The Perfect Mix

Perfect Mix

THE PERFECT MIX
Available March 2014
ISBN B00DQBIS8Q

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Review
Teaser
Excerpt
Behind the Scenes

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Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/3dGbwO7
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3axfu9J
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id827916918
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Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/book/240561229/The-Perfect-Mix-Jersey-Girls-Contemporary-Romance-Series-1

Reviews

Romantic Times Magazine: “A wonderful story of dreams realized and the importance of communications are showcased nicely.”

Teaser

YOU CAN’T RUN FROM YOUR PAST…

Handsome contractor Rey Ramos seems to have all that any woman would want. Good looks, brains, money, and a heart of gold. But Rey also has a deep dark secret that could scare off the beautiful up-and-coming restaurant owner who has captivated him. Rey is not too eager to share the ugly reality of his past with his new client – and it would be totally foolish to fall in love with her…

Blanca Martinez is street smart and savvy. Her gut is telling her to be leery of her new contractor. He’s just too good to be true and her instinct says that he hasn’t always been the good guy he appears to be. In fact, there is something totally bad boy about him that warns her to be wary. As she and Rey work to renovate a rundown building into the restaurant of her dreams, Blanca slowly uncovers the truth about Rey’s past and becomes more and more attracted to the man he has become…

Excerpt


Chapter 1

Jeans that tight and faded should be illegal, Bianca Martinez thought.

She approached the bar where her partner and the man she assumed was their prospective contractor were busy reviewing the plans drawn up by the architect for the renovation of their newly acquired restaurant space.

As she got closer, she once again appreciated how the well-worn denim hugged the slim line of the contractor’s hips. She moved her gaze down his muscled thighs to a pair of clean, but abundantly used work boots. Above his narrow waist a pair of broad muscled shoulders stretched out to there and a head of nearly blue-black hair called to Bianca to smooth out the tousled waves.

She resisted the temptation, telling herself that the rest of him couldn’t be as good as the back of him, but as he sensed her approach, he turned and smiled. In that instant, her heart skittered to an abrupt halt and her breathing ceased.

His face was stunning.

Dark finely arched brows swept over eyes the color of rich caramel toffee. His nose was a straight sharp slash and drew attention to lips just too sinful to describe. Especially when he grinned as he was doing now, displaying perfect white teeth and a deep dimple on one side.

He was masculine perfection. The half-sleeve tattoo across one bicep just added to all that dangerous masculinity, warning her to avoid his bad boy mystique. Her mother had advised her more than once about this kind of man — the ones who seemed too pretty and too sure of themselves for their own good. Her mother had said to run hard and run fast, and Bianca was actually going to listen to her mother this one time.

Except that she had promised Alex and Maya that she would interview this man for her renovations, what with him being a friend of the family.

But agreeing to interview him didn’t mean that she had to hire him, did it?

#

Rey Ramos heard someone enter and assumed it was Alex’s sister, the third partner in this fledgling restaurant business. He didn’t turn around right away, too busy looking at the plans with her partner and getting a sense of what he wanted, not to mention that he was a little pissed that she was late for their meeting.
Rey had a tight schedule today. He had to check on a couple of other job sites before the end of the day since business was good lately. In fact, if it had been any one other than Alex and Maya asking, he wouldn’t even have gone to look over the plans and present a bid. He was just too busy and he didn’t like the idea of spreading himself thin. He prided himself on not just the quality of his work, but on finishing his projects on time. It was what had earned him repeat business and a lot of excellent referrals. People liked it that he came when he was supposed to, did the job with professionalism, and finished within a reasonable timetable and close to budget.

Part of the reason Rey could afford to do that was because he didn’t overextend himself by taking on more contracting jobs than he and his crews could handle at one time. Right now they were exceptionally busy and working on a project of the scope before him would mean Rey would have to put in a lot more hours and assemble another crew of workers for this site.

As he finally turned and grinned at Alex’s sister, he considered again that maybe he was better off not even considering this job.

Before him stood the kind of woman that meant trouble, in capital letters. She was young and very attractive.

There was something in her eyes that bore a slight resemblance to her brother Alex, but that was where any resemblance ended.

She was totally feminine and elegant in that rich girl kind of way. Her chic black suit probably cost more than his entire wardrobe. But then again, denim work shirts and jeans weren’t all that pricey. The suit hugged the slim lines of her body, accentuating her slender curves. Beneath the fine fabric of the suit, a form-fitting white shirt molded to her body.

