Aiden Kingman is reunited with the woman he
mistakenly wronged seven years ago...and this time around, he’s determined to
make things right. Check out this first look for FIGHT FOR YOU by Nina Crespo,
coming this July…
About FIGHT FOR YOU
In this second of the Kingman Brothers series,
Aiden Kingman is reunited with the woman he mistakenly wronged seven years
ago...and this time around, he’s determined to make things right.
Seven years ago, Aiden Kingman had to choose between betraying Delanie Clark and her father or staying loyal to his father’s company. He chose his father—losing Delanie in the process—and he’s regretted it ever since. Now as CEO and partner in Kingman Partners International, he needs to finalize buying a retreat property, but there’s one major hold up: Delanie is the contract negotiator for the owner, and she doesn’t trust him.
Delanie and her father lost everything when Aiden’s father lied about his intentions for buying her family’s mountain retreat. She swore that she would never have anything to do with Aiden Kingman again. But now she’s facing him across the negotiating table, and sparks that had previously been stamped out reignite between them. When tragedy places the deal on the line, will they put their history behind them? Or will the deal cost them both their second chance at love?
Nina Crespo, author of the charming and sexy Forget You, is back with a sizzling romance that will have you believing in second chances, forgiveness, and learning to love despite the past.
Seven years ago, Aiden Kingman had to choose between betraying Delanie Clark and her father or staying loyal to his father’s company. He chose his father—losing Delanie in the process—and he’s regretted it ever since. Now as CEO and partner in Kingman Partners International, he needs to finalize buying a retreat property, but there’s one major hold up: Delanie is the contract negotiator for the owner, and she doesn’t trust him.
Delanie and her father lost everything when Aiden’s father lied about his intentions for buying her family’s mountain retreat. She swore that she would never have anything to do with Aiden Kingman again. But now she’s facing him across the negotiating table, and sparks that had previously been stamped out reignite between them. When tragedy places the deal on the line, will they put their history behind them? Or will the deal cost them both their second chance at love?
Nina Crespo, author of the charming and sexy Forget You, is back with a sizzling romance that will have you believing in second chances, forgiveness, and learning to love despite the past.
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Read the first chapter from FIGHT FOR YOU:
Chapter One
Seven years ago
Delanie Clark stroked the
dark wood footboard of the large sleigh bed in the bedroom of the rustic
two-room mountain cabin at Clearmount Retreat. Should she greet Aiden Kingman
wearing the lingerie set she’d picked out last week at the mall while thinking
of him . . . or nothing at all?
She walked to the side of the bed
and dropped her green backpack on top of the blue comforter. She’d let him
discover her naked . . . in the hot tub. A smile she couldn’t stop bloomed on
her face. That was the perfect place to wait for him and escape the chilly
autumn night.
Finally, it was Friday. She’d hardly
been able to concentrate during her classes at the University of Kentucky Maryland for the
weekend, the days had crept by at a snail’s pace and so had the five-hour drive
earlier from Lexington
Delanie took off her brown hiking
boots and socks, along with her tan wool sweater, jeans, and underwear. She
stuffed her clothes into the pack, stowed everything in the closet behind her,
then hurried into the corner bathroom for a towel. When she came back out, she
dimmed the brass lamp on the bedside table.
Moonlight shining through the
sliding glass door across from her gave the simply furnished room a romantic
glow. The smell of the oak logs stacked inside the fireplace built into the
wall near the foot of the bed lingered with the clean, earthy scent of the
space.
While she was growing up and living
on the retreat property, one of the jobs her father assigned to her had been
filling the kindling boxes and stocking wood in the cabins. She used to imagine
the guests enjoying warm drinks in front of their fireplaces, thoroughly mesmerized
by the orange and amber flames curling and flickering over the logs.
Later on, she and Aiden would lie in
bed, watching their own fire slowly burn to embers. For once, they could fall
asleep in each other’s arms and wake up together in the morning, like a normal
couple, and share breakfast. Her dad was on a fishing trip until late Sunday.
