Flirting with the Beast (Modern Love, Band 2) - Softcover

Buch 2 von 2: Modern Love

Porter, Jane

 
9780593438404: Flirting with the Beast (Modern Love, Band 2)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 059343840X ISBN 13: 9780593438404
Verlag: Berkley, 2022

Inhaltsangabe

A woman expecting to spend the holidays alone finds warmth in the iciest man she knows in this steamy and charming later-in-life romance by New York Times bestselling author Jane Porter.
 
It’s been five years since Andi McDermott lost her husband, and she's finally starting to feel like herself again, ready to live fully—she’s even started dating again. But when her holiday plans with her stepson and his fiancée fall through, she refuses to spend another Christmas alone while everyone is celebrating with their families. Impulsively, she decides to go up to her cabin in Lake Arrowhead, a place she used to love to visit but hadn’t gone to in years, not since the feud started between her husband and their nearest neighbor.
 
Andi starts to rethink her decision when being alone at the cabin proves to be more challenging than she expected—a heavy snowstorm hits the area, and Andi finds herself trapped there with no one to help except for her neighbor, Wolf Enders. A military vet who lives full-time on Lake Arrowhead, Wolf is as grumpy and intimidating as Andi remembers. But he’s also unexpectedly kind and uncomfortably sexy—his presence reminds Andi that she may be older, but her body still works perfectly fine, thank you very much. But can this good girl tame this sexy beast of a man, and will this snowy fling turn into a love of a lifetime?

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jane Porter, the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 70 romances, holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award six times, winning in 2014 for Take Me, Cowboy. In 2008, Jane’s popular novel, Flirting With Forty, was made into a Lifetime movie starring Heather Locklear, and in 2021 two of her novels were turned into holiday movies for the new GAC Family channel. Jane lives in sunny California with her surfer husband, three sons, and three dogs.

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Chapter 1

Rain splattered the kitchen window, while inside the house smelled of roast turkey and cinnamon and cloves from the simmering mulled wine. Andi McDermott peeked into the second oven, where the stuffing, potatoes, and various side dishes were keeping warm. It was December twenty-second and Andi was celebrating Christmas early, hosting her stepson, Luke, and his fiancŽe for dinner. She'd spent days cooking, decorating the house, even putting up a big tree-a first since her husband, Kevin, died five years ago.

It was the first Christmas since Kevin died that she felt festive. Maybe it was the cooking and baking that put her in a good mood. Or maybe she'd finally accepted that Christmas would be different, and she couldn't compare the holiday now to what it had been when Kevin was alive.

But it'd be lovely to see Luke, to have him here. Her stepson was a busy doctor living in McLean, Virginia, just outside DC, and when he returned to Southern California, there were so many people for him to see that it was hard for him to squeeze her in, but this year he'd accepted her Christmas invitation, and he and Kelsey were to arrive any moment.

Andi glanced from the rain-streaked window to the small TV. The local evening news was wrapping up with a feel-good story set at Lake Arrowhead's Santa's Village. It was snowing in the mountains and the pretty reporter kept batting away fluffy flakes as she laughingly asked Mr. and Mrs. Claus if the snow would hamper the delivery of gifts. Santa Claus gave a jolly chuckle, saying that the reindeer were experts, and Rudolph always led the way. The cameraman panned over the charming snow-dusted village and the reporter concluded with the reminder that Santa's Village would be open through five o'clock on Christmas Eve, inviting all to come enjoy the live entertainment, the scheduled light shows, and of course, meet Saint Nick himself.

Andi flashed back to the year she and Kevin had taken Luke to Santa's Village. It hadn't been a successful trip. California had been in the middle of a drought. There was no snow and the pine trees looked parched. The park hadn't yet been refurbished and nine-year-old Luke wasn't impressed, announcing to a line of children that Santa wasn't real, even babies knew that.

Andi smiled, remembering the horrified looks of the other parents. Luke had never been like the other kids. He'd known from kindergarten he wanted to be a doctor, and he'd done just that.

After brushing a crumb from the counter, she turned off the double ovens and tried to remember the last time she'd been to the cabin in Blue Jay. It had been years, two or three at least, and she'd only driven up because she'd been notified by her intimidating neighbor, Wolf Enders, that one of the big sugar pines on her lot had fallen. While it had missed her cabin, the tree had crushed the old shed and was blocking her driveway.

