Enter to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card + an ebook copy of Confessions of a Wedding Planner
Confessions of a Wedding Planner
Bliss #1
Michelle Jo Quinn
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: July 27, 2016
He may be the best man,
but he’s the worst man for her…
Wedding planner,
Veronica Soto-Stewart believes everyone deserves a fairy tale–even her
ex-boyfriend. Unable to refuse his request, and with the help of Bliss Events
motley crew, she finds herself creating the most magical event for the perfect
couple.
But nothing is ever
perfect…
And not all happy ever
afters can be planned…
Levi Laurent can’t
believe his luck. Thanks to his best friend’s wedding, he finally has a shot at
the woman he’s always wanted–Veronica. From San Francisco to Paris, and back,
he pulls out all the stops, so she knows where she really belongs–with him. But
Veronica wants nothing to do with the rich, sexy, irresistible playboy.
Can Levi convince
Veronica that her perfect happily ever after is closer than she ever realized?
I stifled a gasp as a six-foot-four hunk of a man in a
plain white tee and dark jeans that hugged
every sinful bit of his lower half sauntered in. Diego prowled
like a male model on a catwalk. He was just plain sexy all over.
"Sorry I'm late," he said, eyes on me, as he
neared. He kissed one side of my cheek.
"What are you doing here?" I whispered, then
smiled.
"I knew you were gonna see Eddie, so I thought
I'd surprise you and stop by. I would have made it on time, but I got stuck in
traffic." Diego glanced over my head and nodded. "Hey, Eddie."
"Hello?" Eddie was right to question Diego's
presence. On top of that, he didn’t even know him, but Diego
acted as though he did.
I tapped a finger on my chin, trying to make sense of
what was happening. When I received the
text from Chase: Is he there now? I got it. Diego was Chase's solution
to my dilemma.
"Hi!" Levi's date spoke up in a high-pitched
tone. Diego and I turned to her, and I swallowed a guffaw. She stretched out
the hand that had been in Levi's shirt moments before and offered it to Diego.
"I'm Ophelia."
Her name rolled over her tongue, and it sounded as
though she said 'I'll feel yah.' I bet she would too. I shuddered.
Diego, ever the good boy, took the proffered hand and
shook it once. "Very nice to meet you." He had to pull away
forcefully from Ophelia's grasp. Then he angled his body and stretched his own
hand toward Levi. "Diego," he introduced himself.
Levi's eyes narrowed into tiny slits. He looked down
at Diego's large, callused hand, up to Diego's face, and then to me.
I had to take advantage of the situation. The new me
needed it. Levi brought Ophelia to either piss me off, or make me jealous, or
whatever. I touched one of Diego's bulging biceps and left my hand on it.
"Diego dear, this is Levi. Remember the wedding I told you about last
night? He's the best man." I made sure to enunciate the ‘last night’ and didn’t miss the understanding in Levi’s eyes. Yes, he
knew that Diego was my date. He didn’t have to know that we had
parted as friends.
Diego slowly retracted his hand. My face burned like I’d eaten a five-alarm hot
pepper.
Eddie cleared his throat, produced dessert spoons and
forks, and placed them on a linen serviette on the table. "Shall we
continue?" We all returned our focus on Eddie.
I nodded. "Please."
"Our first cake is an homage to our lovely
country: apple and cinnamon cake with brown sugar frosting." Eddie sliced
the first cake and placed a piece of it on a plate.
"Diego and I will just share one, Eddie."
The words just came out. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Levi's mouth
gape.
"That'll be the same for us," Levi said. His
voice did not waver.
I looked at Levi and Ophelia, who was still eyeing
Diego and seductively licking a spoon.
Eddie stared at the two couples in front of him. He
was as confused as ever. "Very well then." He proceeded to cut the
next cake, a mocha-colored frosting over yellow cake. "Next, we have
almond with mocha icing, chocolate drizzle, and pistachio crumbs."
The third cake was decorated more elaborately with
Corneille lace piping, something I had become proficient in when I had worked
for Eddie. "This is our blackberry and currant chiffon with raspberry
filling and limoncello icing. My dear Nica's favorite." Eddie glanced at
me, and I sent him a pleased
smile.
"And last, but not least, dark chocolate with a whipped peanut butter
mousse filling, and dark chocolate ganache. Rich, robust, and I believe it's still the groom's favorite."
"You're so good, Eddie. I can't believe you
remembered," I quipped, even though I had reminded him about it yesterday
when I confirmed this appointment.
He passed along the plates, and I placed them on the
table. Four cakes for Diego and me, and four similar slices for Levi and
Ophelia. I hoped he choked. Well, not really. Maybe just a little.
Eddie also provided carafes of
water and glasses. Perhaps he could read my thoughts. "Bon appétit!"
