Little Secrets: Holiday Baby Bombshell

Little Secrets: Holiday Baby Bombshell
Karen Booth

From Rivalry to Revelry…to Romance? Hotel heiress Charlotte Locke vows to best her commitmentphobic ex Michael Kelly in a business battle. But when he learns she’s having his child, he’ll have to convince her he’ll do right by their child – and her heart – or risk losing her forever

From Rivalry to Revelry...to Romance?

Competitive swimmer turned real estate magnate Michael Kelly is tastier than a Christmas cookie. But now Charlotte Locke’s sexy former lover is her top business rival...and the father of her unborn child. Determined to keep her professional cool, the hotel heiress hides her delicate condition from her family—and from her commitmentphobic ex. Until Michael moves in next door, exposing a desire left unquenched and Charlotte’s pregnancy secret.

Michael may not be daddy material, but losing Charlotte and their baby isn’t an option. He’ll close the deal at any cost—even if it takes a Christmas miracle to prove this playboy is reformed for good!

Michael was too much of a sexy, handsome package to deny herself any longer.

Even as she worried that she might be nothing more than his prey, she was more than willing. She wanted this with everything she had.

He dipped his head lower and his lips brushed her neck, his stubble scratching her. His hair fell forward as he kissed her neck, his mouth now open, his warm tongue making her lose her mind. It felt so good she wanted to close her eyes and languish in every heavenly sensation. For that moment, she seemed like she might be everything to him, precisely what she had once hoped to be.

He hooked his thumbs into her dress straps and pulled them down her shoulders. He gathered her hair in one hand and kissed his way across her back, sending waves of tingles along her spine. His lips weren’t just warm, they were on fire. His kiss was urgent. He pressed his long body against hers; his knees met the back of her thighs and his chest met her shoulders. She pushed right back into him, their bodies grinding against each other as she rolled her head to the other side.

“I want you,” she murmured, almost involuntarily.

A rough groan left the depths of his throat. “That’s a very good thing, Charlie. I’m not sure I could live through it if you didn’t.”

* * *

Little Secrets: Holiday Baby Bombshell is part of the Little Secrets series— Untamed passion, unexpected pregnancy…

Little Secrets: Holiday Baby Bombshell

Karen Booth

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

KAREN BOOTH is a Midwestern girl transplanted in the South, raised on ’80s music, Judy Blume and the films of John Hughes. She writes sexy big-city love stories. When she takes a break from the art of romance, she’s teaching her kids about good music, honing her Southern cooking skills or sweet-talking her husband into whipping up a batch of cocktails. Find out more about Karen at www.karenbooth.net (http://www.karenbooth.net).

For my sweet and endlessly patient husband. I’m writing as fast as I can in the hopes that you can retire early.

Contents

Cover (#u9ee16b6a-57bf-560d-8fc9-d712ff5d0923)

Back Cover Text (#u10856180-ee7a-5d24-85f7-4bbf267f2b19)

Introduction (#uf1791664-876b-5fad-bc15-03e6d2cdda56)

Title Page (#u0a834307-cc17-5e2d-80cc-c0f4f2502182)

About the Author (#u07adc5b2-222a-5631-b0d4-6aaad17bc336)

Dedication (#u1f565efe-3b81-5ea1-ac47-a626ef9bdfa6)

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One (#ubec778de-9a32-5c7b-9a38-02d488d79295)

With its French-milled soap, lavender-scented shampoo and soft lighting, the finely appointed bathroom in her Grand Legacy Hotel suite might’ve been the loveliest place Charlotte Locke had ever gotten sick. She closed her eyes, willed herself to stand from the cool comfort of the marble floor and fumbled for her toothbrush. Ten weeks pregnant and mint was one of the few things she found appealing. She scrubbed her teeth clean, straightened her skirt and jacket, and neatened her blond hair. Hopefully, that was the last of today’s morning sickness. She had work to do.

Charlotte marched out of her room, determined. “Wish me luck. I’m off to Sawyer’s office,” she said to her aunt Fran, who was sharing the suite while in New York from London for Christmas.

Fran tucked a strand from her white-blond bob behind her ear, then refilled her mug with room-service tea. Charlotte’s beloved papillon dog, Thor, nine pounds of snow-white and chocolate-brown attitude, was curled up at Fran’s hip. “You won’t need luck. You’re more than qualified to sell the Grand Legacy condos.”

Charlotte sighed. Okay, no luck. But she wouldn’t mind some bolstering. How many times had she gone hat-in-hand and asked a family member for another chance? Too many. Charlotte slipped on her wool coat, a lovely shade of peacock blue, and buttoned up. “I’m glad you’re so confident. I think I stand about a fifty-fifty chance.”

“You’re sure you aren’t going to tell Sawyer about the pregnancy? He’s your brother. I don’t see any way he can say no to you if he knows you have a baby on the way.”

Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t want anyone’s charity. I’m asking him to trust me with millions of dollars of real estate. I don’t want to remind him that his little sister has a habit of making colossal life mistakes.”

Fran scratched Thor behind the ear. “Everything happens for a reason. It just might not be clear to you yet what that reason is.”