Confessions of a Wedding Planner
Bliss, #1
Bliss, #1
by
Michelle Jo Quinn
Publication date: July 26th 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publication date: July 26th 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
BLURB
He may be the best man, but he’s
the worst man for her…
Wedding planner, Veronica
Soto-Stewart believes everyone deserves a fairy tale–even her ex-boyfriend.
Unable to refuse his request, and with the help of Bliss Events motley crew,
she finds herself creating the most magical event for the perfect couple.
But nothing is ever perfect…
And not all happy ever afters can
be planned…
Levi Laurent can’t believe his
luck. Thanks to his best friend’s wedding, he finally has a shot at the woman
he’s always wanted–Veronica. From San Francisco to Paris, and back, he pulls
out all the stops, so she knows where she really belongs–with him. But Veronica
wants nothing to do with the rich, sexy, irresistible playboy.
Can Levi convince Veronica that
her perfect happily ever after is closer than she ever realized?
I stifled a gasp as a
six-foot-four hunk of a man in a plain white tee and dark jeans that hugged every sinful bit of his lower half sauntered in. Diego prowled like a male model on a catwalk. He was just
plain sexy all over.
"Sorry I'm
late," he said, eyes on me, as he neared. He kissed one side of my cheek.
"What are you
doing here?" I whispered, then smiled.
"I knew you were
gonna see Eddie, so I thought I'd surprise you and stop by. I would have made
it on time, but I got stuck in traffic." Diego glanced over my head and
nodded. "Hey, Eddie."
"Hello?"
Eddie was right to question Diego's presence.
On top of that, he didn’t even know him, but Diego acted as though he did.
I tapped a finger on
my chin, trying to make sense of what was happening. When I received the text from Chase: Is he
there now? I got it. Diego was Chase's solution to my dilemma.
"Hi!"
Levi's date spoke up in a high-pitched tone. Diego and I turned to her, and I
swallowed a guffaw. She stretched out the hand that had been in Levi's shirt
moments before and offered it to Diego. "I'm Ophelia."
Her name rolled over
her tongue, and it sounded as though she said 'I'll feel yah.' I bet she would
too. I shuddered.
Diego, ever the good
boy, took the proffered hand and shook it once. "Very nice to meet
you." He had to pull away forcefully from Ophelia's grasp. Then he angled
his body and stretched his own hand toward Levi. "Diego," he
introduced himself.
Levi's eyes narrowed
into tiny slits. He looked down at Diego's large, callused hand, up to Diego's
face, and then to me.
I had to take
advantage of the situation. The new me needed it. Levi brought Ophelia to either
piss me off, or make me jealous, or whatever. I touched one of Diego's bulging
biceps and left my hand on it. "Diego dear, this is Levi. Remember the
wedding I told you about last night?
He's the best man." I made
sure to enunciate the ‘last night’ and didn’t miss the understanding in Levi’s eyes. Yes, he knew that Diego
was my date. He didn’t have to know that we had parted as friends.
Diego slowly
retracted his hand. My face burned like I’d eaten a five-alarm hot pepper.
Eddie cleared his
throat, produced dessert spoons and forks, and placed them on a linen serviette
on the table. "Shall we continue?" We all returned our focus on
Eddie.
I nodded.
"Please."
"Our first cake
is an homage to our lovely country: apple and cinnamon cake with brown sugar
frosting." Eddie sliced the first cake and placed a piece of it on a
plate.
"Diego and I
will just share one, Eddie." The words just came out. Out of the corner of
my eye, I could see Levi's mouth gape.
"That'll be the
same for us," Levi said. His voice did not waver.
I looked at Levi and
Ophelia, who was still eyeing Diego and seductively licking a spoon.
Eddie stared at the
two couples in front of him. He was as confused as ever. "Very well
then." He proceeded to cut the next cake, a mocha-colored frosting over
yellow cake. "Next, we have almond with mocha icing, chocolate drizzle,
and pistachio crumbs."
The third cake was
decorated more elaborately with Corneille lace piping, something I had become
proficient in when I had worked for Eddie. "This is our blackberry and
currant chiffon with raspberry filling and limoncello icing. My dear Nica's
favorite." Eddie glanced at me, and I sent him a pleased smile. "And last, but not least, dark chocolate with a whipped
peanut butter mousse filling, and dark chocolate ganache. Rich, robust, and I
believe it's still the groom's favorite."
"You're so good,
Eddie. I can't believe you remembered," I quipped, even though I had
reminded him about it yesterday when I confirmed this appointment.
He passed along the
plates, and I placed them on the table. Four cakes for Diego and me, and four
similar slices for Levi and Ophelia. I hoped he choked. Well, not really. Maybe
just a little.