Diego and I took a spoon and fork each.
I watched as Ophelia scooped a piece of the first
cake, and lifted it to Levi, who slowly--like
we had all the time in the world to eat cakes--opened his mouth to take the dessert. So this was his
game. I copied Ophelia's actions and fed Diego a piece of the cake.
"Hmmm, very good. This is definitely a
winner," Diego offered his opinion. He used his fork to lift a tiny slice
to my mouth. "Here you go, my sweet."
My throat dried up upon hearing Levi's term of
endearment to me coming out of Diego's lips. In my peripheral vision, I could
see Levi's jaw drop. I made sensual sounds with my mouth. The cake certainly
tasted divine.
"Good, huh?" Diego's eyebrows shot up.
I nodded as he continued to feast on the cake.
"So good."
"Sandrine's allergic to nutmeg. And if I'm not
wrong, I detect a hint of it in the flavors," Levi told Eddie in a
matter-of-fact way.
Damn, I dropped the ball on that one. I knew she was
allergic to it. I had it in my notes somewhere. "Yes, that's correct.
Thanks for reminding us." I sent a quick, shy look toward Levi.
"Shall we try the next one?"
The same thing happened to the second cake. Ophelia
fed Levi. Diego fed me, and I fed Diego. And every single time he did, Levi
would move his head from side to side and rub the back of his neck.
Levi noted the complimentary flavors of the almond and
the hint of coffee and chocolate of the second cake.
It was good, but it wasn't elegant enough.
When we got to the third cake, my favorite, I added
extra oomph in my moan, closing my eyes as I let the flavors of fresh berries
and the sweet-tart combination of the limoncello icing explode in my mouth. My
hands were pressed against Diego's broad expanse of chest, and as I let the
last bit of sweetness melt on my tongue, I fisted Diego's white shirt. I opened
my eyes marginally in what I hoped was a seductive gaze and smirked at Diego.
"That good, huh?" Diego's face was plastered
with a wide, knowing smile.
"It's a perfect cake for a summer wedding,"
I replied.
"It's a bit tart." From the other side of
the table, Levi's words sounded petty.
With my hands still over Diego's shirt, I turned to
Levi. "Tart?" I raised an eyebrow.
Levi crossed his arms over his chest, exposing the
tanned, toned forearms under the sleeves of his light blue button down. He
narrowed his eyes at me. I shot daggers at him.
"Why don't we have a sip of water before the last
cake?" Eddie suggested. He poured us a glass each, even offered one to
Oh-feel-yah.
After a couple of minutes, we continued. I'd had the
pleasure of tasting this cake before with Jake when we were dating. Back then,
he had always made me promise that I would buy this cake for his next birthday.
I never had the chance. Not for his birthday, at least.
I was pretty confident that this was the cake he would
want at his wedding. Eddie could add some elegance to it by using a different
type of icing, rather than a ganache so that he could display his skills in
cake decorating.
Levi grabbed a fork and spoon off the serviette, cut a
small piece with his fork, and pushed with his spoon. He raised the piece to
his own mouth, and I could tell that he loved it. He made a small moan of
approval.
I gave Diego a piece, and he rolled his eyes as he ate
the cake. "Divine. Simply divine, Eddie. You've outdone yourself. Can we
take this home? I can think of many ways
I’d like to eat
it." There wasn’t just a subtle hint in
Diego’s eyes. He made sure that everyone in the bakery knew
what he meant. My cheeks burned.
I swallowed the nervous anxiety in my belly, smiled at
Diego, and took the smaller piece of cake on his fork. It was better than sex.
Well, at least the sex that I'd had. The decadent bittersweet flavor of the
moist cake paired with the sweet-saltiness of the peanut butter mousse and the
rich ganache was to die for. I didn't close my eyes as I tasted. Instead, I
trained them toward Levi.
He was raptly watching me. We held our gazes together.
With the tip of my tongue, I licked ganache off
the corner of my lips, then bit my bottom lip. I might have seen him
tremble, but it was so slight that I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it.
Michelle's love for writing blossomed when her father gave her
a diary. Instead of recounting her
daily life, she wrote stories of fictional people. Like most of her characters,
she believes in Happily Ever After. Naturally, she finds harmony in writing
romance.
An
unabashed, self-proclaimed foodie, Michelle loves to try new food whenever given the chance. She loves to travel, has an unhealthy
obsession with dark chocolate and coffee, and prefers to spend money on
paperback rather than shoes. She enjoys watching foreign
films and reading a swoon-worthy
books.
Michelle
is an active member of RWA and several of its chapters. She lives in Ontario,
Canada with her husband,
two kiddos, and a morkie pup named Scarlett.
No comments:
Post a Comment