Barefoot with a Stranger

Former CIA agent Malcolm Harris was falsely accused of stealing money from the government.Serving his sentence, he recenly got out prison.  He  sees a woman twice in the a row and thinks she’s a CIA agent that’s following him. When they meet, there’s a instant chemistry between them. From her honest responses he realizes she’s not an agent. When their flight is canceled, and the airline provides them with a night at a hotel, they decide to have a one-night stand and after, she tells him her name, Francesca Rossi. Finding out she’s his best friend ‘s sister, he leaves without saying a word.

Francesca Rossi or Chessie for short, was called by her brother Gabriel or Gabe to go to Barefoot Bay, since he needs a favor. In Barefoot with a Bodyguard, with her genius computer skills, she helped him find out that the woman he was looking for, Isasora Winters, is dead, and that she left a little boy named Gabriel, who was born the same year he last saw Isadora. There’s no doubt that this kid is his child. After her one-night stand left without a word, she wants to get out of there as  soon as possible, so she drives to Florida. It’s a shocking surprise for her when she sees her one-night stand in her brother’s home. The man is introduced to her as Malcolm Harris, Gabe’s closest friend. She is even more surprised when Gabe tells her she needs to go in a covert operation with him to Cuba to find out his son’s whereabouts. Can they forget about the tension and akwardness between them and go on with the operation? What will they find out in Cuba?

Barefoot with a Bodyguard

Kate Kingston’s father is a jury that recently recieved a threatening message to his daughter. She doesn’t want a bodyguard, so her father ends up hiring Gabriel Rossi to manage the situation. The only thing that Kate wants is to have a peaceful place to study for her bar exam, since wants to be a lawyer. She is recenl divorced. Her ex wanted to control her and made her life miserable. However she ends up having to be called Mathildaor Tilly, which is her new indentity. Plus, she now has a bodyguard, who is also her husband!

Alec Petrov is a russian-american that needs to hide from the russian mob leader. His father had money problem and ended up giving Alec to this leader so he could be a “soldier”. They tattoo his hand with the word kill in russian. He is succesful in escaping his destiny, but now this leader wants him again. Gregg, and FBI agent, got Alec under his wing a long time ago, and now hired Gabe Rossi for his services. So Alec ended up being Kate’s bodyguard and husband.

While Kate and Alec stay in the same villa, they start to feel wild chemistry and a special connection. Against the rules,  rndsup telling him her real name and her story, and wants him to do the same. He resist telling her anything, since knowing things about him is  dangerous for her and since he has difficulty trusting people. Can you they keep their ruse of being a married couple? Can they stay safe? Will he end up trusting her?

Barefoot Bound

The prequel of  Barefoot  with a Bodyguard. Former CIA agent Gabriel Rossi goes to Barefoot Bay in the state if Florida to check out the security in a hotel called Casa Blanca. He makes a deal with Luke McBain, the owner of the security company hired by the hotel. He wants a cover up job for what he plans to do, and the spot as a a security consultant is perfect for this. He wants to help people who need protection, a place to hide and a new identity, but who don’t always qualify for a government program. At the end, he is onclined to accept the deal, but needs a little time to think about.

Gabe goes back to Boston to break it to his family that he will no longer be part of the family’s security busimess, The Guardian Angelinos, and that he is going to start a new business im Florida. He wants to take Nino, his widowed  italian grandfather with him, but he says he doesn’t want to leave because he is in love. Gabe checks the woman’s background and finds out that she’s been married for forty years. Is it a misunderstanding? How will Nino react to the news? Will the family react well to the news of Gabe leaving?

I love the relationship between Nino and Gabe. It’s a good story to better understand the first book of the series and it’s also very entretaining.

A Facade to Shatter

 

 

I really liked this american/Sicilian couple. Their meeting is dramatic and they have many obstacules, but they overcome them. I liked how they help each other with their fears and issues.

So this is what this book is about:

An insecure and shy girl, Lia Corretti felt like she didn’t belong in her family world. She was the daughter of her father’s first marriage, when he remarried he left her at her grandmother’s house and abandoned her. Apart from her grandmother, her family didn’t understand her, not even her half brothers Alessandro and Santo. Her life was about to change when she helped Zach out of his traumatic episode, at her brother Alessandro’s wedding.

Zack Scott was an american veteran and friend of famous actress Taylor Carmiachel. He attended the wedding as the plus one of Taylor to support her, it was her first film promotion since getting back in her acting career and she was very nervous, so he had no choice but to attend. Everything was fine until there where blinking lights and a traumatic war episode started. He was back in time, and he thought he was being attacked. A girl came close to him and touched him and he attacked her, but he came to reality on time and apologized and left. His medal fell to the floor and she picked it up.

