Chasing Luck by Brinda Berry
(A Serendipity Novel #1)
Publication date: May 2014
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Suspense
Sometimes surviving doesn’t feel lucky. Especially when you’re a sole survivor…
At the age of seven, Malerie walked away from a bombing that left hundreds dead—including her mother. When a crazed gunman kills her guardian on her eighteenth birthday, Malerie suspects there may be more to her survival than luck. A mysterious code holds the key to her future, and a reluctant white knight holds the key to her heart.
A loner wearing emotional armor…
Ace is a twenty-year-old entrepreneur focusing on two things in life: financial security and a life without ties. A life that doesn’t risk losing the ones who matter. When Ace is hired to secretly act as a bodyguard for Malerie, he faces an unwanted attraction that threatens to sabotage his heart. Can Ace find the courage to love a girl with a death wish?
ACE
“My attraction to you runs fiery hot. It consumes my every waking thought. I burn for you, baby. Don’t stop this attraction, baby.” ~ Jelly Bean Queen
The text from John Toombs directs me to a table near the center of the main room. I enter and can't believe my mixture of good and bad luck. Good because Ms. Smokin' Hot is with Toombs. And bad because Ms. Smokin' Hot is with Toombs.
He looks up at me and nods as he rises. I lean across to shake his hand and I can smell the girl. Something subtle like stuff from the bath shops. A sweet, vanilla scent advertising innocence.
But she can't be innocent hooked up with somebody old enough to be her father. He has money and she's too young to be whoring herself out. My stomach clenches at the thought of them together in bed.
"Ace, I'd like to introduce my niece, Malerie." Toombs waves a hand in her direction.
The scales definitely tip in the direction of bad news. She's not his trophy wife or barely-legal mistress. She’s his niece — the number one spot on the dateable-but-off-limits list. The girl looks at me and her gaze makes a slow run down the length of my body. I'm beyond screwed. Goodbye Miss Innocent, hello Miss Seductress.
The air sparks between us and her eyes say she feels the electricity, too. "Hi, Malerie. Nice to meet you," I say, wishing she'd given me this look earlier instead of the one like I was some psycho perv who hangs out near restrooms.
Malerie has an exotic look that I can't place. Her honey-brown eyes, huge in her pale face, remind me of some hot anime character with bottomless eyes and dangerous curves. The chick probably has guys lining up to take on her rockin' body and the attached load of money.
I tear my gaze away from her and meet the Clint Eastwood glare of John Toombs. With one look, Toombs gives me the hell-no warning. It's a warning that rubs me like running a hand against the fur up a cat's back. I don't like it, but I'm not stupid.
I can almost hear the whomp-whomp of his protective radar. If I were him, I'd bar the door and clean the rifle.
"Have a seat," Toombs says.
I pull out the chair closest to Malerie and avoid looking in her direction. The way she looked at me in front of her uncle spells defiance on steroids.
MALERIE
“Give me a line and a rhyme. Give me your heart in words.”~ Jelly Bean Queen
Patterns of light shimmy along the ceiling of the hotel room. The heavy, brocade curtains are open and a filmy, sheer curtain blocks the bright sunlight. My cell alarm buzzes, and I reach over to press the display. The hotel is quiet this morning.
Ace lies beside me, deep in sleep. He’s on his back and his chest is bare. Oh, yeah. That would be because I practically tore his shirt off last night.
But I’m not embarrassed like I should be. Hurt? Yes. Like walking into the ocean with a thousand paper cuts. Rejection of epic proportions.
I’m glad I let myself experience something so I don’t have time to regret anything. The boxes reveal bad things from the past and the future. I will die soon. Of this, I am sure.
Death is coming for me but not before I can have the things I want so badly.
His chest rises and falls and I’m relieved he’s asleep. I need time to myself to analyze why he stopped us.
I inch over to where he lies and hover with my lips over his. Just one kiss for the sleeping prince who didn’t desert me when everyone else has. The touch of my lips to his is fleeting and I move off the bed as gracefully as possible.
I grab some clothes so I can get into the bathroom and change. I have things to do.
AUTHOR BIO
Brinda Berry lives in the southern US with her family and two spunky cairn terriers. She has a BSE in English and French and a MEd in Learning Systems Technology. She's terribly fond of chocolate, coffee, and books that take her away from reality. She doesn't mind being called a geek or "crazy dog lady". When she's not working the day job or writing a novel, she's guilty of surfing the internet for no good reason.
