phone over the metal railing. The world wasn’t the orderly, rational place Jake liked to organize it into. It was messy. It was ugly. And, most recently, it lacked justice.
“How is Boston?”
The inane question almost sent Dominic over the edge. “How do you think?”
It was probably too much to hope that Jake’s uncharacteristic silence signaled an end to a conversation Dominic wished he had avoided.
“We need to discuss the China contract. The Minister of Commerce is expecting to meet with you tomorrow to cement the details. This is your dream, Dominic. By next week, Corisi Enterprises will be a major global player. What do you want me to tell the minister?”
“I don’t know,” Dominic said wearily.
Jake made a sound somewhere between a choke and a cough, then was speechless—a revealing response for a man who handled irate international diplomats without missing a step. He was the fixer and navigated the unexpected with ease. Until now.
Poor Jake. Nothing in their shared history had prepared either of them for Dominic’s sudden desire to withdraw from the world. The creators of financial empires didn’t take sudden vacations and they most certainly didn’t hide, especially not after having laid the groundwork for the single greatest business venture of the century. Bill Gates himself had called last week to discuss the ramifications of the negotiations.
“Jake, I need to drop off the radar for about a week. Why don’t you take over the China contract?”
“Okay . . .” Jake said awkwardly. In another situation, Jake’s loss of composure would have been amusing.
“Can you handle it or not?” Dominic challenged. He could barely think past the throbbing of his headache.
Maybe coming to Boston was a mistake. It had been here, at seventeen, that he’d walked away from his inheritance and waited tables to fund the search for his mother. Here, in this very brownstone, that he’d cultivated a hatred for a father who had denied both involvement and interest in the disappearance of his wife.
Jake’s voice slammed Dominic back into the present. “No problem. I’ve followed the progress you’ve made with the Chinese Investment Promotion Agency. They’re eager. I’ll clear my schedule and cover yours. Duhamel will forward all of your calls to me until further notice.”
“Good.”
“Dom . . .” Jake hesitated. “It’s normal to need time to grieve. You just lost your father.”
A harsh laugh escaped Dominic. “Trust me, I’m not grieving his loss.” He leaned a hip on the metal railing and looked up at the building he had instinctively returned to, searching for the man he’d once been and hoping to find something there that would shake off the immobilizing apathy he felt for all he had done since—high expectations for brick and antique wallpaper.
Jake said, “That’s what worries me. No matter what your plans were or what he once did to you, he’s gone now. You’ve got to let it go.”
Jake was asking the impossible. Of course the past mattered. Sometimes it was the only thing that did. “Just do your job, Jake. If you can’t handle it, tell me and I’ll promote Priestly to help you.”