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    Run To Me: Hotel D, #9
    Run To Me: Hotel D, #9
    Run To Me: Hotel D, #9
    Ebook80 pages1 hourHotel D

    Run To Me: Hotel D, #9

    By Nika Stone

    ()

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    About this ebook

    My crush wants to hire me — but I won't take his money. My price? Be my fake boyfriend.

     

    Chocolatier Jake Brennan is every girl's dream: tall, gorgeous, and ever so good with his hands. He's also my landlord/platonic work husband. As far as he's concerned, I'm firmly in the friend zone.

     

    To woo an investor, Jake wants to hire me as a consultant. I won't take his money — but I do need his help distracting my aunt from her x-rated garden antics. When Aunt Florencia mistakes him for my boyfriend, we decide to play along.

     

    There's no way we can go back to being just friends. Not when the chemistry between us has me desperate for more of him. Is there something real between us? Or will our relationship turn out to be a candy-coated sweet nothing?

    Run To Me is the ninth book in the Hotel D series. These short, steamy romances feature mature couples who know what they want, in the bedroom and out! Each book in the series can be read as a standalone.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNika Stone
    Release dateAug 23, 2023
    ISBN9798223587880
    Run To Me: Hotel D, #9
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      Book preview

      Run To Me - Nika Stone

      Noemi

      When my phone rings, I flinch. I’ve been in the zone for the last two hours, designing a cover for my friend Mia’s next book release, and I lost track of time.

      Just as well. I’m sure I ought to stretch, get water, all that good stuff. What I don’t need, though, is this phone call.

      Please please please, I pray, don’t let it be my tia’s neighbor.

      I must have been a bad girl in a previous life, because of course, it’s her. Shoot. What has my aunt done now?

      You can do this, I mutter to myself. You put on your big girl pants and pretend you aren’t absolutely mortified by this conversation.

      All I have to do is answer the phone. Sound cool and collected. Piece of cake. I take a deep breath and answer.

      Mrs. Donovan! Jeez. I was going for cheerful, but I think I went full Stepford wife. Let me dial that back. How are you?

      I’m perplexed, Noemi, she says in her firm, no-nonsense, retired teacher way. Everything about Mrs. Donovan is no nonsense. Her hair, her yard — even her dog. I am perplexed.

      About what?

      The topiary. How does she lower her voice and sigh dramatically at the same time? That’s gotta be some kind of magic. To be specific, the genitalia-shaped topiary in Florencia’s yard.

      Oh God. She said the g word. I’m a grown woman, but I can’t help the full body cringe that comes over me when Mrs. Donovan says the g word.

      I, um. I see. My voice cracks like a teenaged boy’s. So much for cool and collected.

      Mrs. Donovan, I say, I understand you might not appreciate tia Florencia’s unique decorating style —

      Ms. Lopez, she interrupts, and I’m thrown right back to my middle school days. It’s profane. Absolutely profane. My grandchildren come here after school. They shouldn’t have to see this.

      I don’t point out that her grandsons are fifteen and seventeen. They probably find my aunt’s topiary habit hilarious.

      You need to do something about this, Noemi. I’m worried that she’s… not entirely well.

      What exactly do you think I need to do for tia Florencia?

      Her doctor is a nice young man. He’s very smart. Handsome, too. You should take her to see him.

      Fudge. This is why I live in the city. No one would even think twice about my tia’s garden. But in the suburbs? Alert the media!

      Wait. You think my aunt is having issues because she started trimming her shrubs to look like —?

      I’m not saying that’s what’s happening, dear. I’m simply suggesting that an evaluation would not hurt.

      Unbelievable. Mrs. Donovan and my aunt have been close friends for years. But now, simply because my aunt’s gotten a little sassy with her gardening choices, it must be a health emergency? That feels like a leap.

      On the other hand, Mrs. D sees Aunt Florencia a lot more often than I do. Maybe she’s observed something I didn’t? When our parents left on their extended cruise, my Dad jokingly ordered my brother and me to look out for his little sister. We owe it to him — and her — to be sure she’s fine.

      Thank you for letting me know you’re concerned, I say. I’m coming over there for dinner this evening, Mrs. D. If I think there’s a reason for a medical appointment, I will follow up.

      Thank you, Noemi. Make sure you stop by and say hello!

      I promise to do so and end the call. Then I curse until I feel better. I adore my tia, but she can be stubborn. She’s probably doing this on purpose, to drive her neighbor crazy. Which is driving me crazy, since I’m getting the complaints.

      I curse some more, inventing a few new ones when the standard phrases won’t do.

      I didn’t know you knew words like that, young lady.

      I whirl around. Jake Brennan is standing in my doorway, looking like the world’s tastiest snack.

      Cheese and rice, this man is gorgeous. Wavy brown hair I want to run my fingers through, dark eyes I want to get lost in, and a trim beard I need to feel on the inside of my thighs. He’s long and lean, like a swimmer, slim but strong. I live for the days when Jake and his brothers bring in supplies for the office. Especially in the summer, when he wears that sleeveless t-shirt that shows off his arms…

      Not that I spend a lot of time ogling my friend/landlord. But if I did, no one on earth could blame me.

      Sorry. I push down the instant craving and come back to the here and now. That wasn’t meant for anyone else’s ears.

      Anything I can help with? He asks with a smile. My vagina snaps to attention. He’s so damn delicious.

      Settle down, girl, I order my eager libido. He doesn’t even know I’m alive. Not in that way, anyhow. It’s been two whole years, and he hasn’t made a move. I have to stop lusting after him like I’m a cartoon hound dog and he’s a ham. A tall, dark and handsome glazed ham.

      Okay, that metaphor got lost somewhere along the way, but the point is: Jake isn’t interested.

      Don’t worry about it. What’s up? I ask, curious. Jake rarely shows up empty-handed. Because it’s not enough that he’s freakishly beautiful, smells divine, and is generally a perfect cinnamon roll of

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