Being butler to a widower and single father is a dream job in more ways than one for Charlotte “Charlie” Emerson. She helps keep businessman Ethan Archer’s household running without a hitch and enjoys every minute she has with his six-year-old son, Wells. But as time passes, the situation feels alarmingly intimate and when her heart starts beating faster each time Ethan steps through the door, Charlie must exert rigid control over her feelings.With her secret, falling in love would be all kinds of bad…Ethan Archer values the woman who keeps his life in order and cares so much for his motherless boy. He and Charlie act in harmony with each other and it’s not hard to picture them as a little family…in fact, it’s so easy, one reckless night he proposes a marriage of convenience.What will he do if Charlie says yes? And worse, what if she tells him no?
Ethan wandered over to the counter, where Charlie cut up vegetables for stir fry. Expression pensive, he leaned his hips on the granite and stared out the floor-to-ceiling glass sliders at the ocean beyond.
She glanced out at the view, then studied him from beneath her lashes. He could be devastating in a dark business suit, but she thought she liked him best dressed like this—in jeans and a T-shirt that was worn at the hem and at the bands of the short sleeves. The material clung to his heavy biceps and reminded her of the effortless way he lifted his son and threw him up into the air when they played in the pool. Then he’d be shirtless, his pectoral muscles and ridged abdominals proving he was a man who liked to stay in shape.
Who was nowhere close to old.
She’d told him she’d dated those of his age and more, which was a lie. It had been years since she’d involved herself with the opposite sex, even in a casual way.
But in her fantasies, a man of exactly his age…
Charlie swallowed, finding herself staring at his long fingers, his hands tanned like the rest of him from his morning runs and afternoon strolls with his son on the beach. They’d be dark against the paler skin of her thighs. Of her breasts. Low in her belly, a heavy warmth gathered and her pulse stuttered.
“I can feel you staring,” Ethan said, not taking his eyes off the endless Pacific.
“I…” Embarrassed, she ducked her head. “You seem preoccupied.”
A corner of his mouth kicked up, but he still didn’t look at her. “I was thinking it’s cruel for kids to have to go back to school in mid-August. It’s high summer on the sand.”
“Still, it’s going to be a great year,” she said, trying to sound positive and not like her mind had wandered anywhere dangerous. “Second grade is supposed to be a catch-up year, but Wells doesn’t need to catch up on anything. His teacher gave him the bonus words this week.”
Ethan nodded slowly then ran a hand through his hair. The dark strands returned to immaculate order, and she wondered about the texture of the strands. Would they be silky or coarse? His beard grew fast—there was visual evidence of it. By evening, his kiss would leave a burn on a woman’s neck and around her lips.
Christie Ridgway is a California native and author of fifty contemporary romances. A six-time RITA finalist and USA Today bestselling author, she writes award-winning, emotional reads starring determined heroines and the men who can’t help but love them. Christie grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, went to college in Santa Barbara, and now is married to the sweetheart she met there.
She started off as a technical writer and moved on to computer programming before having two sons and pursuing the dream she’d held since childhood—writing romance novels. Her first book stars a hero who was a former professional surfer and since then she’s written about businessmen, TV stars, soldiers, journalists, vintners, race car drivers, and horror novelists. What her heroes have in common is their resistance to love and their hardest of falls when they finally do find their right woman.
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Thanks for sharing excerpt from the book, sounds like an interesting read!
ReplyDeleteLooks interesting.
ReplyDeleteChristie is a new-to-me author. I love the cover of this book and I think I would enjoy reading the whole story.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an interesting read.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a good read, but a new to me author.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the excerpt. It sounds good.
ReplyDeleteNice excerpt! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLove the excerpt! (Though, I'm not a fan of billionaire romances)
ReplyDeleteOh I love marriage of convenience stories :)
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting and that bit about a secret really intrigued me
ReplyDeleteSounds really great! I love that a woman is the butler...and she has a secret, not the guy!
ReplyDeleteOh... sounds like a fun read!
ReplyDeletelove the banter in the excerpt
ReplyDelete