For the first time, she wouldn’t have to sneak back down the trail into the
family living quarters she shared with him before dawn. More importantly,
Aiden’s concern about them seeing each other as a conflict of interest while he
negotiated to buy Clearmount from her father no longer existed. The papers had
been signed yesterday, selling the property to Aiden’s family company, TriRoyal
Incorporated. They’d take over ownership of her dad’s thirty-acre retreat next
month, and she and Aiden were finally free to share about their relationship.
Delanie hurried out the sliding door
into the wood-framed, glass-enclosed deck and shut it behind her. Moonlight
illuminated the steam rising from the sunken hot tub on the right. The
mountains in the distance and the gently swaying trees surrounding her added to
the peaceful ambiance.
She dropped the towel on the deck,
twisted her long, dark hair into a loose topknot, then slipped into the
rippling water. The stress from studying and agonizing over the economics exam
she’d ultimately aced that afternoon melted away as she leaned back and closed
her eyes.
Would Aiden have more of TriRoyal’s
modernization plans to show her? What he’d shared so far was fantastic.
Redwood-and-stone cottages would replace the well-used wood cabins that were
currently on the property. Picture windows would provide views of the lake,
trees, and mountains.
Delanie’s heart accelerated as she
recalled Aiden sitting across from her a week ago in the hot tub, telling her
about his plans. His slicked-back dark hair had emphasized the chiseled angles
of his gorgeous face.
“Not only are we building larger
decks on the cottages, we’re also installing bigger hot tubs.” He’d
shot her a lazy grin. “You and I will definitely take advantage of them when
we visit the new and improved Clearmount Retreat next fall.”
“I like that idea, a lot.” She
hadn’t been able to stop herself from returning his smile. “But I wouldn’t mind
if you took advantage of me now.”
“Come over here and I will.”
“Uh-uh.” She’d
crooked her finger at him. “You come here.”
As he’d stood and approached her,
water had trailed down his defined pecs and abs. The gleam in his hazel-brown
eyes and the erection rising high on his abdomen had promised her one
thing—earth-shattering orgasms.
“Are you mine?”
That’s what he’d asked her in bed
later on as he’d kissed her along her left leg, from her toes to her inner
thigh. He’d started all over again with her other leg. Each brush of his lips
inching nearer to her sex had taunted and teased her.
“Answer me, Delanie.”
She’d tried to respond, but his
tongue feathering over her clit and a back-arching climax had taken away her
ability to form words. His length gliding slowly inside of her and pulling out
at an equally tortuous pace had captivated her. With each successive, deep
stroke that followed, yes not only became her answer but a plea for more
pleasure. And Aiden had delivered.
Infused with the warmth of remembered
bliss, Delanie sank deeper into the water. What they shared was . . . perfect.
But her dad would be surprised to
hear she and Aiden were in a relationship, and that they were going to keep
seeing each other. He’d asked her not to become serious with anyone until after
she’d turned twenty-one. She’d only missed the mark by six months, and her
father did like Aiden. At twenty-four, Aiden was already an acquisitions
negotiator for his father’s company. He understood the importance of
responsibility and would support her making college her main priority over him.
It wasn’t like they were planning to get married or anything. Surely, her
father would understand why she’d kept it a secret until now. She and Aiden had
happily and unexpectedly fallen in love—and she hadn’t wanted that to disrupt
his business dealings.
A man’s voice coming from inside the
cabin, clearly on the phone, broke into her thoughts.
Aiden? Her heart drummed in her
chest as she listened closely. No . . . not Aiden. Gerard Kingman. Shit!
Just as she shrank back into the
shadows, a stream of light came from the bedroom. Aiden’s tall, black-haired
father opened the sliding door and strode into the enclosure, talking on his
cell.
“I don’t care what it takes. Just do
it. No more delays.” Gerard unknotted the maroon tie from the collar of his
white dress shirt and stuffed it in the pocket of the charcoal overcoat that
melded perfectly with his dark suit. With his back turned to Delanie, he moved
toward the stairs at the other end of the deck.
The temperature seemed to creep up
with the warmth flushing into her cheeks. She couldn’t let him find her
bare-ass naked in the tub. If he came closer, she could dunk herself under the
water. She’d rather drown than have him discover her.
