What Matters Most: The Billionaire Bargains, Book 2 (33 page)

They took their places before the minister, faced one another, joined hands and proceeded to pledge their lives to one another, through good and bad, for
richer
or poorer, in bitchiness and health, and forsaking all tequila and commercial air travel as long as they both should live.

About the Author

Erin Nicholas is the author of sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe curling, enchanting, steamy and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines and happily ever afters. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books; her kids, who will never read the sex scenes in her books; and family and friends, who say they’re shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!).

You can find Erin on the Web at
www.ErinNicholas.com
,
ninenaughtynovelists.blogspot.com
, on Twitter (
www.twitter.com/ErinNicholas
) and even on Facebook (
www.facebook.com/ErinNicholasBooks
).

Look for these titles by Erin Nicholas

Now Available:

The Bradfords

Just Right

Just Like That

Just My Type

Just the Way I Like It

Just for Fun

Just a Kiss

Just What I Need: The Epilogue

Anything & Everything

Anything You Want

Everything You’ve Got

Counting On Love

She’s the One

It Takes Two

Best of Three

Going for Four

Up By Five

Single Titles

Hotblooded

The Billionaire Bargains

No Matter What

Promise Harbor Wedding

Hitched

Coming Soon:

The Billionaire Bargains

All That Matters

Real bad boys can grow up to be real good men.

Texas Twist

© 2014 Cynthia D’Alba

Texas Montgomery Mavericks, Book 4

Hit hard by the death of her parents, Paige Ryan needs to figure out what to do with her life. She moves to Whispering Springs, Texas to be near her step-brother. But just as she starts to get her life on track, the last man she ever wanted to see again sends it right back off the rails.

Cash Montgomery was on the cusp of having it all. Three bull riding titles, fame, fortune and respect from his family. Until a bad bull leaves him injured, angry and searching for comfort at the bottom of a bottle. With nowhere to go, he moves into his sister-in-law’s old ranch house in Whispering Springs—which he’s surprised to find already occupied.

As Cash rebuilds the dilapidated home and Paige starts out on her medical career, their old friendship begins to reemerge and sparks are ignited. Paige knows that Cash is nothing but a heartache waiting to happen. But maybe this bad boy has grown up to be a real good man?

Warning
: Watch out for falling lumber, falling in holes and falling for the wrong guy…again. You can leave your hard hat on.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Texas Twist:

Paige stretched her arms toward the ceiling and looked around her room and smiled. Her own room in her own house. No sharing the hot water with anyone. No dirty dishes in the sink that didn’t belong to her. No bra required if she didn’t feel like putting one on. In fact, she could walk around in nothing but her extra-large T-shirt that read
Rope Me, Cowboy
and a pair of panties. No robe needed. Freedom to do whatever she wanted.

Staying at her Uncle James’s house for these past ten months had been great, but she’d never forgotten she was a guest, even when she’d been there alone. But this place? This was
her
place. Caroline had told her to make herself at home, and Paige intended to do just that.

After sliding her feet into a pair of scuffs, she headed for the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. She’d make a list of things she still needed to do and supplies she needed to buy while she got her morning caffeine fix. As the coffee dripped, she turned the oven on to preheat and started bacon frying in a large skillet.

She stole the first cup of java before the pot finished filling. Her eyebrows shot up with the first sip. Stout, to say the least. She added a little water to the coffee maker’s reservoir then cracked open a can of biscuits. When the preheat bell chimed, she slid a cookie sheet loaded with biscuit dough into the hot oven.

She flipped the bacon and then sat at the table with a notepad and pencil. Other than the sizzle from the bacon and the slight tick of the coffee maker, the peace was comfortable. Leaning back in the high-backed kitchen chair, she stretched out her legs and took a long sip of black coffee.

Across the table and directly in front of her, the door to the back bedroom banged open and a half-dressed man ran out, a tennis racket raised high above his head, all while he yelled, “What the hell are you doing in this house?”

Paige jumped from her chair, sending it over backwards. She spat the coffee in her mouth across the table while at the same time tossing the mug of hot liquid at her attacker. The man leapt to the side, avoiding most of the scalding java.

“What are you doing here?” she gasped out, barely able to catch her breath from the sudden adrenaline jolt, not to mention the masculine sight standing in front of her. Her heart grabbed her ribs and rattled. She struggled to focus as her mind refused to accept what she was seeing.

Cash Montgomery wore only a pair of white boxer briefs. Angry long scars crisscrossed his chest, abdomen and arms. But even those couldn’t diminish the impact of his naked, chiseled six-pack. Paige swallowed hard against the rising lust.

“I live here,” he answered, lowering his impromptu weapon to his side. Confusion covered his face and his brow furrowed. “Paige? Paige Ryan?”

She nodded. “That’d be me.”

His gaze roved down her body and back up to her face. “Why are you in my house? And why don’t you have on clothes? Not that I’m complaining, mind you.” A wolfish grin spread across his mouth. “Nice T-shirt slogan.”

Paige looked down and felt the flush of embarrassment as it climbed her neck and face. Both nipples protruded through the thin material far enough to be used as hat pegs. Her gaze flew back to him. “I’ll be right back.”

