Kyle Jones, betrayed by the woman he loved the most, is still getting over his recent divorce.
Liana Harris, burned by love before and refuses to give her heart freely, to allow another man to trample all over it again.
When Kyle and Liana decide to take a singles' cruise, neither expects to find love there, just a nice vacation and a good time.
But they find themselves unable to fight the chemistry between them, which seems to pull them toward one another, against their will.
Will they continue to fight the feelings that grow which each day on their getaway cruise, or will they choose to answer love's call?
Excerpt:
Liana stood behind Alyssa in the buffet line, inspecting the rows and rows of endless food. She had always been a person who enjoyed eating, and was never a woman who picked over her food. That’s at least one good thing that will come out of this trip, she told herself, A huge selection of good food. A smile slowly formed on her face when she saw the creamy mashed potatoes---which, as a southern girl, was one of her favorite dishes.
The voice behind her shook her out of her thoughts.“Like being in heaven, isn’t it?”
She turned to find a pair of the sexiest eyes that she’d ever seen on a man, looking back at her. The slight slant in the corners of his heavy eyelids and the deep brown hue of his eyes gave him that bedroom eyes appearance that she knew was one of her weaknesses. She then noticed that the rest of his handsome, chiseled face was just as striking as those eyes of his, and she found herself stammering over her words. “Uh...you...you mean the food?”
Kyle laughed. “Yea, the food. A man could hurt himself in here.”
She wanted to kick herself for letting this man catch her off guard, and she quickly pulled herself together. “True. This might be the best thing on this entire trip.” She grabbed a plate and began to scoop a healthy serving of the mashed potatoes she’d been eyeing.
Kyle followed behind her, now interested in the meaning behind her statement. “You mean to tell me you’re looking forward to the food more than the exotic locales and scores of single men to choose from?”
She scoffed, and said. “I’ll take food over a man, any day,” as she piled green vegetables on her plate.
“Surely, you don’t mean that.”
Liana looked back at him with a look that indicated just how much she really meant what she’d said. He raised his hands in a defensive gesture. “Okay, okay, I believe you,” he said, and walked off to check out the seafood selections on the other side of the room. Kyle knew when to take a hint, and it was clear that she was a woman who didn’t welcome advances. But he couldn’t understand why she was on a singles cruise, since it seemed like that last place she wanted to be at that moment.
When he’d come down to the dining area, the first thing he had done was scan the room, looking for the most appealing and attractive women there. It wasn’t long before he’d seen Liana and he zeroed in on her. He’d remembered her ordeal earlier with her luggage as she’d boarded the ship.
But, he realized, he hadn’t noticed her curvy, hourglass frame, when he’d first seen her earlier that day. Now, however, he could clearly see her shapely figure from across the room, and when he’d approached her and saw the smile light up her face as she looked down at the buffet spread, he was sold on her being his first conquest on the cruise ship.
But after the way that she’d rebuffed him, he was pretty sure that she wasn’t going to be worth the extra effort, especially considering there were plenty of other women who were much more eager to actually enjoy themselves on this cruise, and do what it was designed for--meeting other singles.
Liana was grateful that he’d left her alone so quickly, and hadn’t tried to keep up the small talk. Or worse, tried to flirt with her and latch onto her. She was trying to keep a low profile on this cruise and the last thing she needed was a tag-along.
She was hoping that she could at least get a chance to do some shopping, check out the activities at the ports of call and enjoy some relaxing poolside and beach lounging. And nowhere in there, is there time for running behind some man, she thought.
Liana finished heaping her plate with food, and moved toward the dining tables. A member of the wait staff, a smiling man with a kind face, approached her. “If you tell me your name, I can assist you with your seating assignment.”
“Liana Harris,” she replied and watched him turn to a laptop on a raised counter behind him. He scrolled down the screen, found and her name and said, “Right this way.” Liana followed him to a table on the far end of the room, and noticed that Alyssa had already been seated. She was surrounded by four other men, who undoubtedly had been assigned as their tablemates for the duration of the trip.
But when she recognized the face of one of her new dinner companions, she cursed under her breath. It was the guy from the buffet line. Boy, this just keeps getting better, she thought and thanked the attendant after he’d shown her to her table. She reluctantly took the only seat available--next to Alyssa but directly across from “Bedroom Eyes.”
When she glanced up at him before taking a seat, he flashed her a silly half grin. She quickly directed her attention downward and opened the folded napkin which held her silverware.
Kyle snickered at her dismissal of him. He was starting to find her difficult nature amusing.