“I don’t give a damn if they mow
down the place, cement over the lake, and build a parking lot on top of it as
long as the papers are signed. Get it done.”
Mow down the place? Parking lot?
What was he talking about?
She heard the front door slam shut.
“Dad, where are you?” Aiden’s bellow
reverberated. The solid thunk of his shoes became louder when he entered the
bedroom. Delanie watched him storm out onto the deck and advance on his father
while she tried to shrink back into the shadows farther still. “What the fuck
did you do?”
Gerard slipped his phone into his
pocket. “That’s none of your concern.”
“None of my concern?” Aiden’s
muscles bunched and released underneath his navy sweater and jeans. “You
working a side negotiation with the outlet mall developers on my deal damn well
qualifies as my concern.”
Side negotiation? No. They weren’t
talking about Clearmount. They couldn’t be.
“First, you work for me, not the
other way around.” Gerard’s tone grew implacable. “Second, this is about
business and has nothing to do with whether or not you can bang the property
owner’s daughter with a clear conscience.”
“Leave Delanie out of this.”
“I didn’t bring her into it.” Gerard
pointed at Aiden. “You did. I must admit, it was a smart move getting Delanie
on your side. She was a big influence in swaying Bryan Clark to come to the
negotiating table. He signed the deal. We own the property. It’s mine to sell.
The mall developers are happily going to pay my asking price.”
“Clearmount is my project.”
“That has nothing to do with it.
Because of my decision, we made money. Everybody got what they wanted. That’s
how it works.”
“It wasn’t your call. This was my
acquisition.” Aiden raked back his hair with both hands. “I should have
been the one handling negotiations, not you.”
Delanie’s heart thumped so hard it
felt as if her breastbone would shatter. “No!” Water sloshed in her face as she
surged forward in the tub and into the light. Disbelief made her tremble more
than the cold as she crossed her arms, covering her chest. “You promised my
father you would preserve Clearmount as a retreat. Aiden—you showed me the
renovation plans.”
Gerard’s dismissive look replaced
the heat in the water with a chill. He turned to Aiden, blatantly ignoring her.
“We’re flying out to our property in Denver tonight. Productivity at the hotel
there is low, complaints are high, and since no one else seems to be able to
solve the problem, we’re going to fix it. You’re riding in the town car with me
to the airport. You can make arrangements for the car company to pick up your
rental before we take off. Hurry up and deal with her. We don’t have all
night.” He strode into the cabin.
Delanie looked to Aiden. “What’s
going on?”
He snagged the towel from the deck.
“You’re shivering.”
She took Aiden’s hand and he pulled
her out of the tub, but he didn’t meet her gaze.
Hot and cold prickles dripped down
her spine with the water puddling at her feet. “Is it true?”
He tucked the towel around her.
“Let’s go inside.”
“Answer me!” The force of the words
burned her throat. “Did you sell Clearmount to outlet mall developers?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It was simple enough for you to
fuck me so I’d vouch for you to my father.”
Aiden’s jawline angled as he gripped
her shoulders. “It’s not like that.”
“Isn’t it? Like your father said,
you got what you wanted. Right?”
His silence filled in the gaps.
He’d used her. How could she have
been so stupid? She’d fallen for him but he hadn’t loved her at all. Anger and
hurt washed over Delanie. She wrenched out of Aiden’s grasp. “Get away from me.
I never want to see you again.”
FIGHT FOR YOU by Nina Crespo releases on July 9, 2018
www.ninacrespo.com
Copyright © 2018 Nina Crespo. All rights reserved.
Author Bio:
Nina
Crespo lives in Florida where she indulges in her favorite passions—the beach,
kickboxing, a good glass of wine, and dancing. Her lifelong addiction to
romance began in her teens while on a “borrowing spree” in her older sister’s
bedroom where she discovered her first romance novel. Curiosity about people
and places, including what’s beyond the stars, fuels her writer’s imagination.
Indulge in her sensual contemporary stories and steamy paranormal tales to feed
your own addiction for love, romance, and happily ever after.
Need
Nina? You can also visit her
online at the following places:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
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