Julia del Mar Ortiz is not having the best year.
She moved to Dallas with her boyfriend, who ended up ditching her and running back to New York after only a few weeks. Left with a massive—by NYC standards, anyway—apartment and a car lease in the scorching Texas heat, Julia is struggling…except that’s not completely true. Running the charitable foundation of one of the most iconic high fashion department stores in the world is serious #lifegoals.
It’s more than enough to make her want to stick it out down South.
The only monkey wrench in Julia’s plans is the blue-eyed, smart-mouthed consultant the store hired to take them public. Fellow New Yorker Rocco Quinn’s first order of business? Putting Julia’s job on the chopping block.
When Julia is tasked with making sure Rocco sees how valuable the programs she runs are, she’s caught between a rock and a very hard set of abs. Because Rocco Quinn is almost impossible to hate—and even harder to resist.
Julia
I stepped into the elevator and shoved my phone into the pocket of
my dress, took a moment to send a prayer to the employee discount that let me
buy bomb clothes on a nonprofit worker budget, and did some mental math of what
could be going on.
Was the program really in
trouble? Could we actually get shut down?
Nope, I would not go there. I would not think about what it would
be like to get on a plane back to New York dumped and unemployed. Not
happening.
A distraction. That’s
what I needed. Just as the door to the elevator was about to close, someone got
in. The fact that I was eye level with the base of his throat was a good clue
as to who it was, but when he opened his mouth and the now familiar knee-weakening
baritone echoed off the walls of the elevator, I got my confirmation.
“Morning, Ms. Ortiz.” That voice could be used for interrogation
tactics. Every muscle in my body loosened at the same time whenever I heard it.
I squeaked out a “Morning” and took my time lifting my head all
the way up to look at the last person in the world I wanted overhearing my
conversation with my mother.
Him.
Rocco Fucking Quinn, otherwise known as the “Team Leader” for the
consulting firm looking to bag my job. The guy with the New York City-est name
on the planet. I hadn’t exactly gotten personal with Mr. Quinn, but I picked up
on that accent the first time we met.
“What’s good?” I really tried to sound polite, but my Queens
jumped out in situations like this. I did not gulp, because I could not let
this fucker see me sweat. I managed not to cut my eyes at him, but it was a
close call.
I took him in, ramrod straight, every hair in its place, not a
wrinkle in sight, and decided he could not be the proprietor of the laugh-choke
from before. The man seemed to be completely lacking a sense of humor. I knew
he must have teeth but I’d never seen
them.
Yeah, definitely not him. That fact rallied my spirits a little
bit as I stood close enough to pick up on how he smelled. Like the ocean and
something woodsy. That was not helpful information.
Without saying another
word, I ran my eyes over him. It struck me that he was not wearing something
bespoke like pretty much everyone here. Don’t get me wrong, he still looked
good enough to eat, but he was clearly on a budget. And at a place where
everyone looked like they were heading to a New York Fashion Week photo shoot,
it was sort of jarring. Still, the suit fit him well. And there was no
question, this guy could wear the fuck out of a suit. I held back a whimper
when I envisioned him in a Brioni or a Zegna. They’d have to put out a heat
advisory for the building if that ever happened.
“I thought I could detect a familiar accent when I was coming down
the hall.” His perfectly blue eyes twinkled at what I was certain was an
expression of utter mortification on my face. He sounded pleasant enough, but
he was also alluding to the fact that I was yapping on my phone. This wasn’t
the first time he tried to be cute. Rocco Quinn seemed to like fucking with me.
And it was only a matter of time before he stepped on my last nerve and I
reamed him out.
Thankfully, just as I was scrambling to respond to his comment,
the elevator got to my floor. I was planning to just leave him hanging and run
off, but he was hot on my heels.
Dammit.
“Sounds like your mom misses you.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Why did he have to act all fake nice?
I nodded without looking at him. “She does. Listen, Mr. Quinn—”
“You can call me Rocco.”
Nope, that was not happening. I was not letting this sexy bastard
talk me into getting all chummy with him. I was already on thin ice as it was.
He could keep his pheromones and his slick-as-fuck expressions to his damn
self. I came to a dead stop a few feet away from the conference room door where
my boss—and whatever shitty news she was about to give me—was waiting.
When I turned around,
Rocco was looking down at me with an expectant smile. God he was handsome, that
jet-black hair so dark it almost had a tinge of blue and those eyes, piercing.
And I guess he had teeth after all, and of course they were perfect. Asshole. I
shook my head hard when my traitorous brain started wondering what Pantone
color his eyes would be.
Get your head in the game, Julia del Mar.
I straightened my back, determined to fight off the debilitating
effects of those gleaming teeth and perfectly pink lips. I had to remember this
niceness was probably his way of getting us to let our guard down. He was here
to find ways to cut jobs. I was not about to mouth off and get myself fired,
but I needed to get some things clear.
“Look.” I was proud of myself for not rolling my neck or pointing
at his face. “I know you’re trying to be nice, but you make me nervous.” I
pulled on the hem of my blue polka-dot dress and smoothed my yellow cardigan,
avoiding eye contact at all costs.
“Why do I make you nervous?”
Uh, maybe because you’re here to
close down as much of the foundation as you can.
I refrained from actually saying that because I had not been
raised by a Puerto Rican man and Dominican woman just so I could act like I had
no home training with the guy who could get me fired. But it was a close call.
“I’m sorry for saying that. You don’t make me nervous.”
Lies.
Rocco Quinn didn’t just make me nervous. He made me want to run my hands all over that big-ass body and moon over his almost but not quite curly hair and blue eyes, in spite of the fact that I knew he was out here gunning for my entire program. And yet, I still wanted to kiss the hell out of him while I climbed him like a sequoia.
Copyright © 2020 by Adriana
Herrera
Buy Here to Stay by Adriana Herrera
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About Adriana Herrera
Adriana was born and raised in the Caribbean, but for the last fifteen years has let her job (and her spouse) take her all over the world. She loves writing stories about people who look and sound like her people, getting unapologetic happy endings.
When she’s not dreaming up love stories, planning logistically complex vacations with her family or hunting for discount Broadway tickets, she’s a trauma therapist in New York City, working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
Her Dreamers series has received starred
reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and has been
featured in The TODAY Show on NBC, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Library
Journal and The Washington Post. Her debut, American
Dreamer, was selected as one of Booklist’s ‘Best Romance Debuts of
2019’, and one of the ‘Top 10 Romances of 2019’ by Entertainment Weekly. Her
third novel, American Love Story, was one of the winners in the
first annual Ripped Bodice Award for Excellence in Romantic Fiction. Adriana is an outspoken advocate for diversity in romance
and has written for Remezcla and Bustle about Own Voices in the genre. She’s
one of the co-creators of the Queer Romance PoC Collective. Represented
by Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary.
Connect with Adriana Herrera
Website: https://adrianaherreraromance.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ladrianaherrera
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laura.adriana.94801
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladriana_herrera/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18639202.Adriana_Herrera
Great review!! Just added it to my list.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a terrific review. I hope everyone is taking care and staying safe.
ReplyDelete