Smokin' Hot Reads: Excerpt Reveal: The Day He Came Back by Penelope Ward

THE DAY HE CAME BACK

(A standalone)

Release date: 8/19/2019

A Contemporary Romance Novel

New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author

Penelope Ward

Excerpt Reveal:

By Penelope Ward

I looked down at her fitted white pants, covered in dirt marks. Even though she looked sexy as hell, I had to ask. "Why the hell does my mother insist on the staff wearing all white?"

"You'll have to ask her, although I like to think of it as practice for my future nursing career."

“I guess that’s one way to look at it. It kind of freaks me out. It’s like you’re all part of some cult.” I chuckled.

“I wonder what she’d do if I showed up in black. She’d shun me.” She snapped her fingers jokingly. “Oh wait…”

Except I wasn’t laughing now. I felt horrible that she knew exactly how my mother felt about her.

“I’m sorry she’s such a bitch, Raven.”

“It’s not your fault.” She looked out at the ocean, then promptly changed the subject. "You must be excited to go to Connecticut in the fall.”

“At this very moment, thanks to you, I'm in absolutely no rush to leave this spot, let alone Palm Beach.”

She blushed. "You're funny.”

“You're f*cking beautiful.” That just came out. “I'm sorry if that was too forward. But it’s true,” I said.

“No.” Her cheeks turned pink. "Thank you."

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

She pushed some hair behind her ear. "No."

"I want to take you out."

She looked down at her empty cup. "I don't think so.”

Ouch. “Can I ask why?”

“It's not that I'm not interested, but…you're leaving in the fall, so I’m not sure it makes sense to start anything up. Then there’s the bigger issue of your mother. I just don't think it's a good idea.”

"I get it." I nodded. "I understand."

Holy sh*t. I wasn't used to rejection. I couldn't remember the last time a girl had said no to me. I swear to God, my dick just stiffened. What was it about the chase that was so damn arousing? I had to find another way…

"Can we hang out as friends, then?"

She grinned skeptically. “Friends?”

"There's this improv club near where you live. I wanted to go check it out this weekend. Would you want to go with me?"

“Venturing to the other side of the bridge, eh?” she teased. “What would Mother think?”

“Will you come with me, wiseass?”

"Seriously, what if your mom finds out?"

"She won't. She doesn't really question where I go. I'll just tell her I'm going to meet a friend. And thanks to your rejection, that won’t be a lie, right?”

Raven blinked for a while before she finally answered, "Okay. Yeah."

My heart sped up. "Yeah?"

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It was the summer of my life.
I’d met the guy of my dreams.
Unfortunately, he was the son of my uppity employer—and very much off-limits.
But Gavin was a rebel. He knew his mother would disown him if she found out about us; in his eyes, we just had to be careful.
He never treated me as his mother did—like hired help.
Instead, Gavin put me on a pedestal and loved me harder than I’d ever been loved in my life.

What a summer it was.
Until it all ended—badly.

I was never supposed to see Gavin again.
That didn’t stop me from thinking about him every day for ten years.
I knew little about his life now, just that he was an entrepreneur living an ocean away.

When a twist of fate had me working again in the very place our love affair started a decade earlier, I knew it was only a matter of time before I might see him again.
But I wasn’t prepared.
What if he hated me?
What if he loved someone else now?
I wasn’t prepared for all the unknowns.

And most of all, I wasn’t prepared for today to be the day he came back.

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.

She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.

With over two million books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over twenty novels. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.