When lingerie heiress Brandy Summer gets cold feet and runs out on her Vegas wedding, she has nowhere to turn—so she hijacks a hunky biker waiting for a red light and begs him for help. What she doesn’t know is that her instincts are right: the groom has a hidden agenda. He needs her money to pay off his gambling debts and she’s his ticket to the good life.
Marco Vargas isn’t sure what he’s getting himself into when he rescues Brandy, but figures he’ll do the chivalrous thing. He offers her a job in his bar and the chance to sort out her feelings. But it seems that keeping Brandy hidden is easier than keeping his hands off her—and what will happen when Brandy discovers that Marco has secrets of his own?
REVIEWS
“….the right balance of quirky humor, romance and red-hot passion of the body hair singeing variety… definitely makes it to my “favorites” list of contemporary romances for 2011…”
–Maldivian Book Reviewer’s Realm of Romance”I think that Stevens might have become one of my favorite contemporary romance authors. This read was fun, fast paced, light hearted, sexy and a great summer read to add to any romance lovers TBR pile!”
–The Book Pushers
EXCERPT
Brandy looked up at him and her lips parted on a silent oh. And then, suddenly, she did look like she was going to cry. Fuck. He’d just had to remind her of the luggage.
“My luggage,” she said with a tiny sniff, and she blinked rapidly a few times. “I’ll be fine. We—I’ll figure out something.”
“We’ll figure something out.” Had he just made a commitment to her?
But he couldn’t leave her like this. Not yet. Even though he’d rather break any single bone in his body than deal with a weepy woman, he wouldn’t be able to look at himself in the mirror if he left her now.
He’d get through the evening—somehow—and then send her on her way. Wherever that was. The bottom line was she wasn’t his responsibility and he would be stupid to make her so.
Brandy’s blue eyes connected with his, and he could see the faint sheen of tears across them. Damn. His hardened resolve melted a bit at the sight of her quivering lips.
Who was she? Besides some uptight teacher.
Her phone began to ring in her purse and she pulled it out and then turned it off with jerky movements.
The doors to the elevator opened and they stepped out, making their way through the casino. The sound of
slot machines was deafening and the floor appeared packed. Marco, in a hurry to get them out of the hotel, grabbed her hand and weaved them through the Friday night crowd.
Soon they were back out on the Strip. The sun had set, but the lights were so bright that darkness never really fell in Vegas.
“Where do you want to go?” Marco asked as they stood at the crosswalk.
“I don’t know.” Her eyes lit up. “Do you live around here?”
Shit, she wanted to go home with him? No. No way. “Henderson.”
“Oh. That’s not too far.” When he didn’t say anything, she looked away chewing on her lip. “You don’t have to stay with me. I can book a room somewhere and figure things out.”
“Do you want me to leave?” Marco steered her out of the path of a bunch of drunken men crossing the street in the opposite direction.
“No. I don’t want you to leave. But I can’t expect you to stay.”
She turned to face him once they were on the sidewalk again. He saw the spark of interest in her eyes and then she stared at his lips. He watched her swallow hard. Her tongue dart out to wet her lush mouth.
He bit back a groan and his jaw hardened. You don’t want to kiss me, sweetheart.
She had no idea what she was asking. But faced with the naked vulnerability in her eyes and obvious interest, something shifted inside him. Some of the hardness melted around his resolve, and before he could stop himself he reached out to stroke his thumb down the side of her cheek.
“I’m not going anywhere.” His thumb moved to rub across her bottom lip, which parted on a sigh. That mouth. God, if she didn’t have the mouth and those legs…she’d be some freak mutant, you idiot.
Don’t do it. Kissing her will just complicate things. Don’t even go there…
“Ah, shit.” He lowered his head toward hers.
For some reason, it seemed perfectly natural for Brandy to lean forward into Marco’s kiss. The smell of leather and spice enveloped her senses, just before his arms wrapped around her body.
His mouth closed over hers, firm and confident. It was a hard kiss, nothing hesitant about it. Definitely not the kind she was used to getting from Gordon.
His tongue traced the seam of her lips and a shiver raced down her spine. With a deft move, he slipped inside her mouth and she grabbed onto his T-shirt to keep her balance as the world around them spun.
His tongue rasped against hers. He tasted faintly of beer and all kinds of sin.
Pressing his body harder against her, he moved his hands down her waist to grab her ass. Brandy gasped at the contact and he used it to his advantage, stroking his tongue deeper.
Heat speared down her belly, between her legs and she curved her body closer to his, wanting so much more.
He pulled back suddenly and she tightened her grip on his T-shirt to keep from falling forward. Dazed, but not so far out of it that she didn’t notice the hard muscles under her fingers.
She groaned. This was insanity. Pure insanity. Or just lust. That was a pretty plausible explanation too.
“We should go somewhere.”
Perfect, let’s get a room. The words were on the tip of her tongue, but then she swallowed them.
This was all too crazy, too sudden. She should be grieving or at least a little confused about the whole Gordon situation.
But Gordon was the last darn thing on her mind. Instead all she could think about was that erotic kiss she’d just shared with a perfect stranger. The thing was, she knew why she’d kissed him—he oozed sex and danger. He was attractive.
The question was why had he kissed her? She was nothing like the models she’d grown up envying.
She raised her gaze to his and noticed he looked a little uneasy about what had just passed between them.
“Why did you kiss me?” she blurted, the passion bubble starting to deflate. God. Why had she even asked that? But since she had…“Men like you don’t kiss women like me.”
He shook his head and looked away. “Don’t worry, it won’t happen again.”
