Spotlight: The Bouquet List by Barbara DeLeo
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About the Book
He's #5 on her Bouquet List. Tall, dark...and completely forbidden.
After a too-close call with death, Yasmin Katsalos is checking some things off her Bouquet List—things to do after you thought you were going to die. Fun fashion choices? Check. Purple hair and a cute diamond nose stud? Check, check. Now she's on to item #5: a flirty fling with a man who's tall, dark, rich...and totally out of her league.
And restaurateur Lane Griffiths definitely fits the bill.
Lane isn't just out of Yasmin's league. He's also her brother's best friend and therefore off-limits. Now that they're working together on renovations for her family's wedding hall, however, Yasmin has plenty of opportunities to bewitch, bother, and boldly seduce. He's reserved. She's relaxed. The only thing they share is a spark of attraction that's too strong to resist. But is Lane just another item on her bouquet list... or has Yasmin found something on her list that will last?
**Note: this title was originally released July 14, 2014 and has been updated to be a closed door Bliss.
Excerpt
“Do you think I’ve changed?” She realized she was interrupting his list of possible new menu choices, but if she didn’t get this seduction ball rolling soon it might never happen.
He looked up, his fork poised in midair, and his eyes sparked. “Of course. The braids you had when you were ten weren’t purple.” He stabbed at something on the plate in front of him and held it up. “You haven’t tried this squid yet. The way they’ve braised it with currants and red wine is unusual, but it works. It’s probably not a great choice for a wedding, but it’d be a nice appetizer on the regular restaurant menu.”
“Have I changed in a good way or a bad?”
“Good, of course,” he said and continued chewing, but he frowned. “But I thought you were ne before.”
Fine?
He pointed with his fork to the walls and furniture, completely oblivious to the first of her seduction techniques. “How do you think this decor works? I like the turquoise and silver color scheme to represent the colors of Greece, but I’d probably make it even more contemporary—use more glass and brushed metal but with the budget—”
“I didn’t realize you’d noticed me before.” She did the slow blink thing that Genie had insisted would be guaranteed to get his attention. It felt like she was one of those openmouthed clowns at the fair, waiting for him to put a ping-pong ball in her mouth.
There was that warm grin again. It was small and hard won, but it was worth the wait. “I noticed you when you followed Nick and me around, wanting to know how our toy guns worked, pleading with us to help you with one of your experiments.”
She took another mouthful of the water and let her shoulders relax as the bubbles tickled the roof of her mouth. He’d been surprised when she said she wouldn’t have a glass of wine. She’d thought about disclosing her illness, but she still wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t tell her parents, or worse, stop her from being involved at all.
“I noticed you all the time.” There, she’d said it. She held her breath.
“Why, because you were wondering if I’d try to put a frog down your back?”She didn’t answer, just stared at him the way Genie had promised would have him begging for her to touch him. He looked up and the expression on his face changed and he gave a small cough. “Don’t tell me you had a
Was his emphasis on “crush” because he was completely horrified by the concept, or because he’d been hoping for so long that she’d felt that way that he couldn’t believe she’d finally said it?
About the Author
Barbara DeLeo’s first book, co-written with her best friend, was a story about beauty queens in space. She was eleven, and the sole, handwritten copy was lost years ago, much to everyone’s relief. It’s some small miracle that she kept the faith and is now living her dream of writing sparkling contemporary romance with unforgettable characters.
After completing degrees in Psychology and English then travelling the world, Barbara married her winemaker hero and had two sets of twins.
She still loves telling stories about finding love in all the wrong places, with not a beauty queen or spaceship in sight.