She hadn't been able to go to the cabin immediately due to work but drove up one Saturday morning to meet the tree removal service, paying them a fortune to cut up the huge tree and carry away the massive logs. Any moment she'd expected Wolf Enders and his German shepherd to appear, but thankfully, neither did. She'd escaped back to San Juan Capistrano without any uncomfortable scenes. To be fair, she'd never quarreled with Wolf herself, but Kevin had, and once Kevin sued Wolf for defamation of character, claiming Wolf was slandering Kevin in their mountain community; the animosity between Kevin and Wolf made trips to the cabin unbearable.

Andi had hated how Kevin obsessed about their "trashy neighbor," hated how prickly and uncomfortable she felt whenever Wolf Enders looked at her. Wolf made her feel naked and she didn't like it. She wouldn't call him trashy-she wouldn't call anyone trashy-but they definitely moved in different social circles.

The evening news ended. Andi glanced at her watch. Six thirty.

Luke said he and Kelsey should arrive sometime between five thirty and six, depending on traffic. They were coming from Newport Beach, where Luke's mom and grandparents lived, and traffic could be a bear, especially this time of year. The drizzle of rain just made it worse.

Andi drew a short breath, anxious, excited. The house looked wonderful. The brandied cranberries and green salad were already on the table. A bottle of red and white wine had both been opened just in case Luke and Kelsey didn't want the mulled wine.

Muting the TV, Andi wandered into the formal living room to fluff a couch pillow. The tree glowed with lights and shimmering ornaments. Candles glimmered on the stone mantel. A fire crackled brightly in the hearth. She'd forgotten how pretty the house looked decorated for the holidays.

Back in the kitchen she adjusted the cake stand on the marble island, then smoothed her dark green beaded sweater over her hips. She felt a little too solid-thick in the middle-but the beaded sweater had been one of her last gifts from Kevin and she'd never had a chance to wear it before he died, so she was wearing it tonight. Tonight was a celebration. Luke would be here, and they'd be a family, and being ten or fifteen pounds overweight wasn't the end of the world. Being twenty pounds overweight wasn't the end of the world. Her weight wasn't important.

Family was.

Christmas.

Miracles.

Suddenly Andi's phone rang. It was Luke. She quickly picked up. "Hi," she said, breathlessly, leaning against the island. "Where are you? Have you hit some traffic?"

"We haven't left Mom's yet." Luke's deep voice was so very much like his dad's that it gave her a pang. "We got to talking and the time slipped away from us."

She pushed a loose tendril from her warm cheek. "That's okay. I've got everything in the oven. Just give me a buzz when you're a few minutes from the house and I'll dish up. That way we can sit down straightaway-"

"Something has come up," he said in a rush. "We're not going to be able to make it. I'm sorry. I know it's last-minute to cancel."

Her heart fell. For a moment she couldn't speak. "Kelsey's not sick, is she?" Andi asked, grateful her voice didn't quaver.

"No, she's good. We're all good. Mom surprised us with tickets to Segerstrom for the Holiday Organ Spectacular tonight. She forgot we were supposed to be going to your house for dinner, and Kelsey is an organist, she played all through school, music being her minor at Johns Hopkins, and . . ." He stopped talking, waited a split second before adding, "You don't mind, do you?"

Andi blinked hard. Her throat thickened with emotion. She minded. Oh, how she minded.

But she'd never tell him. She was his stepmom, not his mom. She couldn't afford to make a misstep.

Luke filled the silence. "I hate doing this last-minute. It's hard keeping everyone happy-"

She wasn't going to cry. She wouldn't be difficult. "I understand."

"Kelsey does want to meet you."

"Drop by tomorrow." She glanced to her double ovens, filled with turkey and casseroles. "I'll have plenty of food."

"Maybe. That could work," he said.

Her heart fell again. A maybe from Luke was never a positive thing.

He cleared his throat. "Next time we're home, we'll get together. I promise. You'll meet Kelsey before the wedding. Maybe at the bridal shower in February?"

Andi heard the maybe again. Maybe meant nada. Nothing. She hated the ridiculous pain making her chest burn. She'd always been the stepmother, never mother, never mom, never needed or wanted; at least, not by him. "Maybe," she echoed, brushing a tear from her lashes before it could fall. "Give your family my best."

"I will. Merry Christmas, Andi."

"Merry Christmas, Luke."

Hanging up, Andi set the phone down on the island and rested her hand on the cold marble, throat aching, chest...

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Verlag
Berkley
Erscheinungsdatum
2022
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
059343840X
ISBN 13 
9780593438404
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
336
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
preigu
mail@preigu.de

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