Chapter Forty-Nine The first day of the Barcelona leg of the trip was stressful for McKinley Stewart. Another firm was courting the company he was in the process of acquiring. He had realized that this acquisition wasn’t a done deal, but he hadn’t counted...
Curled up on the white leather couch in Riccardo's hotel suite, Nicole gazed out the window over the city, bathed in afternoon sunshine, and berated herself for her lack of courage. Museums were not a good place to ask a man to spank you, neither were res...
Walking to the office I think to my wrinkles. Each and every one talking about my story, about me. At 52, I can say I don’t have many wrinkles, but some. Especially around my mouth. I hate those because I can’t apply lipstick anymore. I’ve always loved a...
Chapter Forty-Five Grace ate her meal in silence while Mac and Sal talked business, politics, and sports. Sal tried to engage her in the conversation at one point, but he gave up after her one-word answers made it clear she was in no mood to talk. Mac’s p...
Debra West was a secretary at Bold Industries, which was a construction firm. She was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but she had a great body, and her boss liked looking at her. She made mistakes most days but yesterday made the biggest mistake of a...
Chapter Forty-One Mac and Grace were enjoying their night out at Dinnertheater Schoenbrunn when Alice called Mac’s cell. He let it go to voicemail, but she didn’t leave a message. Instead, she called back three more times before Mac finally said to Grace,...
The First Incident I wondered when I’d hear from Lynn Fortier again because she had told me to expect her. I didn’t know how long that would be; she had only said it would be “occasionally.” It turned out to be only a week. She was the executive director...
Chapter Thirty-Seven When Grace no longer had any tears left to cry, Mac repeated what he’d said moments ago. “A person has a right to leave their past behind them.” Then he continued, “I took that right from you when I betrayed your trust and went behind...
The white hulled fifty-foot cruiser looked beautiful as the morning sun cast its spell over her teak deck. Alexa slipped off her canvas deck shoes and stepped up through the side gate in the railing. The soft teak under her bare feet brought a stunning sm...
It had been seven years since Deajah had left her life back in LA to move out to New Orleans. Since then, she had been doing well. Upon arriving, she had immediately gotten a job at one of the local strip joints. Nightly, she was pulling in roughly about...
Chapter Thirty-Three The first week of work in London had been a successful one. McKinley felt a lot better about leaving Niles Lindhurst in charge of the London office after getting to know him better. Sure, he was a bit high maintenance, but his attenti...
Chapter Twenty-Nine Grace insisted that Mac shower first so that he wouldn’t have to wait until after she got ready. That way, he could go down a little early and be there before his guests. She’d selected the Mount Vernon Room, as there would be about si...
Chapter Twenty-Four For the remainder of their time in Paris, Mac and Grace could hardly keep their hands off each other. She attended every meeting and meal so that they could spend more time together. On their last day, when McKinley was checking out of...
Chapter Twenty Grace had dinner by herself in Le Jardin Français, the outdoor eatery at the hotel, enjoying tapas and a glass of wine. She noticed that Julien was tending the bar, so she cut her evening short. She figured it was best not to give him the i...
Jake D’Amato was quite surprised when he went to visit his relativity new girlfriend Josephine (JoJo) Boccio. That was because there was a third person in the living room, one of his employees, Livia Behrens. She in fact was the person who had recently se...