Eddie also provided carafes of water and glasses. Perhaps he could read my
thoughts. "Bon appétit!"
Diego and I took a
spoon and fork each.
I watched as Ophelia
scooped a piece of the first cake, and lifted it to Levi, who slowly--like we had all the time in the world to eat cakes--opened his mouth to take the dessert. So this was his game. I copied
Ophelia's actions and fed Diego a piece of the cake.
"Hmmm, very
good. This is definitely a winner," Diego offered his opinion. He used his
fork to lift a tiny slice to my mouth. "Here you go, my sweet."
My throat dried up
upon hearing Levi's term of endearment to me coming out of Diego's lips. In my
peripheral vision, I could see Levi's jaw drop. I made sensual sounds with my
mouth. The cake certainly tasted divine.
"Good,
huh?" Diego's eyebrows shot up.
I nodded as he continued
to feast on the cake. "So good."
"Sandrine's
allergic to nutmeg. And if I'm not wrong, I detect a hint of it in the
flavors," Levi told Eddie in a matter-of-fact way.
Damn, I dropped the
ball on that one. I knew she was allergic to it. I had it in my notes
somewhere. "Yes, that's correct. Thanks for reminding us." I sent a
quick, shy look toward Levi. "Shall we try the next one?"
The same thing
happened to the second cake. Ophelia fed Levi. Diego fed me, and I fed Diego.
And every single time he did, Levi would move his head from side to side and
rub the back of his neck.
Levi noted the
complimentary flavors of the almond and the hint of coffee and chocolate of the
second cake.
It was good, but it
wasn't elegant enough.
When we got to the
third cake, my favorite, I added extra oomph in my moan, closing my eyes as I
let the flavors of fresh berries and the sweet-tart combination of the
limoncello icing explode in my mouth. My hands were pressed against Diego's
broad expanse of chest, and as I let the last bit of sweetness melt on my
tongue, I fisted Diego's white shirt. I opened my eyes marginally in what I
hoped was a seductive gaze and smirked at Diego.
"That good,
huh?" Diego's face was plastered with a wide, knowing smile.
"It's a perfect
cake for a summer wedding," I replied.
"It's a bit
tart." From the other side of the table, Levi's words sounded petty.
With my hands still
over Diego's shirt, I turned to Levi. "Tart?" I raised an eyebrow.
Levi crossed his arms
over his chest, exposing the tanned, toned forearms under the sleeves of his
light blue button down. He narrowed his eyes at me. I shot daggers at him.
"Why don't we
have a sip of water before the last cake?" Eddie suggested. He poured us a
glass each, even offered one to Oh-feel-yah.
After a couple of
minutes, we continued. I'd had the pleasure of tasting this cake before with
Jake when we were dating. Back then, he had always made me promise that I would
buy this cake for his next birthday. I never had the chance. Not for his birthday,
at least.
I was pretty
confident that this was the cake he would want at his wedding. Eddie could add
some elegance to it by using a different type of icing, rather than a ganache
so that he could display his skills in cake decorating.
Levi grabbed a fork
and spoon off the serviette, cut a small piece with his fork, and pushed with
his spoon. He raised the piece to his own mouth, and I could tell that he loved
it. He made a small moan of approval.
I gave Diego a piece,
and he rolled his eyes as he ate the cake. "Divine. Simply divine, Eddie.
You've outdone yourself. Can we take this home?
I can think of many ways I’d like to eat it." There
wasn’t just a subtle hint in Diego’s eyes. He made
sure that everyone in the bakery knew what he meant. My cheeks burned.
I swallowed the
nervous anxiety in my belly, smiled at Diego, and took the smaller piece of
cake on his fork. It was better than sex. Well, at least the sex that I'd had.
The decadent bittersweet flavor of the moist cake paired with the sweet-saltiness
of the peanut butter mousse and the rich ganache was to die for. I didn't close
my eyes as I tasted. Instead, I trained them toward Levi.
He was raptly
watching me. We held our gazes together. With the tip of my tongue, I licked
ganache off the corner of my lips, then
bit my bottom lip. I might have seen him tremble, but it was so slight that I
wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it.
Author Info
Michelle’s love for writing
blossomed when her father gave her a diary, but instead of recounting her daily
life, she wrote stories of fictional people. Like most of her characters, she
believes in Happily Ever After. Naturally, she finds harmony in writing
romance. She enjoys creating stories that make readers laugh, cry and fall in
love.
An unabashed, self-proclaimed
foodie, Michelle loves to try new food whenever she travels. She once had
triple crème Brie and duck rillette for lunch on top of Grouse Mountain.
She lives in Ontario, Canada with
her husband, two kids and a pup named Scarlet.
Author Links:
PRESENTED BY
No comments:
Post a Comment