A broken heart that never mended
and a man who would give anything
for the woman he loves—
even if it means suffering his own heartache.

Jennie Evans’ heart broke when she lost her high school sweetheart and husband just after college graduation. She’s found some semblance of a new life with good friends and a job she loves at Sutton Capital, but she knows she’ll never love again. That part of her died with Kyle.

Chad Thompson sees the heartache Jennie hides from the world. Despite the chemistry he and Jennie always fight against, he vows to keep their relationship friendly. Anything more would hurt Jennie, and Chad can’t bring himself to cause her more pain.

When their well-meaning friends throw Jennie and Chad together in a plot designed to push their comfort zone, she ends up in more danger than anyone could have foreseen. Chad knows he can protect her, but he isn’t able to protect his own heart in the process.

Steamy romance meets heart-stopping suspense in the Sutton Billionaires Series. This is the third book in the series but it can be read as a standalone story with no cliffhangers. If you’d rather start at book one, grab The Billionaire Deal by Lori Ryan. A shorter version of this book was previously released as part of the Sutton Capital Series.

There is a definite attraction between Jennie and her boss Chad. He uses the excuse that she’s his employee as a boundary. One he would like to cross, but he’d seen the consequences of doing so.

His partners had also noticed this attraction. When one of Jack’s friends asks them to check out a couples resort before he makes the purchase, Jack and Andrew come up the perfect way to nudge this relationship.

A true test of will for Chad. This is a favorite scene.

Actually, if he thought about it, he could guess why she’d noticed the kayaks. Their bright colors. Jennie surrounded herself with bright, happy colors.

The outside of her house was a light cheerful yellow. He hadn’t been inside her house, though he’d dropped her off or picked her up a few times. But he would guess the inside would be filled with color as well. The kayaks were bright red and orange. She would like those colors.

“Come on,” Chad grinned at her. She looked adorable with goggles covering almost half her face. “Let’s go see some fish.”

They jumped in the water and lowered masked faces into the bay.

Before Chad knew what hit him, he heard a shriek and had an armful of sputtering Jennie. She quite literally climbed up him and was clinging to his shoulders, legs and arms clamped around him as high up as she could go. It would be funny to anyone watching.

Chad grinned, trying to ignore his body’s immediate response to her. He refused to acknowledge the fact that at that moment, the string bikini she wore was giving him access to parts of Jennie’s body he’d only ever dreamed of touching. His arms were under her ass, holding her up. The sensations produced by their wet skin were wreaking havoc on his senses, but she didn’t seem to be aware of that at all.

“Problem, Jen?”

She bit her lip and nodded her head.

“And that would be…?” Damn, she’s cute. On any other woman, this would seem like a coy ploy for his attention. With Jennie, it was real. She was well and truly freaked by something and he was more than happy to be her knight in shining armor. Especially when she wrapped her body around that armor.

“The fish,” Jennie said, eyes wide. “A fish touched my legs. It went right between my legs!”

He let a slow smile form. “I need to protect you from the fish?”

She nodded. “They’re huge. And scary. And kind of gross.”

They were pretty big. Some of them were one-and-a-half feet long and about as wide around the middle as Chad’s forearm. He had expected smaller fish, too. But seeing her so freaked out was pretty damned cute.

And holding her was pretty sexy. Really, really damned sexy, as a matter of fact. Chad lifted her up to the dock, then let his hands skim down to her thighs—pretending to be Jennie’s concerned husband did have its perks.

“Want me to hold you in the water and see if that makes you feel better?” Say yes. No, say no. This is a bad idea… But, please say yes.

Before Jennie could answer, a fish jumped out of the water and splashed back in. Chad assumed it was trying to catch a bug skimming the surface of the water. Jennie must have assumed it was an attempt to eat her, because she was up and running off the dock in a heartbeat. So much for Jack’s theory that Jennie Evans wasn’t afraid of anything.

Chad pulled himself out onto the dock, trying not to laugh too hard—and losing that battle. He scooped up their beach bag and towels. The items quickly became crucial parts of Chad’s ensemble as he followed Jennie back to the villa.

Watching the sway of her sweet ass as she hightailed it through the resort had his dick harder than he’d care to share with the other guests. With their belongings held casually in front of him to hide his predicament, he let himself enjoy the show. He’d have to shower with ice water when he got back to the villa, but it was worth it.
Jennie had the sexiest ass Chad had ever seen. That ass in a bikini?

Deadly.
Lori Ryan. The Billionaire Op ARC (Kindle Locations 773-802). Kindle Edition.

The two of them enjoy themselves immensely as they gather information. Only one thing doesn’t add up and this becomes a problem rather quickly.

Very emotional with suspense, hold your breath scenes, sexual tension, romance and so much more!

I can’t wait to read the next book in this series!

5 Contented Purrs for Lori!

Lori Ryan

Lori Ryan is a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes romantic suspense and contemporary romance with steamy love scenes and characters you won’t want to leave in the pages when the story is over.Lori published her first novel in April of 2013 and ​has fallen in love with writing.

​She is the author of the Sutton Capital Series; the Heroes of Evers, Texas; and the Triple Play Curse Novellas, a set of novellas with sexy baseball players at their core as part of Bella Andre’s Game For Love Kindle World. She has also published in Melanie Shawn’s Hope Falls Kindle World and in Robyn Peterman’s Magic and Mayhem Kindle World.

She lives with an extremely understanding husband, three wonderful children, and two mostly well-behaved dogs in Austin, Texas. It’s a bit of a zoo, but she wouldn’t change a thing. She loves to connect with her readers. Follow her on Facebook or Twitter or subscribe to her blog.