The Way You Look Tonight (28 page)
He turned his brights on to see better in the pouring rain and realized there was a person walking along the edge of the road about a hundred yards up ahead. Obviously hearing his car approach, she turned to face him and he could see her long wet hair whipping around her shoulders in his headlights.
Wondering why she wasn’t just sitting in her car, dry and warm, calling Triple A and waiting for them to come save her, he pulled over to the edge of his lane and got out to try and help her. She was shivering as she watched him approach.
"Are you hurt?"
She covered her cheek with one hand, but shook her head. "No."
He had to move closer to hear her over the sound of the water hitting the pavement in what were rapidly becoming hailstones. Even though he’d turned his headlights off, as his eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, he was able to get a better look at her face.
Something inside of Chase’s chest clenched tight.
Despite the long, dark hair plastered to her head and chest, regardless of the fact that
looking like a drowned rat
wasn’t too far off the descriptive mark, her beauty stunned him.
In an instant, his photographer’s eye cataloged her features. Her mouth was a little too big, her eyes a little too wide-set on her face. She wasn’t even close to model thin, but given the way her T-shirt and jeans stuck to her skin, he could see that she wore her lush curves well. In the dark he couldn’t judge the exact color of her hair, but it looked like silk, perfectly smooth and straight where it lay over her breasts.
It wasn’t until Chase heard her say, "My car is definitely hurt, though," that he realized he had completely lost the thread of what he’d come out here to do.
Knowing he’d been drinking her in like he was dying of thirst, he worked to recover his balance. He could already see he’d been right about her car. It didn’t take a mechanic like his brother, Zach, who owned an auto shop—more like forty, but Chase had stopped counting years ago—to see that her shitty hatchback was borderline totaled. Even if the front bumper wasn’t half smashed to pieces by the white farm fence she’d slid into, her bald tires weren’t going to get any traction on the mud. Not tonight, anyway.
If her car had been in a less precarious situation, he probably would have sent her to hang out in her car while he took care of getting it unstuck. But one of her back tires was hanging precariously over the edge of the ditch.
He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Get in my car. We can wait there for a tow truck." He was vaguely aware of his words coming out like an order, but the hail was starting to sting, damn it. Both of them needed to get out of the rain before they froze.
But the woman didn’t move. Instead, she gave him a look that said he was a complete and utter nut-job.
"I’m not getting into your car."
Realizing just how frightening it must be for a lone woman to end up stuck and alone in the middle of a dark road, Chase took a step back from her. He had to speak loudly enough for her to hear him over the hail.
"I’m not going to attack you. I swear I won’t do anything to hurt you."
She all but flinched at the word
attack
and Chase’s radar started buzzing. He’d never been a magnet for troubled women, wasn’t the kind of guy who thrived on fixing wounded birds. But living with two sisters for so many years meant he could always tell when something was up.
And something was definitely up with this woman, beyond the fact that her car was half-stuck in a muddy ditch.
Wanting to make her feel safe, he held his hands up. "I swear on my father’s grave, I’m not going to hurt you. It’s okay to get into my car." When she didn’t immediately say no again, he pressed his advantage with, "I just want to help you." And he did. More than it made sense to want to help a stranger. "Please," he said. "Let me help you."
She stared at him for a long moment, hail hammering between them, around them, onto them. Chase found himself holding his breath, waiting for her decision. It shouldn’t matter to him what she decided.
But, for some strange reason, it did.
...Excerpt from THE LOOK OF LOVE by Bella Andre ©2012.
* * *
A very special Sullivan holiday story is coming September 24, 2013 in hardcover and ebook!
KISSING UNDER THE MISTLETOE
For Mary Sullivan Christmas is, and always has been, about family. And this year is no different. As she awaits the arrival of her eight children and their partners at the cottage in Lake Tahoe, she hangs the ornaments that they made for her over the years. Each decoration brings with it a tide of memories, all of which she holds dear to her heart.
