fucked up.
Leo Frost, last year’s winner for Best Actor in a Leading Role, read off the names again. “And the Oscar goes to...” He fumbled with the envelope.
“I am so proud of you,” Troy whispered in her ear. “And I love you.”
Julie’s heart thumped like a bongo drum as she looked at him...
“Julie Fraser-Mills for Meltdown,” Leo said from the stage.
The crowd erupted into cheers and Julie felt the sting in her eyes. Troy’s sexy smile and gorgeous eyes spoke to her on an elemental level. He leaned close to her ear. “Brad didn’t tell me anything. I just knew it in here.” He patted his chest.
Love for this man overflowed her heart. Not so much because she’d won, but because he loved her, because she’d found her soul mate, her partner for the rest of her life.
She kissed him softly, and in his eyes she saw all the love and pride he talked about. Troy helped her up the first couple of steps before taking his seat.
Her eyes burned, but she smiled as she looked out to the audience. “You all sure know how to make a girl feel welcome. Thank you.” The audience laughed. “Thank you to the Academy and the people who voted, I am truly honored and humbled to be among such amazing performers in my category. Thank you to the whole cast and crew of Meltdown because I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. But most of all, thank you to my wonderful husband, Troy. Without you, I wouldn’t be standing here. Without you, I wouldn’t be the happiest woman in the world.” A rogue grin curved his lips right before he winked at her. It was just like his wink on that first day in the hospital and her heart swelled. They’d come so far. She held up the statue. “This man is nice to have, but it’s that man...” she pointed to Troy, looking like a god in a tux, much as he had the very first time she’d met him. “...who makes my world complete. Thank you.” Julie didn’t walk off stage...she floated.
Later that night, back at the beach house with the waves rushing outside their bedroom slider doors, Troy eased the designer gown off her shoulders as he backed her up against the door.
“I’ve been waiting all night to get this dress off you,” he rumbled in her ear.
She ran her hands up the planes of his muscled chest and took a deep intoxicating breath of his cologne. She laughed again about his Brad Krazinsky joke. “I am so going to get you back for making me think you knew about the awards. Payback is a bitch, you know,” she whispered breathlessly. She felt his smile against her jaw.
“But it’s so fun to tease you,” he admitted, scattering soft kisses next to her ear. He pulled back and stared into her eyes. “Mad at me?”
Julie stroked her thumb across his bottom lip as she registered the concern on his face. “Yeah,” she said without any heat whatsoever. “You’re going to have to make it up to me tonight. Over and over and over.”
Troy teased her lips with his, the relief in his eyes easy to see. “You don’t have to tell me twice, Mrs. Mills. I am all over that.”
“You’d better be all over m—”
His kiss not only took her words, but her breath as well. A few seconds later, her dress slid down her body to pool at her feet and Julie forgot everything except the beauty of being with her husband. As Troy made love to her that night with the waves crashing outside their bedroom, Julie knew no better ending could ever be written...not in television and not in the movies. Real life didn’t get any sweeter than this.
* * * * *
Want more fast-paced romance? Look no further than the
Adrenaline Highs series from Dee J. Adams!
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Danger Zone
In her ten-year career as a stuntwoman, Ellie Morgan has experienced her share of thrills. None compares to the rush of being behind the wheel of a race car for her latest movie shoot. Certain she was born to race, Ellie’s ready to shift gears—but a secret from her past holds her back. Quinn Reynolds is tired of being in the driver’s seat of his family’s company, Formula Racing Design. He’s ready to sell—if he can get his co-owner and brother, Mac, to agree. Quinn’s not sure what he wants to do with his future, but almost as soon as he meets Ellie, he knows he wants her to be part of it...
Dangerously Close
Bad-boy rock star Seger Hughes hit rock bottom after a near-fatal tragedy at his concert. He hates how his life has spun out of control. After changing his appearance and his name, he transforms into a different man: Mel Summers. Now he just needs a place to hide out from rabid fans and paparazzi. An isolated cliffside mansion is perfect. Ashley Bristol, his only neighbor, is blind—and her assistant is a classical music fan. They have no clue who he really is, but someone else does and she’s waited her whole life to be with him.
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About the Author
Born in El Paso, Texas, Dee J. always had a wild imagination. After graduating high school, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Her longest-running success was a series of Tide commercials in the late ’90s. For twenty years, she acted in television before transitioning behind the scenes as an acting/dialogue coach for sitcoms. Her experience in show business led her to narrate many of the books in the Adrenaline Highs series for Audible.com.
Writing happened accidentally after a vivid dream and the urging of her husband to “just write it down.” Three weeks, fourteen hours a day, and four hundred and fifty (longhand) pages later, she had her first novel. Dee J. loves writing books filled with action, mystery and love. (Not necessarily in that order.) She is the wife of a wonderful man and mother to a fabulous daughter. She’s a dog lover all the way—due in part to a deathly allergy to cats—with a fondness toward boxers and pit bulls. She is a member of several organizations, including Romance Writers of America, Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
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ISBN: 978-14268-9550-0
Copyright © 2013 by Deanne Avner
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Epilogue
About the Author
Copyright