Desire and dessert: two of my favorite subjects. Experts say that sex and chocolate actually provide similar highs – the endorphins, I guess.
I think endorphins added to the good time I had writing Desire & Dessert, available now for preorder as part of The Billionaire’s Club. The collection required that I write an original work that was billionaire-themed. I started down the usual path of the wealthy and powerful hero, similar to my Beguiling Bachelor men, but sharing my ideas with a friend changed everything. She suggested making the heroine the billionaire and I was off and running.
I love to buck convention. Everyone would expect the usual Alpha male so this was a risk. You romance readers are choosy. You know what you like. Would you accept my leading lady?
I struggled with how to make this work. My hero could not be some milquetoast. I couldn’t write that character, you wouldn’t tolerate him and neither would Stevie Jurran, my billionaire socialite. He needed to be a strong lead for all of us. Enter Grant Harris– a brilliant physician recovering from a devastating loss at his sister’s B&B. Stevie Jurran may be just what he needs to come out of seclusion.
Add a few bad assumptions and let the sparks fly. Here is the back cover blurb and a short excerpt from Desire & Dessert: A B&B Billionaire Romance.
Desire & Dessert : A B&B Billionaire Romance
It Should Have Been a Perfect Fit…
Spoiled Stevie Jurran expects smooth sailing when she arrives at Lakeside Lodge to implement her plan to merge it into the luxury Bijoux Hotel chain. Completing this simple task will move her up the corporate ladder, increase her value to her father’s multi-billion dollar business and settle the score with her cheating ex-fiancé. Just one insignificant B&B stands between her and success –one B&B and its provoking and intriguing manager.
Secretive and sexy Grant Harris is not your typical innkeeper. Digging in his heels, he tries to preserve the aesthetic of Lakeside Lodge by resisting every change Stevie implements. Retreating from his life in the B&B’s surroundings, Grant quickly learns there’s no way to combat his growing desire for the infuriating heiress. Can he concede to her demands and contend with his past to win this alluring woman?
The B&B should be a perfect fit for the hotel chain. Stevie and Grant should be a perfect fit as well, but will they set aside their pasts and egos to complete a merger of a different kind?
Will love seal their deal?
Excerpt
Hearing footsteps down the corridor, Stevie turned sharply, her eyes colliding with the broad chest of a badly dressed man. Raising her chin to see his face, she had to work to avoid those wrinkles as her heart did a little skip and jump.
She was caught in the gaze of a pair of clear green eyes set in the chiseled face of a very handsome man. Very handsome. His laugh lines looked so devastating, white against a weathered face. He looked to be about 35, tall, broad-shouldered and very intriguing. She felt her face break into a generous smile. She couldn’t have stopped it if she tried.
“May I help you?” he asked politely. She expected more of a reaction. After all, she was Stevie Jurran. His tepid response to her caused a hint of annoyance to cross her flawless features before she schooled them again, unfurrowing her brow.
Perhaps he was just resisting the urge to check her out from tip to toe as most men did. Stevie certainly hoped so. A few days working from the bed and breakfast suddenly held more promise than moments earlier. Perhaps the guests would be interesting after all.
“Stevie Jurran,” she found her power voice and extended her hand in a business-like manner. “And you are…?”
“You’re Stevie Jurran?” the man asked, a shocked expression running across his face as he ran a nervous hand through his sandy hair, pushing it from his high forehead in a gesture that Stevie hoped to see again. She liked keeping this handsome man off kilter.
“I am,” she said with a flash of her famous megawatt smile, the one that graced the society and gossip pages, selling millions of magazines every month.
“My apologies,” the mystery man said, looking everywhere but at her face as his flooded with a charming blush. “I was expecting a man.”
“Well, as you can see, I am a woman.” He was expecting a man? What kind of idiot could he be? And where the hell was Suzanne?
“Oh, you are definitely that,” he mumbled before he caught himself and stood up a bit straighter, the blush increasing. “Grant Harris,” he finally shared, taking her hand in a firm, strong handshake. His hands were large, warm and dry. She was aware of his grasp, his strength. This simple gesture did something to her that felt sensual. She could have held on forever. Did he feel it too? Did she imagine that held her hand a bit longer than necessary? “Welcome to Lake View Manor.”
I hope you enjoy discovering Lake View Manor and the love between Stevie and Grant that grows there. This is the first book in my new B&B Billionaire Romance Series, a collection of books each set in a different B&B. Watch for cameos from some of your favorite Beguiling Bachelor characters along the way.
And stay tuned for more from The Billionaire’s Club. Over the next four weeks, it will be my pleasure to introduce you to other authors – Eva Winters, Jan Springer, Kris Jayne and Aleta Dodson – included in The Billionaire’s Club Romance Collection. But don’t wait, preorder your copy now.
Gem of the Week
Perhaps it is because I have billionaires on the brain. Perhaps it is because I have a strong love for my home city of Chicago. Whatever the reason, I could not put down Closer by Aria Hawthorne. This is the first book in her Chicago Billionaire collection. The premise is creative: a billionaire architect hires a struggling single mom to pose as his girlfriend and be his “seeing-eye bitch”. The repartee is witty, the romance is sexy, and the background is pure luxury.
Contest of the Week
You’ll love this week’s contest. No question, just enter to win a copy of Down & Dirty: Zak from Jeanne St. James’ “Dirty Angels MC” collection. Jeanne was my guest on this week’s “For Romance Writers” blog where she provided outstanding advice on what to consider before joining an anthology like The Billionaire’s Club. Jeanne, a USA Today and Amazon Bestselling Author, offered to giveaway one copy of this eBook. So sign up below.
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