Kindle Edition
Amazon
Author Cherry-Ann Carew
Amazon.com
Category:
Romance
Publisher: CAC publishing
ISBN-10: B016C98EIC
Type: Fiction
Pages: 115
Copyright: October 7, 2015
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
Hidden Sparks is book one in the sexy, romance series - The Millionaire Girl’s Secret.
They were young teenagers, and back then, his hands were clumsy. Now, as he rubbed the lotion over her shoulders, they were smooth, hot, and … held an element of experience beyond rubbing. He was caressing her shoulders and Ashley felt her skin prickle and her knees go weak. She wanted to tell him that was enough, but the words stuck in her throat.
At the tender age of eighteen, Ashley Jackson gives into temptation and sleeps with her handsome crush, Joe Colaianni, which to her dismay, ends up being a one-night stand.
Not long after, he signs a contract to join a professional soccer club. In time, she gets over him and moves on with her life, starting a real estate business with her twin brother Gabe, and her own independent matchmaking company, which she inadvertently runs with her endearing, no-nonsense grandmother, Grandma Bella.
Over the years, Joe is still very much in her life and there's no denying Ashley is still attracted to him, a gravitational pull she struggles to resist.
For reasons known only to her and her two best friends, Ashley cannot allow herself to fall in love with him again, but when he insists on talking about the past after so many years, Ashley doesn’t understand what changed. Plus, nothing he says could erase the past.
Hidden Sparks offers readers a compelling story filled with heartwarming humor, romance, heartbreak and love from the broad cast of characters.
Excerpt
Ashley lounged on the terrace of her elegant Mediterranean-style home on Lido Isle, overlooking the wide open harbor of Newport Beach. The still coconut palm trees and water suited her current temperament, which was calming after her Valentine date the previous night, orchestrated by her grandmother!
Imagine at twenty-seven years old being set up on a blind date… well, that wasn’t a hundred percent true. Ashley knew of him. How could she not? He was in every one’s living room whether in a magazine, on the Internet, or on TV.
The other unimaginable thing was that Ashley was the one who usually set up dates through one of her businesses, ‘Connecting Sparks,’ yet, her grandmother had taken it upon herself to fix her up.
Grandma Bella told her she was at the snack bar on a private beach when she overheard a young man on his cell phone telling the listener that he didn’t have a date.
“Well, that’s not on, is it, Ashley? I mean, we bring people together and I could not let this young man miss out on romance, especially with Valentines being only a week away.”
“Grandma, you know we can’t match two people in such a short space of time,” Ashley told her. If Ashley allowed her, Grandma Bella would ferret all over Southern California, gather every single man and woman and bring them on as clients. At the sprightly and healthy age of seventy-one, barring a baker’s cyst behind her knee that hindered her mobility sometimes, and failing eyesight, she was still a hopeless romantic and inadvertently became Ashley’s right-hand when it came to matching couples.
Grandma Bella often reminded her how she started matchmaking long before it became in vogue, when she was a young lass living in England. Ashley must have taken that trait from her, because she, too, matched many of her college friends before making a business of it after a few elbow nudges from her best friend, Kimberley.
“I know that lovey dove,” Grandma Bella had reminded her, “but I still thought we should get him on our books so I engaged him in conversation. What a lovely young man, and he has his own successful television reality show.”
She got Ashley’s interest then, as only a few days ago she accepted a reality show celebrity as a client. Surely, it couldn’t be the same person.
“Grandma—“
“Here, take a look,” she went into the photo album on her phone, squinted as she scrolled around and said, “look, isn’t he a fine one?”
Ashley was relieved to see that he wasn’t the same client, but she knew who he was then laughed and asked, “You actually took a picture of AJ?”
“AJ?”
“Sorry, Antonio Javier Moreno. He’s known as AJ and is quite a popular Mexican American reality TV host and heart throb.”
“Oh, yes, that he is.” Grandma Bella said, admiring his picture, ‘Simply divine.”
Ashley looked over at Kimberley who happened to be in her office.
She mouthed, “Too cute.”
Ashley didn’t know about that, but she was a riot, alright.
“So, did you arrange for him to come in for an appointment and fill in a questionnaire?” Ashley asked, before taking a sip of coconut water.
“No, dear, I arranged for him to take you on a date. That way, neither of you will be alone for Valentines.”
Amid her spluttering, she heard Kimberley gasp.
“Are you alright, love? Would you like some water? Kimberley, would you mind getting my granddaughter a bottle of water from the fridge?”
Ashley held her hand up before Kimberley moved. When she could speak, the only word that came out of her mouth was, “Grandma!”
“Oh, I know, but you don’t have a date either and you would make such a lovely pair. Antonio agrees, too. He likes you. Who in their right mind wouldn’t?”
Ashley’s throat was dry and she desperately wanted to take another sip of the coconut water, but fear of spluttering again stopped her, and she was still processing what Grandma Bella said. Sitting upright, she asked “How could he agree to anything? He doesn’t know me. He doesn’t even know what I look like.”
“But he does. I showed him a picture of you and told him you are my lovely granddaughter. He was pretty taken by you. I could feel it in my waters.”
Ashley sank back into the chair. “Aarrr… Grandma, what have you done?” she moaned and glanced at Kimberley again. Her face was lacquer red from holding back her laughter and tears shimmered in her eyes.
Ashley didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She loved Grandma Bella with all her heart, but sometimes… sometimes, she could be unlovable, like right now.
Ashley took a deep breath. “Kimberley, you have my permission to laugh.”
“Excuse me,” Kimberley managed to say before hurrying toward the bathroom with her hand over her mouth. Laughter could be heard as she couldn’t stifle it before getting out of earshot.
“What’s so funny? Did I miss something?” Grandma Bella asked.
“Grandma, would you like some tea?”
“That would be lovely, dear. Have Emilia prepare a pot, please.”
Ashley picked up the phone and asked Emilia, her mother, Celia, and Grandma Bella’s housekeeper, to make a pot of Earl Grey tea. She and her grandmother would be over at the main house in ten minutes, she told her. Ashley replaced the phone and sat beside her on the sofa in the detached casita that doubled as her day time home office. “Grandma, tell me again what you did.”
|