She hurried from the kitchen, tugging down the hem of her T-shirt over her purple panties. She could barely think about the need for a robe when her mind swirled like a blender, mixing her thoughts and emotions like a smoothie.

What was Cash Montgomery doing in her house?

And more importantly, why was she kind of excited to see him? The man had practically ruined her life. Well, maybe not ruined as much as shoved her onto a new life path. Still, he’d let her fall in love with him, taken her virginity and then treated her like she had meant nothing to him. He’d broken her heart and hadn’t seemed to care one whit.

Of course, she’d felt sorry for him passed out in the bar, just like she’d feel sympathy for any injured animal. And of course, she’d been crushed when she’d heard about his accident, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be in close proximity to him.

Cash Montgomery was a dangerous man. Dangerous to her positive self-esteem, which she needed to prosper in the intensive graduate nursing program she’d be starting in three months. Dangerous to her plans to stay focused only on her career for now. And dangerous to her self-preservation, as her heart tended to overrule her mind when it came to Cash. Nothing good could come of him being here.

She’d thought she would be able to handle seeing him, but she’d possibly misjudged. He had to go before any decisions were made by her heart and not her head.

After grabbing her chenille robe off the bathroom door, she stood in her bedroom collecting herself before walking calmly back to the kitchen. The coffee spewed and thrown at him had been cleaned up. Her overturned chair was back upright and in its place. Cash had put on a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt that stretched to cover his broad shoulders. She’d been wrong when she’d thought he’d looked emaciated the other night. Must have been positional, because every movement had another muscle popping out somewhere new on his body.

He sat at the table, his legs stretched out in front of him, his bare feet crossed at the ankles. He nursed a cup of black coffee like it was any morning in any town, USA. She clutched both sides of her robe, pulling them together like a virginal prude.

A battle raged in her mind.

Don’t pull that robe together like you’ve never been with a man before. You’re being ridiculous. He’s seen everything you’ve got.

True
, the opposition retorted,
but he was pretty drunk that night and seven years have passed since then. And he took your heart and stomped on it with his size-fourteen cowboy boots.

“Are you just going to stand there and stare at me?” Cash asked with a lift of an eyebrow.

Paige whipped around to get another mug from the cabinet. After pouring her second cup of the day, she sat down.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” she said, sounding all the world like a school teacher reprimanding a student. “This is my house. Caroline rented it to me on Monday.”

“Travis told me I could stay here for a while.”

“Well, this isn’t going to work at all,” she said in a stiff voice that would have made a nun proud. “You’ll have to make other arrangements.”

He sat his cup on the table and leaned toward her. If he meant to intimidate her, it wasn’t going to work. She held her position and returned his stare with one she hoped conveyed her determination to stay put in this house.

“
You’ll
have to make other arrangements,” he said. “My brother owns this house and he gave it to me to live in as long as I want.”

Her heart dropped into her gut. The boa-constrictor-like squeeze around her chest pulled tight. Drawing in air was an effort, as was forming coherent sentences in his presence.

“Sorry, cowboy. I’m here to stay. You’re the one who has to go,” she finally managed to squeak out. “You have family you could stay with until you buy yourself somewhere else to live. Use some of that butt load of money you made riding those damn bulls to get your own place instead of trying to steal mine.”

“Steal? Yours?” He gave her a derisive snort. Using his cup, he pointed around the room. “This house doesn’t belong to you. It’s Montgomery property.”

Shoving her chair back with a loud scrape on the hardwood, she stood. “I’m going to get dressed and run some errands. When I get back, I expect you to be gone. And you can rest assured that I’ll be calling Caroline today.” She turned and marched out of the room.

“One of your errands should be finding another place to live,” he shouted at her back. “I’m not leaving. And don’t call Caroline. She had twins early yesterday morning. Don’t bother them today.”

Paige leaned against her closed bedroom door, her hand pressed to her chest, her heart in a runaway gallop. Crap. Surely one phone call to Caroline or Travis would clear this mess up. But that wasn’t going to happen. How could she dump her Cash problem on Caroline with her still in the hospital after delivery…at least she assumed Caroline was still there. Today it seemed like new mothers and babies were punted out the door fairly quickly.

Then Cash’s words registered. Caroline had delivered twins.

She stepped away from the door and began sliding hangers in the closet. She was going baby-clothes shopping.

If you can’t stand the heat, stay away from old flames.

Caribbean Crush

© 2013 Jenna Bayley-Burke

Under the Caribbean Sun, Book 3

The second Antonnis Prinsen sees his old flame, he knows she’s the lifeline to keep him from drowning in his brother’s matrimonial mayhem. It’s been years since they’ve talked, but surely by now she understands that a clean break was best. Instead of making a smooth re-introduction into her life, he finds his path blocked by a giant iguana. And Kristen looking at him as if he’s lower than the reptile.

Kristin Taylor spent her youth tangled up in Antonnis, but then he cut ties and disappeared. Now she leads a full and orderly life—until she finds herself walking down the aisle beside him. Thank goodness, it’s only to see his brother and her friend tie the knot.

Except Antonnis seems intent on picking up where they left off, and she has to admit she still has a weakness for him. Especially when he tempts her with an irresistible offer—one hot night, and this time she gets the chance to leave him cold.