Rey took a deep breath to battle his response to her generous breasts and a narrow waist that flared into womanly hips. He already itched to explore all those tempting curves, but he resisted.

He told himself again that he was crazy to think about this job. Especially when she held out a well-manicured hand, one sporting an intricately worked topaz ring, and introduced herself in a voice that started an unsettling heat way south in his body.

Her voice was low, with just a slight trace of huskiness. The voice of a seductress and totally in keeping with the sexy image she presented.

Rey glanced at her hand uncertainly, but finally took it in his. He was surprised by the strength in her grip and the slight roughness of her palm which redeemed her somewhat. After all, she couldn’t be that much of a princess if she had even some callous, could she? But then he caught the winking gleam of gold and diamonds, and her sleeve shifted enough for him to see the tennis bracelet encircling her fine wrist.

“I assume you’re Bianca Martinez?” he said and continued holding onto her hand, enjoying the slight tremble and the flush working across the fine line of her cheeks. He was both glad and worried that she, too, was affected by just this simple touch.

“You must be Rey. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you from Alex and Maya,” Bianca replied.

She slowly eased her hand out of his work roughened one, although not before wondering how that hand would feel against other parts of her anatomy. In the back of her mind, her mother’s voice cried out, “Run, girl, run!”

She motioned to the blueprints spread out on the surface of the bar. “I assume you and Eduardo were going over the plans?”

Rey nodded and stepped aside to let her approach the bar and her partner. With a quick chaste kiss for Eduardo, she laid her hand on the blueprints and smoothed them out. “What do you think, Rey?”

“Gorgeous plans, although a little too much for my tastes,” he said and shrugged. “It’ll take a lot of work. Major reconstruction actually,” he continued as he gestured to the plans and then examined the interior of the restaurant.

Bianca cringed at his words and glanced at the blueprints intently. Major reconstruction meant major money, something they really didn’t have. In fact, it was the reason she was late. She’d been at the bank trying to get them to up the amount of the loan they had applied for. The loan officer had been sympathetic, but unwilling to budge, giving them a loan for only a portion of the amount they had requested. Where they would get the other financing to cover their expected expenses, including the renovation, was something she still had to figure out.

“What kind of ‘major reconstruction’ are we talking about?” she asked, all the time hoping Rey was wrong.

Rey placed his hands on his hips and moved a few steps away. He motioned to the one wall right in front of them that cut the restaurant in half. “The plans want to take out this wall, but it’s load bearing. That means we’ll have to find another way to support the area,” he said.

He continued, pointing out on the plans where the architect wanted to take down other walls, reroute existing plumbing, and a number of things which she worried would be costly. Rey sounded competent and very thoughtful as he explained what was involved with all the changes. When he was done with that explanation, he turned to the specification sheet which listed the grade of materials to be used on the job.

“The choice of the lumber is the same I would have made. It’s high grade and will hold up well. But the specs call for hardwood on all the doors, trim and molding, and you’re staining them to a deep walnut color. We could get the same effect with a high-quality pine and it would save a ton of money.”

Bianca shot a glance at the plans then at her partner. “I don’t know why the architect would do that since we told him we had a tight budget.”

“Maybe he took one look at you and thought the budget was unlimited, Princess,” Rey said.

Bianca’s temperature jumped up a few degrees, but from anger this time.

“Eduardo, Diana, and I made ourselves quite clear, Mr. Ramos.”

“Rey,” he corrected and grinned at Bianca again, enjoying the way the color rode high on her cheeks with her irritation. Rey had no doubt that he had pissed her off with his comment, but he hadn’t been able to control himself. Something about her made him want to not only push her buttons, but find a way to create some distance because of the attraction that had hit him like a sledgehammer.

“Well, Rey,” she began and rolled up the blueprints. “We’d appreciate any suggestions you could make as well as seeing your bid as soon as possible.”

He was surprised that she would still want him to bid and was equally shocked at himself when he answered. “I’ll work up an alternative to the design and change out some of the specs for the job.”

“We want quality work, Rey,” she said, her voice hard and her grey-green eyes turbulent.

Rey wondered what those eyes would look like while making love and tamped down the thought with all the strength he could muster. This woman was way out of his league, she was Alex’s sister, and she was a prospective client. Three definite strikes against her. But despite that, he couldn’t control himself from egging her on.

He leaned toward her and whispered in her ear, “Princess, everything I do is quality work.”

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