Tori Carrington - Private Parts

Bestselling author Tori Carrington introduces PRIVATE SCANDALS, a new series filled with lust, betrayal … and scandal like you’ve never seen it!

When Troy, Ari and Bryna Metaxas realize their business—and family—is on the brink of ruin, how far will they go to save them?

Find out in …

Private Sessions

(October 2011)

Private Affairs

(November 2011)

Private Parts (December 2011)

Multi-award-winning, bestselling authors Lori Schlachter Karayianni and Tony Karayianni are the power behind the pen name TORI CARRINGTON.Their more than forty-five titles include numerous Blaze ®novels as well as the ongoing Sofie Metropolis comedic mystery series with another publisher. Visit www.toricarrington.net and www.sofiemetro.com for more information on the duo and their titles.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader,

Our PRIVATE SCANDALS series was inspired by Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad ; the three stories a modern retelling of age-old conflicts, where love is the ultimate prize … and battles are fought in the bedroom, as well as the boardroom. And nowhere is that truer than in this final book …

In Private Parts, the last thing hot businessman Troy Metaxas wants is a sexy woman custom-made to drive him mad with desire. He’s been so focused on his goal of bringing his hometown of Earnest, Washington, back from the brink of ruin that his personal life has gone long neglected. Kendall is Troy’s match in every way, fueling his appetite for her lush body with every kiss. The problem is, the more time he spends in bed with her, the less focused he is on business. Especially when he discovers that she is the Trojan horse sent to bring him down …

We hope you enjoy Troy and Kendall’s bone-melting journey toward sexily-ever-after. We’d love to hear what you think. Contact us at PO Box 12271, Toledo, OH 43612, USA (we’ll respond with a signed bookplate, newsletter and bookmark), or visit us on the web at www.toricarrington.net.

Here’s wishing you love, romance and HOT reading.

Lori & Tony Karayianni aka Tori Carrington

We dedicate this book to every man who believes himself immune to love—and every woman who’s endeavored to prove him wrong … And to our magnificent editor, Brenda Chin, who feels it necessary every now and again to warn us to be careful about boundaries, even as she wholeheartedly cheers us on while we push against them!

“WHAT MAKES YOU THINK he’s not just asking us to bend over so he can stick it in and break it off?”

Troy Metaxas stared at his younger brother across the diner table, his cup halfway to his mouth. Trust Ari to phrase the question that way.

He put his coffee down and sat back in the red leather booth. The Quality Diner was decked out for the coming holidays, with the struggling owner partial to the more whimsical themes of snowflakes and icicles, probably because they saw so little of either here in the Pacific Northwest. A white, papier-mâché angel hung above their booth, lazily spinning first one way and then the other.

He’d be lying if he said the possibility that Manolis Philippidis was planning to do just as Ari was suggesting hadn’t crossed his mind. It had. At least a thousand times a day. But ever since the wealthy Greek businessman had reestablished contact with him a week ago, offering an olive branch on top of the contract that Troy had been trying to close … well, he’d been forced to listen.

He knew what he was getting into. But this project was important to him. After the family lumber mill closed over four years ago, he’d felt responsible for providing the town of Earnest with another employer. Then luck had met persistence and he’d come across an idea worth pursuing in emerging green technology. The solar panels the new company would produce would not only revolutionize the industry by capturing a wider array of the sun’s rays, the thin-film method was also cost-saving, meaning more could afford the product.

A win-win situation all the way around.

He considered his brother. “So long as we finally get the project off the ground, what does it matter?”

“So your advice is to smile and take it?”

“That would be exactly my advice.” He leaned forward. “Take a look around you, Ari. The unemployment rate in Earnest has risen to nearly thirty-five percent. And that doesn’t count the residents forced to leave because they’ve lost their homes or had to relocate to find work.”

He watched his brother look around the interior of the diner. It was a Wednesday morning and there were only a few people inside where once it would have been full of lumber mill workers catching breakfast before heading to work. Hell, five years ago, the midnight shift would just be knocking off and doing the same before going home.

“Half the businesses outside this diner have closed, with another quarter in danger of doing the same,” he said. “Don’t you think the town’s worth a little discomfort?”

He didn’t mention the exact reason for the collapse in negotiations between Philippidis and the Metaxas brothers six months ago. He didn’t have to. Because the reason sat across from him. Ari’s seduction and then stealing of Philippidis’s bride on the evening before their wedding was the reason why the vital business arrangement had gone awry.

Even though it all seemed like yesterday to him, he had to keep in mind that Ari was now engaged to Elena Anastasios, and that she was entering into her third trimester with their child. No longer Philippidis’s stolen bride, but Troy’s soon-to-be sister-in-law and mother to his niece or nephew.

Ari shook his head now, as if in answer to his unsaid thoughts. “Considering all that no good SOB has done to us over this past half year, I would think the last thing we would want is to get into bed with him.”

Troy didn’t blink.

Ari raised his hands as if in surrender. “Okay, bad analogy. But you know what I mean. Who’s to say this isn’t just another set-up? That he’s not going to string us along, get us to invest the few cents we have left, and then pull the rug out from under us again?”

“Who’s to say he is?”

Ari remained dubious.

“Look, we’ve exhausted every other possibility. It’s either this or we give up on the project altogether. That’s not an option for me.” Troy sipped from his coffee, the unsweetened liquid bitter against his tongue. “Anyway, we know who we’re dealing with this time. And we’re prepared for anything he can possibly throw our way.”

Ari looked at his watch. Troy was as anxious as he was for the other three men scheduled to join them for breakfast to arrive. Because it meant that they were that much closer to the meeting they were to have with Philippidis at the mill offices later that morning.

The old cowbell above the door clanged. Troy glanced over his shoulder. It wasn’t any of their three breakfast mates. It was a woman in black, close-fitting running pants and an oversize University of Oregon sweatshirt, looking more fit than he felt, her blond hair twisted into a knot at the back of her neck. She stripped the sweatshirt off, revealing the clingy tank she wore underneath.

Troy’s gaze drifted over her nicely outlined curves. From her calves, up past her firm thighs, her rounded hips and then to where her breasts were two perfect half-globes under the damp fabric.

“Good morning!” Verna called out from the kitchen window. “Take a seat anywhere.”

The latest addition was slightly out of breath as she voiced her thanks and chose the booth behind Troy, causing his seat to jostle a bit. He nearly spilled the coffee he was holding.