Charisse pressed through to the end of Saturday, wishing she’d agreed to see Conor that night. Marie either shut down or ranted about Daddy whenever they talked too long about Mother; Charisse didn’t want to listen to any of that. And she sure as heck wasn’t going to call Daddy and ask about Mother or Raul. But Conor had seemed more than willing to listen to her work through her problems. She needed to quit turning him away. Continue reading
Conor’s phone rang, and he pulled it out from his back pocket, hoping that it was Charisse. He clenched his jaw when he saw the name Becca—Elise’s sister. What the fuck? They hadn’t talked since Elise’s will reading when she’d practically accused him of murder. Continue reading
Conor strode back to his car. This fucking family. Even her mother was messed up.
Raul said, “I’m sorry Mr. Grishin. I did not realize she still doesn’t know where her mother is.”
“We’ll talk about it during the drive.”
Raul held the door open. “There’s nothing to say, sir.” Continue reading
Welcome back to The Beautician and the Billionaire. When we last left off, Charisse had run into the last man to see her mother. He’s now Conor’s driver. Enjoy!
Charisse closed her mouth and tried to smile. She remembered chatting with Raul as a child when he drove her back and forth to school. They’d talked about books and sports, and he’d never talked down to her. But the betrayal by her mom, when she’d abandoned them, bled over into her memories of Raul. He’d quit his job after taking her mother away.
Conor asked, “You two know each other?” Continue reading
The Beautician and the Billionaire Episode 4: The Past is available exclusively at All Romance, possibly for the rest of the day. Episode 4 is longer than the others and contains a scene that will not be posted on this blog. Due to trying to put together a box set for The Holiday Cafe, I won’t be blogging any of Episode 4 until January.
Read it today!
Regularly $1.99 on Sale for $0.99
But if you need to catch up on some of the episodes, I’ll be releasing all four episodes in one package later today. Check back to get the link!
Hello! Sorry the break was longer than expected! To remind you where we left off, I’ll post the end of Episode 2 below:
He should stop now. He wanted to take her out, show her he cared. But her fire was unmatched by any woman he’d been with. A fleck of guilt tried to blow through his thoughts. Was the memory of Elise fading?
Charisse slid her hand off his neck, placed it on his hand at her breast and pressed his palm into her. She kissed him harder and pushed down on his cock again. Heat flared between them. He wanted her now. He dropped his hands to the bottom of her blouse and lifted it up.
The bells on the door jangled.
They both froze. Charisse ended the kiss and pulled back with an embarrassed glow. She whispered, “I forgot to lock the door.”
He pulled her shirt down, blood still roaring in his ears from the rush of lust. She scrambled off him just as someone came around the shelf of products that blocked the view of the sinks from the entrance.
Marie. Fuck.
“And this is exactly why I turned down your offer to go to The Hamptons,” Marie said.
Charisse shrunk back, her clothes in disarray and her glow fading. “You offered to take my sister to The Hamptons?”
And now, please enjoy Episode 3: The Third Ship, Scene 1
Charisse tightened her arms across her stomach. She’d been so ready to let herself go with Conor right in her salon. They’d had a connection—at least he’d made her believe they had. But the Hamptons?
Her eyes glanced back and forth between Marie and Conor. She must’ve lost her mind. She’d let herself be seduced by his seeming sincerity and vulnerability, forgetting that he’d chosen Marie first. Forgetting the picture of Marie pouring a shot down his throat. Forgetting she hated suits.
Worst of all, she was business partners with Conor, through no fault of her own. Shoot. It was her fault. She was the one who hadn’t read her own contract.
Conor stood up and combed his fingers through his still wet hair.
Marie stood with her umbrella down in one hand, dripping water on the floor and holding the strap of her Louis Vuitton purse up on her shoulder with her other hand. She glowered at Conor.
“It’s not how it sounds,” said Conor. When his hand came down from combing his hair, his face resumed the slick “I can explain everything” expression Charisse loathed so much. “I offered Marie a job at my Hamptons house because she wanted to make a change. She wanted to work at the flower shop that delivers my roses. Considering her biology degree, I thought she might want to work with the actual roses instead.”
Marie flipped her straight black hair back over her shoulder and said, “So you could get me out of the way and make your moves on Charisse. I think it’s sick that you’re trying to fuck us to get back at Daddy for the lost ships. You should’ve just fired him and left us out of it. We didn’t do anything to you.”
It was as if a bomb had detonated inside Charisse. “What? Kissing me was about the ships? We were about to…” Charisse backed away and thought she might faint. It was bad enough being the second choice, but being some sort of payment…maybe she’d hurl first and then faint.
Conor reddened and clenched his fists at his sides. Marie took a step back, looking fearful but clutching her umbrella like she’d swing it at him if he tried to hit her.
Instead of yelling, Conor spoke in a quiet voice that chilled Charisse. He stared at Marie as he spoke. “Really? You’re going to lie about that in front of me? The salon is payment for the ships. Your father offered you up instead, and I refused. Or maybe you forgot that part of our conversation.”
Charisse’s vision blurred as her world shattered before her. Conor had to be the one lying because Daddy would never try to trade Marie as payment. Never.
Conor turned to Charisse. Pain had flashed in his eyes before a shield went up. His voice gained volume and lost its edge. “I had hoped to take you to dinner tonight. I’m sorry for getting carried away before your sister arrived. Believe me, it won’t happen again.”
Conor grabbed his tie from the chair where he’d tossed it and stalked to the other side of the partition.
Charisse listened for the bells to jingle and then took a deep breath. She opened her mouth to speak to Marie, but Marie beat her to it.
“I can’t believe you were making out with Conor the day after I broke up with him. You never consider my feelings at all.”
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I’m posting this at midnight because I have something fun planned later today. Please come back to check it out!
In the meantime, enjoy.
The numbers on the pages meant nothing to Conor. He’d been staring at them for about ten minutes without reading them. The flowers should’ve arrived a couple of hours ago and he hadn’t heard a word. Of course, there was no reason she should call him, especially if she wasn’t in favor of him becoming a partner.
Douchey. She probably didn’t want anything to do with him. Continue reading
Hello lovely readers! If you missed the first part, please go back to Monday’s post and begin! If you’re all caught up, please enjoy meeting Charisse:
A coffee aroma mingled seductively with the vanilla scents of the shampoos and conditioners used in Ma Charisse. Massaging shampoo into the scalp of a customer, Charisse drew in a quiet breath and added, “I know, right?”
“I mean how could she possibly think taking my husband’s Ferrari for a joyride like she was in freaking Ferris Bueller’s Day Off would be a good idea?” said Tanya, flailing her crimson nails in the air like little flashes of anger.
“I can’t believe she would even try something like that. Last year she was such a good student.”
“Right? Never have children. They’ll only make you crazy.”
One of my favorite parts of publishing a new story is the cover reveal. I love getting a new cover and seeing what the artist has done with my ideas. Chiarra Giradelli at The Book Cover Designer created the cover for The Beautician and the Billionaire. I hope you love it as much as me!
Here it is:
Wow! Thanks for all the new follows on my blog and twitter yesterday! And thanks to the original followers for not dropping me!
In case you missed it, Monday I’m beginning a sensual story on my blog that I’ll be serializing throughout several months. Though my published stories are explicit, the blog has been PG-13. This is all changing. So drop me if you don’t want sex in your inbox, and follow me if you do!
And now, to reveal the title and synopsis of my up coming project…..
Evelyn Aster 