The gentle giant slowly awakens her long-dormant
passion.
NIC
Rossi Brothers #2
JM Stewart
Released Nov 14th, 2016
On the run from her abusive ex, Anna wants one thing: a quiet place like Angel Bay to raise her daughter. But she needs a job to pay for that dream, even if her new boss is a man whose sheer size makes her tremble. Yet Nic’s capacity for kindness leaves her feeling safe for the first time in years, and the gentle giant slowly awakens her long-dormant passion.
Then her ex-husband turns up like a bad penny, threatening not only Anna’s safe haven but Nic’s daughter in the bargain, forcing them to choose between love and family.
Anna Thompson looked up
from her plate, peering at the hulking giant sitting in the booth across from
her. Nic twirled the last bit of spaghetti on his plate, watching her with
careful eyes as he stuffed the bite into his mouth and chewed. After
introducing her to his older brother, Luc, who owned half the restaurant and
worked as the head chef, Nic had indeed raided
the ’fridge. He’d made three heaping plates of spaghetti and meatballs,
complete with salad and what smelled like fresh garlic bread sticks.
The man made her
insides shake. The resemblance was uncanny at best, terrifying at worst. If it
weren’t for the other two waitresses, moving silently around the dining room as
they cleaned up for the night, she wouldn’t have stayed. When she’d gotten her
first look at Nic after that sweet waitress let her and Lacey in, she’d almost
turned around a left. He looked so much like Tony her throat had closed. Both
had the same dark brown hair and olive complexion so common in men of Italian
decent. Nic’s eyes were different, though. Tony was dark all over, including
his midnight eyes. Nic’s were a beautiful shade of
amber, and, so far, always seemed to hold a hint of a smile.
She couldn’t deny he
was good-looking. Ten years ago, before Tony, she might have flirted with his
sexy smile, with those beautiful amber eyes. But he stood a good head and
shoulders above her, his body thickly muscled. The power behind his large,
muscular frame made her stomach lurch.
Nic set his fork on the
side of his plate and folded his hands on the table in front of him. He
inclined his head at Lacey. “She was hungry.”
Nic had given her
enough pasta for a grown man, but Lacey had cleaned her plate. She’d then
curled up in the corner of the booth and fallen asleep sitting up.
“And exhausted.” Anna
shook her head, her face warming. “You must think I’m a horrible mother.”
What kind of mother
couldn’t provide even a meal and a warm bed for her child?
Nic leaned back in the
booth, studying her with shrewd eyes, as if he could see too much and had
already figured her out. “Actually, I don’t. It takes guts to admit to a
complete stranger you have nowhere to sleep.”
Regret twisted in
Anna’s stomach. She shouldn’t have pushed them so hard this time. She should
have stopped in Oregon, when Lacey begged her to camp on the beach again. Then
at least they could have started tomorrow with a full belly, and with any luck,
she might have found another job where she could work for a while to earn more
money before they pushed on.
She’d been desperate to
come here, to this tiny little town on an island in the middle of the Puget
Sound. Tony had gotten too close this last time, and she’d run again, terrified
he’d find them. Hope and sheer, stubborn determination were the only things
keeping her going anymore.
J.M. Stewart is a coffee and chocolate addict who lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two sons and two very spoiled dogs. She’s a hopeless romantic who believes everybody should have their happily ever after and has been devouring romance novels for as long as she can remember. Writing them has become her obsession.
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