Author Claudia Connor…
decide it’s not luck, it’s you?
else, still ringing in her ears, Clare Franklin flies off alone to her
would-be honeymoon. Forced to accept not everyone gets that happily ever after
she’s always dreamed of, she’s done with men. Until she gets tangled up, quite
literally, with one sexy veterinarian.
surgical expertise and get back to his two year old twin daughters. But, the
connection he feels with Clare highlights just how alone he really is and makes
him wonder if he can be more than doctor and daddy.
Long talks and moonlit walks under the rustle of palms has
Clare thinking maybe she gave up on love too soon. Until one phone call from
home changes everything.
grazed her lower back as they wove their way through the tables to the exit.
They crossed over the water garden in silence, slowing as they reached a fork
in the path.
asked. “I’ll walk you back.”
you really don’t have to. It’s a five-star resort, not downtown Los Angeles.”
walking. “True. But you know, I took you to dinner and all.”
at him. “It’s also an all-inclusive resort. Maybe I took you.”
did.”
slightly lopsided grin that hit her right in the chest. She conceded to the
walk, and together, they followed the brick path. The resort was dark, but
lights along the sidewalk lit the path and shined up the skinny gray trunks of
the swaying palms. It was quiet, and when they didn’t pass even one other
person, she was glad he was walking her back.
came to the breezeway leading to her building and pointed up the steps to the
second floor. “I’m up there, so…”
the steps. “I’ll walk you to the door. I’m funny like that.”
have said no, insisted that she could make it to her door on her own. Because
of course she could. But she didn’t insist, just followed enormously glad she’d
removed the HONEYMOON banner from her door.
room, and she turned to face him. Just the two of them now, up here, alone at
her door. She felt a slight buzzing in her head that had nothing to do with
alcohol.
here and now.”
at the reminder of her earlier word-vomit ramble. “It was nice to meet you.”
She stuck out her hand, hoping it wasn’t sweaty.
meet you, too.”
a simple handshake as he wrapped his fingers around hers. “I had fun tonight.
You turned what might have been a horrible night into something surprisingly
nice.”
catching me and saving my top and for dinner and talking and…” And maybe she
could stoptalking.
croak, and another answered, but she figured the pounding of her heart was
louder.
head grew louder, and she felt dizzy from looking into his eyes and staring at
his lips because she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted to feel those smooth,
firm lips on hers, to taste him and feel his arms around her.I’m losing my
mind.
he said. “I’ve been wanting to say that all night.” He lifted his hand and
lightly brushed his thumb over her cheek.
and she moved. Just…moved. In and up, her fingers twisting in the front of his
shirt. She was just falling into the taste of him, just getting that warm,
tingling flood of a first kiss when her brain fully registered that he’d been
leaning in to kiss her cheek.
swallowed hard, felt a stinging heat flooding into her cheeks, and wished desperately
to disappear. Deacon was staring at her in complete confusion. That made two of
them. “I’m… really sorry.”
door. A stiff wind sang through the open-air hallway, slapping her hair across
her eyes. How she got her key in the lock, she had no idea. Mumbling one more
apology over her shoulder, she opened the door and closed it behind her. She
stood, heart pounding in mortification, her lips buzzing.
glasses and fruit and cheese tray had been cleared. The bed had been turned
back, and the damn swans were back, nestled in the center of the bed and
kissing right on their terrycloth lips.
Claudia Connor is the author of the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling series, The McKinney Brothers. Her debut novel, WORTH THE FALL, hit the New York Times Bestsellers list in 2014 and received numerous Best Contemporary Romance of 2014 accolades.
Claudia attended Auburn University, where she received her undergraduate and master’s degrees in early childhood education. After teaching kindergarten and first grade for ten years, she retired to be a full-time mom to her three daughters. Always a lover of books, and always one to have stories playing in her mind, she decided to try her hand at writing. It took seven years to finish her first novel and a new love was born.
Claudia lives near Memphis, Tennessee with her husband, three daughters, two cats, and a singer-songwriter Siberian Husky. She continues to write warm, heartfelt, and emotional romances with a bit of steam, a lot of family and always a happily ever after.
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