Lia Corretti was starled and confused by Zack’s reaction, and seeing his medal on the floor she picked it up. Soon after, she heard a discussion between her aunt and her cousin Rosa.When she heard her aunt’s confession that Rosa was not the daughter of Lia’s uncle but in fact was her sister, Lia was in shock and then so happy to have a sister, since she always wanted a sister. When Rosa came toward her she was about to talk to her and hug her but Rosa ran. (I felt sorry for her in this part, poor girl)

Lia felt really upset and rejected. She was so upset she strolled toward the empty pool area. She wanted to do somthing crazy so he jumped in the pool fu lly clothed in her gala dress. ( I liked how she dared for the first time to di something crazy)

But when she tried to come back to the surface she couldn’t, then she saw that the hem of her dress was stuck in the pool’s filter and she couldn’t realese it and she panicked. She blacked out. She woke up in a bed naked and saw Zack’s face. He told her that she rescued her and had to take off her clothes and that he had to take her to his room because she had told him to not call anyone. (It was sweet that she rescued her)

She was really embarrassed. Then she remembered about the medal and asked him if he had found it and why did he dropped it. He didn’t answer her and she realized he didn;t want to. Then she asked him why he had got it. He said he was at war flying and he was shot down and now he’s flying days were over. After that he offered her a robe and turned around so she could put it on. When she wanted to leave to her room she insisting on taking her back, but she said no. He wouldn’t take no for an answer so she sat in his bed and refused. There was a sexual tension flowing in the air and when they couldn’t resist it anymore, he came close to her and asked her if she was sure about it and she said yes. That was the night she lost her virginity. (For the whole weekend they stayed in his room and walked in the beach once in a while and on sunday morning she woke up without him and he left a note. ( I loved how Harris wrote about their incredible passion)

Weeks later he was asisting one of the family’s foundation events in DC, where he once again had to give a speech about his heroic act in the army. He didn’t like to do it becuause he didn’t think the act was really heroic. He saw a few girls who where flirting with him with their body language but he could only think about the nights he spent with Lia. As if calling her he heard he call his name and he turned around.

Lia was nervous about seeing him again because she came all the way from Sicily to tell him she was pregnant. She was really dissapointed when she told him and he didn’t believe it was his. He told her that they had used protection. She replied that she had been a virgin and that there was a time when they hadn’t used protection. She knew by his expression that he remebered, but he still didn’t believe it was his. He had many experiences like this, where women claimed he was the father and it was a lie, they wanted to be related to a politician’s family.  (He was such a duchbag in here)

A few days later he came to her hotel and told her to go to his house in Virginia with him. If the partnity test was posutive they will get married. Since he was a politician;s son, Hurt by his reaction and attitud she said no at first, but at the end he convinced her. When they got the paternity test in Virginia, they got married. Their hineymoon was in Hawaii. They got to know each other. Their intense chemistry was still there. When they couldn’t resist any longer, they acted on it. They were happy in their honeymoon, until one day she insisted that they sleep in the same bed. That was when she had a traumitic episode and attacked her, when he came back to reality and realize what he was doing he got terrified. Since then he started doubting if he was good fir her. Will they get passed this?

 

A shadow of guilt

I love this childhood friend couple. It’s touching how they try to get passed the big traumatic event in their lives, Valentina’s brother death.

What’s this all about?

Under the shadow of tall pine tree, stood Giacomo Corrtti , mostly known as Gio. He watched as they moved to coffin of his best friend to his grave. Valentina, the deseased sister, saw him and told him to leave because it was his fault her brother was dead. He blamed himself too, if he hadn’t conceded to Mario’s insistence of going out that night, maybe he would have been alive at that moment.

Seven years later, Valentina was working as the coordinator of an independent catering hired by the Correttis for the Corretti/Battaglia wedding. The last thing she wanted to do was work for the Correti’s, but she needed the job, She thought about what will happen if Gio attended. It was inevitable that he heart beated faster when she thought about, but at the dame time she felt the need to hate him and be angry at him to keep him away,

Gio Corretti came to his cousin’s wedding at the insistence of his mother. He didn’t like to be around his messy family. His mother was always insecure and was terrified that one day her husband will leave her for one of his mistresses. His diseased father, was always dissapointed in him, since he was always shy and insecure. His brothers were always rivaling each other for power and payed little or no attention to him. For this and other reasons, the last thing he wanted was being there, he wanted to be in the other side of Sicily, breeding and training his horses.

The wedding was a disaster, the bride had jilted the groom in the altar. Carmela, the groom’s mother, told Valetina that since there wasn’t a full guest count she wouldn’t be paying her and that she still had to serve the guest who were there. Valentina was furious, but she didn’t defied Carmela since she had great influence and could destroy her little catering service.

