Read an #excerpt from Singapore Fling by @AlexiaAdamsAuth #contemporary #romance
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Singapore Fling
(Crimson Romance)
Written by Alexia Adams
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Jeremy Lakewood is not afraid of a challenge. Rising from an impoverished childhood to the upper echelons of the corporate world has allowed him to live up to his vow to support his widowed mother and disabled sister. The one crater in his road to success is Lalita Evans, the one that got away and the only woman who has ever turned his blood to molten lava. She’s not only the woman he can’t forget, but also his boss’s daughter. Sent to Asia with her on business, her father’s warning echoes in his ears - seduce Lalita and his career is over. Will he risk his livelihood and all the success he’s achieved to win the woman who haunts his dreams?
Eight countries in three weeks, a quest to find a birth mother, and a mutual attraction as intense as it is inconvenient leaves both Lalita and Jeremy questioning what they really want in life - love or their careers?
Excerpt from
Singapore Fling
Lalita
froze.
No! It
couldn’t be. Not him! Turn around, damn you, so I can see your face.
Although what
she’d do if it was him, she had no idea. Run away? Rush over, kiss him till they
both exploded and released five years of pent up frustration?
Lalita shook her
head but the eerie sensation wouldn’t go away. The feeling of déjà vu she’d had
since walking into the ballroom of Claridge’s Hotel intensified. Why did her
younger sister have to choose the same venue for her engagement party that their
older sister, Jane, used all those years ago? Lalita’s brain balked at any
reference to that other evening. Her body, though, came alive at the memory and
her heart rate increased.
Dragging in a few
calming breaths, she pretended to sip her champagne. Her gaze riveted on the
mystery man as he stooped to kiss one of her great-aunts. The frail old dear
blushed to the tips of her snow-white hair. It appeared no age was immune to his
charisma.
Perhaps he was a
distant relative or a business associate she’d met once and that was why he
seemed familiar. In general, her father didn’t invite company employees to
family functions, preferring to keep his two worlds as separate as possible. But
one or two always managed an invitation.
Or maybe he was a
friend of her future brother-in-law? However, Lalita had managed to place most
of them, fellow lawyers or friends from the elite social group her sister’s
husband-to-be occupied. They each fit so neatly into a stereotypical pattern it
was almost funny.
This man was
different. Although dressed in the requisite black suit, even from a distance he
appeared powerful, not caged and domesticated like most of the other men in the
room. He prowled around the floor, as though deciding which prey was the
tastiest.
Lalita wished he
would turn around so she could be certain of his identity. His effect on the
girls and women he had spoken to had been obvious. He was tall, well over six
feet, and his exquisitely cut suit hugged a lean form. His jet black hair was
thick and curly and skimmed his collar. And when he’d bent to kiss her
grandmother in her wheelchair, Lalita had been able to admire his other fine
assets.
Lalita lifted the
champagne flute to her lips again to keep up the pretense she was enjoying the
party. Truth was, she rarely drank alcohol these days. That night five years ago
could have destroyed her future. If her father had discovered that she wound up
in the rear seat of some eager junior manager’s car he never would have trusted
her. And her first big break of running one of the far-flung outposts of his
company may never have happened. In the five years she’d been away, though,
she’d more than proved she was capable and held her position on merit and not
nepotism.
“Laly, are you
going to hide in the corner all evening? And how on earth did you manage to find
a dress the exact same shade as the curtains?”
Lalita turned to
find her older sister standing with her arms crossed above her distended belly.
Jane’s petite frame was engulfed in a swath of pale green silk. Despite her
enlarged waist, she still appeared delicate and almost ethereal.
“Luck, I guess.
Taupe is all the rage in the orient.” Lalita hugged Jane tight until she felt a
tiny kick from Jane’s stomach.
“Well, only you
could carry off that shade. I’d look ghastly. The style suits you, you appear …
exotic.”
Lalita glanced
down at her sari-inspired dress; the color might be bland but it worked with her
skin tone. It also did a good job of concealing her curvy figure, hopefully
rendering her invisible to the charming, mysterious man she had been watching.
Lalita had fallen for a charmer once, and she couldn’t let it happen again. She
couldn’t lose her focus and give her father any reason to doubt she was capable
of running his multi-national business.
“It’s so
wonderful to see you. You are beautiful, pregnancy really suits you.”
“I look like
Tinker Bell, who got herself in a little bit of trouble,” Jane replied with a
laugh. “Come on, I’m not going to let you stand here all evening drafting
quarterly reports in your head. I thought you’d be excited to talk to people you
haven’t seen in ages. It’s almost as if you’ve been in exile.”
“I was in the UK
a couple years ago and saw everyone I wanted to see then.” Lalita tried to peer
around her sister to spot where the mystery man was now. He seemed to have moved
on and she released a long held breath. When her attention returned to her
sister, Jane had her hands on her hips.
“Two years ago,
you were here for a company board meeting and you attended one small family
dinner. One visit in five years is hardly enough. You didn’t even return for my
wedding.”
“Jane, please.
I’ve told you how sorry I was to miss your special day. It wasn’t my fault the
biggest monsoon of the century shut down all air travel. I was at the airport
for three days and by the time planes were flying again, you’d already left for
your honeymoon.”
“We miss you,
Laly. Family gatherings aren’t the same without your dry wit.”
Lalita put her
hand out and ran it over her sister’s baby bump. “Glad to know I’m good for
something. I miss being part of your and Jessica’s life too. I’m here for two
weeks this visit and I promise I’ll be back for Jessica’s wedding. At least
she’s not getting married in monsoon season.”
“Well, you can
make it up to me now by taking the heat off me. If one more person asks if I’m
carrying triplets I’ll kick them in the knee caps.”
