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.
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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 because he’d stayed on her mind. Since he’d called on
Wednesday to tell her he was definitely flying in from Maryland for
the weekend, the days had crept by at a snail’s pace and so had the
five-hour drive earlier from Lexington. It seemed like an eternity
since she’d last seen him, instead of just one week.
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:
