Breakfast in Bed: The Innkeepers - Softcover

Alers, Rochelle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 149670732X ISBN 13: 9781496707321

Verlag: Dafina, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

Bestselling author Rochelle Alers welcomes readers back to romantic New Orleans in her warm and sexy series about four very different women embarking on a new adventure . . .

Sometimes you go in search of a new beginning. Other times, it finds you. Tonya Martin enjoys her job as a professional chef for a Wall Street bank, her East Harlem walk-up, and the freedom to live and love by her own rules—right up until the day she finds herself suddenly downsized. But a spontaneous trip to New Orleans opens up a new opportunity. With time on her hands and her daughter soon graduating college, Tonya has the chance to reach for her own long-cherished dream—opening a restaurant on her friend Hannah’s beautiful Garden District estate.

While Hannah and her new husband work on transforming the DuPont House into a luxury inn, Tonya explores local cuisine, taking an apprentice role at famed restaurant Chez Toussaints. Gage Toussaint’s mix of Creole, Cajun, and African ancestry is deeply attractive, and the sexy chef clearly wants their friendship to become much more. Drawn to him yet hesitant given their previous unhappy marriages, Tonya wonders if it’s too late to leap into love again. Could Gage be just the ingredient she needs to make this delicious new life complete?

Includes New Orleans Cuisine Recipes!

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Rochelle Alers, the bestselling author of over eighty novels with nearly two million copies in print, has been hailed by readers and booksellers alike as one of today’s most prolific and popular African American authors of romance and women’s fiction. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Emma Award, the Vivian Stephens Award for Excellence in Romance Writing, the RT Career Achievement Award and the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award. She is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Iota Theta Zeta chapter and her interests include gourmet cooking and traveling. A full-time writer, Ms. Alers lives in a charming hamlet on Long Island and can be found online at RochelleAlers.org.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Breakfast in Bed

By Rochelle Alers

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

Copyright © 2017 Rochelle Alers
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4967-0732-1

CHAPTER 1

Sprawled on a chintz-covered recliner in the sitting area in one of DuPont House's suites, Tonya Martin crossed her bare feet at the ankles, while her friends claimed matching chairs with cushioned footstools. She had spent the past half hour talking to them when she should have retired for bed.

Earlier that morning, Tonya, Jasmine Washington, and Nydia Santiago had flown into the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and then crowded into a taxi for the drive to the Garden District. They had come to New Orleans for Hannah DuPont-Lowell's wedding to college professor St. John McNair. Boarding the same aircraft with her friends helped Tonya to overcome some of her anxiety about flying. Her fear had come from a return flight to the States from France during which the jet's landing gear failed and the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing at New York's JFK airport. Several hundred passengers and crew used the chute to exit the aircraft, and Tonya wound up with a severely sprained ankle that kept her off her feet for several weeks.

Fortunately, the mid-October weather was much more tolerable than it had been during her first visit to the Big Easy. Then the late-June record-high New Orleans temperatures and humidity had sapped all of her energy. At that time Hannah outlined her intent to transform her historic ancestral home into an inn and convert the two guesthouses on the estate into a café and supper club. The corporate attorney wanted Tonya to invest in the venture, while offering her a twenty-five percent share in the new business as the executive chef.

"I still can't believe you're going to move down here."

Tonya stared at Nydia for several seconds, and then a hint of a smile tilted the corners of her generous mouth. When she worked as assistant chef for Wakefield Hamilton, a private international investment bank, she was familiar with all personnel on sight or by name, but it was not until she and dozens of other employees were unexpectedly let go, with generous severance packages, after the bank merged with another institution and she, Jasmine, the assistant director of personnel, and accountant Nydia spent several hours at Hannah's high-rise apartment that the four bonded over omelets and brunch cocktails. They had talked for hours about what they wanted for their futures, and once Tonya revealed she was going to wait until after Labor Day to look for another position, the others also agreed to do the same.

"I also can't believe it," Tonya said. "In less than four months I'll become a Louisianan and I'll eventually run my own restaurant for the first time in my life."

Nydia ran her fingers through the wealth of thick, black, shiny curls falling over her forehead as a smile crinkled the skin around her large hazel eyes. "I believe everyone should work for themselves at least once on their lives."

Jasmine nodded. The former interior designer turned human resource specialist attempted to lift her arched eyebrows. The masque on her face was drying and beginning to crack, which meant it was time for her to remove it. "I hear you, Nydia. I do miss running my own shop."

Twin dimples appeared in Tonya's cheeks as she pursed her lips. "What's stopping you?" she asked Jasmine. "Even if you don't want to go back to interior decorating, you can take Hannah up on her offer to help her run the inn."

Jasmine twisted several strands of hair around her forefinger. "It sounds tempting, but I'm not ready to leave New York. Everyone and everything I have is there. And as my parents' only child, I want to be there for them, even though they are still active. They belong to a bowling league and are very involved in their church."

"Are they retired?" Nydia asked.

"Yes. My father was a high school principal, and my mother a trauma nurse."

Tonya crossed her arms under her breasts. "Would they be opposed to moving down here with you?"

A beat passed before Jasmine said, "I don't know. They would have to sell their house, while I would have to find a buyer for my condo."

Nydia made a sucking sound with her tongue and teeth. "I've seen your condo and trust me, my friend, you wouldn't have a problem unloading it. I've saved enough money for a down payment, but there's no way I'm going to purchase property when my boyfriend can't come up with at least half."

Tonya frowned. "I thought you'd stopped seeing him."

A slight blush darkened Nydia's gold-brown complexion. "We still talk."

Tonya's frown deepened. "Are you talking or sleeping together?"

Nydia managed to look contrite. "Both."

Jasmine narrowed her eyes. "Didn't you promise us you would get rid of the bum? Don't be like me, mija. I know as a woman you have physical needs, but you can't let that cloud your judgment when it comes to letting a man use you, even if it's only for sex. He will keep coming back, talking out the side of his mouth, because he knows you better than you know yourself."

"Why do you sound like such a man hater, Jasmine?" Nydia asked.

Jasmine recoiled as if she had been jabbed with a sharp object. "Is that what you think? That I'm a man hater because of my lying, cheating-ass ex-husband?"

"What else could it be?" Nydia countered.

Tonya knew it was time to intervene before the two women said something they would later regret. Their friendship was still too new and much too fragile to withstand a barrage of verbal insults. "Calm down, Nydia. Jasmine is trying to look out for you because she doesn't want you to go through what she experienced with a man she loved and trusted. I know nothing about your boyfriend other than what you've told us, but if you were my daughter I'd tell you what I said the last time we were here. Get rid of him and block his number. You'll never be able move on until you do. I'm going to ask you one question, and then this topic of conversation is over. Do you love him enough to want to spend the rest of your life with him?"

The seconds stretched into a long silence, and then Nydia said, "I don't think so."

"If that's the case, then kick his sorry ass to the curb," Jasmine whispered.

Raising her arms above her head, Nydia exhaled an audible breath. "Maybe I need to get out and find someone else."

Jasmine shook her head. "I wouldn't recommend that. Take some time to find out who you are, what you really want in life and in a man; otherwise you'll end up in the same situation just because you don't want to be alone."

Tonya nodded. "Jasmine's right."

Nydia appeared deep in thought. "Tonya, how long have you been divorced?"

"Sixteen years. Samara was five when I left my husband. I just couldn't take his wanting to control my life."

"How long were you married?" Nydia asked her.

"Fourteen years. I'd just completed my second year in college when I discovered I was pregnant. Samuel and I married right away because his father never married his mother, and he always resented that. I was four months along when I lost the baby. I went back to college at night and worked at a day care center during the day, while all Samuel talked about was trying for another baby. I wanted to finish college, but that didn't happen when I got pregnant again. I miscarried again. He blamed me for not taking care of myself, and for trying to do too much.

"We compromised when I dropped out of school and became a housewife. We moved out of our one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx to Brooklyn and rented an...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Dafina
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 149670732X
• ISBN 13: 9781496707321
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 288
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Kensington Publishing Corporation; http://www.wmg.com/; ; 1633 Broadway ; New York, NY 10019 ; USA
• Verantwortliche Person: Dietmar Rusche; 15110751138; rusche.dietmar@gmx.de; ; Dr.-Willi-Bergmann-Str. 13; St. Andreasberg; 37444; Deutschland