But when she comes across the oldest ornament, the one her beloved husband, Jack, gave her on their very first Christmas together, Mary is immediately swept back to the first days of their whirlwind romance, to the love that would be the foundation on which they built the family she is so proud to call her own.
Join the Sullivans this Christmas for a story that explores the wonder of the holidays, the meaning of family and a love that transcends time.
Pre-order KISSING UNDER THE MISTLETOE in hardcover from Amazon
ebook pre-order link coming soon!
COMPLETE BOOKLIST
The following Bella Andre titles are also available in electronic format from Amazon. Please scroll down for Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, and paperback links.
The Sullivan Family series
The Way You Look Tonight
Bad Boys of Football series
Game For Love
/
Game For Seduction
/
Game For Anything
Take Me series
Stand-alone Novels
Candy Store
/
Ecstasy
/
Red Hot Reunion
/
Tempt Me, Taste Me, Touch Me
Hotshot Firefighter series
Wild Heat
/
Hot As Sin
/
Never Too Hot
For Amazon UK please use the following links:
The Sullivan series
The Look of Love
/
From This Moment On
/
Can’t Help Falling In Love
/
I Only Have Eyes For You
/
If You Were Mine
/
Let Me Be The One
/
Come A Little Bit Closer
/
Always On My Mind
/ The Way You Look Tonight
Bad Boys of Football series
Game For Love
/
Game For Seduction
Take Me series
Stand-alone
Candy Store
/
Ecstasy
/
Red Hot Reunion
/
Tempt Me, Taste Me, Touch Me
Hotshot Firefighter series
Wild Heat
/
Hot As Sin
/
Never Too Hot
For Amazon Canada please use the following links:
The Sullivan series
The Look of Love
/
From This Moment On
/
Can’t Help Falling In Love
/
I Only Have Eyes For You
/
If You Were Mine
/
Let Me Be The One
/
Come A Little Bit Closer
/
Always On My M
ind / The Way You Look Tonight
Bad Boys of Football series
Game For Love
/
Game For Seduction
/
Game for Anything
Take Me series
Stand-alone
Candy Store
/
Ecstasy
/
Red Hot Reunion
/
Tempt Me, Taste Me, Touch Me
Hotshot Firefighter series
Wild Heat
/
Hot As Sin
/
Never Too Hot
For paperback titles at Amazon use the following links:
The Look of Love
/
From This Moment On
/
Can't Help Falling In Love
/
I Only Have Eyes For You
/
If You Were Mine
/
Kissing Under The Mistletoe (Mary & Jack Sullivan’s story)
Bad Boys of Football series
Game For Love
/
Game For Anything
/
Game For Seduction
Take Me series
Stand-alone
Candy Store
/
Ecstasy
/
Red Hot Reunion
/
Tempt Me, Taste Me, Touch Me
Hotshot Firefighter series
Wild Heat
/
Hot As Sin
/
Never Too Hot
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Having sold more than 1.5 million books,
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author Bella Andre’s novels have appeared on Top 5 lists around the world. Known for “sensual, empowered stories enveloped in heady romance” (Publishers Weekly), her books have been Cosmopolitan Magazine ”Red Hot Reads” twice, have been translated into nine languages, and her Sullivan books are already Top 20 bestsellers in Brazil. Winner of the Award of Excellence, The Washington Post has called her “One of the top digital writers in America” and she has been featured by NPR, USA Today, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and most recently in TIME Magazine. She has given keynote speeches at publishing conferences from Copenhagen to Berlin to San Francisco, including a standing-room-only keynote at Book Expo America on her self-publishing success. Harlequin MIRA will be releasing her bestselling Sullivan series in print throughout 2013 and 2014 in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
If not behind her computer, you can find her reading her favorite authors, hiking, swimming or laughing. Married with two children, Bella splits her time between the Northern California wine country and a 100 year old log cabin in the Adirondacks.
For a complete listing of books, as well as excerpts and contests, and to connect with Bella:
Visit Bella’s website at:
http://www.BellaAndre.com
Follow Bella on twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/bellaandre
Join Bella on facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/bellaandrefans
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http://eepurl.com/eXj22