When Gio saw that the wedding was off, he was irritated that he came for nothing. He walked around the reception drinking champagne and he stopped in his tracks when he saw with his peripheral vision that a woman was sitting in a storage room with her head down and her hands in her face. Then he recognize her, it was Valentina, he couldn’t believe she was there. When she realized who was watching her Valentina told him to leave and he refused. They had a discussion and then she told him that his aunt was not paying her. He offered to pay her, but she refused. she didn’t want a euro from him. Then one of her working partners called her and she told him she didn’t want to see him again.

A week later, Valentina reluctantly realized that she needed Gio’s help and traveled to his workplace. She told him about how she threatened his aunt to suit her if she didn’t pay her and his aunt told her that she would make sure she was blacklisted from every catering job in the island. But then she started to regret being there and she left. He followed her to Palermo. He offered her his help and she refused. Then she had a call from her mom, telling her that her father had collapsed/ They hurried and took Gio’s car to the address. When they got there, they saw her father in the floor and Gio did CPR to him. When they moved him to the hospital, the doctors told them that the CPR was what saved her father. Valentina thanked Gio for his help. He told her that if she needed anything to let him know.

The next week, Valentina called Gio and ask him for a job. She told him how she how she worked her way a sou-chef in a restaurant. He told her that the Corretti Cup (a horse-racing tournament) was coming up and that he wasn’t her to choose the menu and cater for the three days of the tournament and she agreed. He told her she could move in one of the staff quarters but she refused.

A week later Valentina felt very tired, she had to travel to hours from her home to her workplace and it made her have to go to bed at midnight and wake up at 5 am. Now it was 8:30pm and she was still working, Gio saw her and scolded her, for working late. He convinced her to take her home and when they made a stop to the hospital where Valentina’s father was, he joined her in. When she discovered that Gio proposed to her father to a hospital near her workplace and to get private treatment and that her father had accepted it, Valentina was furious. She didn’t really  understand why, but she was. But finally she accepted it and moving to the staff quarters.

As we read through the book we come to know that Mario, Valentina’s brother, died in a horse-ridding accident. He insisted to ride Gio’s most wild horse, Gio refused but Mario kept insisting and then Gio couldn’t say no. Gio blamed himself for being the owner of such a wild horse. For yearse he traveled, gambled and had many one-night stands. But he woke up one day and told himself that it was enough and started a bred and training horse business.

As Valentina spends more time with Gio, she comes to know him better and realizes how tortured he has been  these seven years because  her brother’s death. Therefore, each day it becomes more difficult for her to hate him . Plus, there’s an incredible attraction between both characters. And there comes a point when they can resist it. Gio in the other hand, has loved Valentina since they where teenagers, but he didn’t act on it because she was the soster of his best friend. Will there feeling and attraction be enough to get passed the traumatic event for Mario’s death, or will that be a barrier for them for the rest of their lives.

An Invitation to Sin

I loved this Sicilian/American couple. There so passionate and thr0ough out the book we see how they need each other. I love how Luca makes Taylor get out of her shell and be less in control. My favorite part was when they have a date incognito.

So here is the story:

Under the incredible Sicilian skies, one of the most famous families in the island, the Corretti family was celebrating the wedding of one of its members. Famous actress, Taylor Carmichael attended to the wedding on the insistence of her latest film producer Santo Corretti, the groom’s brother. Taylor had a bad reputation since she fired her own mother as her manager and dated her director, who has much older than her. That’s why the producer tells her to behave since they are promoting the film. Not standing the judgemental glances of the wedding guests she walks toward a maze. Meanwhile, Luca Corretti, scandalous playboy billioner, and cousin of the groom, hides in the maze avoiding his latest one-night stand mistake. Taylor walks straight into him and he gets irritated thinking its the girl he is trying to avoid. Once he realizes is not her, he talks and flirts with Taylor. He tells her about how he is trying to hide from his last night’s mistake and that he knows her from a movie and knows that she dated her director. They keep talking and when they can’t resist the intense chemistry between them he kisses her. She kisses him back and gets lost in the passion. But then she realizes what they are doing and tells him they shouldn’t be doing this. Then after having a discussion with she leaves. The next day a picture of them kissing is all over the press. The director and producer of the film demand her to explain it. Panicked that she can lose her job, she tells them that she and Luca are engage secretly. After that she tries to convince Luca to continue with the lie, but with no luck. However, after the board enthusiastically congratulate him on the engagement and tells him how glad they are that he has change his ways, he decides to stick with her plan. They date publicly, so the lie can be believable and she moves in with him. But, after they get to know each other and when they can’t resist the wild chemistry between them, will the line between what’s real and what’s fake stay clear?