Love Forgiven E-Book

Shyla Starr

• Herausgeber: Revelry Publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Book 2 of the Tenacious Billionaire BWWM Romance Series

A BWWM Billionaire Romance Story

Adalia has to make a choice between maintaining her independence or taking an easier path. But she can’t shake thoughts of Trent and what happened between them. How will she decide which path to take?

***Due to sexually graphic content and language that some may find offensive, this book is intended for mature readers only***

Adalia is broken after a keen betrayal and the loss of her lifelong dream: her very own bakery.  But she has to carry on, especially now that she’s back living under her father’s roof and has her semi-abusive ex-boyfriend’s advances to contend with. She’s determined to continue baking, even if she has to work at the local market for the rest of her days, but she can’t shake thoughts of Trent and what happened between them.

She’s consumed by her need to be with him, though she doesn’t want the pain, so when he comes back into her life, offering more than she’s willing to take, Adalia is presented with a choice: continue working towards her goal by herself, or take him up on his offer and attain money and happiness almost instantly. Adalia has never been one to take handouts, but her father’s dire financial situation isn’t getting any better.

The choice won’t be easy, especially when that ex-boyfriend reveals a side of himself which she’d rather forget.

Download the book and find out what happens.

Leseprobe

WARNING

This book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language. It may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults ONLY.

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Please store your files wisely where they cannot be accessed by underage readers.

Copyright 2016 by Revelry Publishing

All Rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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, hereinafter invented, without express written permission of the publisher.

DISCLAIMER

This book is a work of FICTION. It is not to be confused with reality. Neither the author nor the publisher or its associates assume any responsibility for any loss, injury, death or legal consequences resulting from acting on the contents in this book. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Every character in this book is over 18 years of age. The author’s opinions are not to be construed as the opinions of the publisher. The material in this book is for entertainment purposes ONLY. Enjoy.

Other books by Shyla Starr:

Persuasive Billionaire BWWM Romance Series

Stacey is trying to keep a handle on her life the best that she can. She is on the verge of losing her job and her apartment, while taking care of her sick grandmother. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Charlie, who works for the construction company that is attempting to persuade her to move out of her home.

Elusive Billionaire Romance Series

Billionaire Hendrick is trying to repair his company’s image by putting in some volunteer work, building a school and hospital for the impoverished children in Africa. There, he meets a beautiful African American volunteer, Jocelyn. They hit it off right away but does she belong in his world?

Lonely Billionaire Romance Series

Tricia was hired to care for billionaire John’s wife, who is dying. An unlikely romance emerges after his wife, Rebecca, gives John permission to pursue his happiness after she is gone.

Ardent Billionaire Romance Series

Deirdre doesn't know what to make of the gorgeous man that seems to be interested in her. His name is Parker Walters and he seems friendly enough. There is just something off about him. Why is he trying the hide the fact that he is the heir to his father's billion dollar software empire?

Fervent Billionaire BWWM Romance Series

Alexandra had never been with a white man before. She had seen William at the café before but she always kept her distance. It was unfortunate that their first chance meeting happened when she dropped her breakfast and spilled coffee all over his expensive business suit.

Audacious Billionaire BWWM Romance Series

Chante is torn between staying close to a man beyond her league, and fleeing from him to spare herself from a hopeless position. But she finds she is propelled into a place where she needs to confront her doubts and cast her fate aside to follow the dictates of her heart. Damned if she does and miserable is she doesn’t, how will Chante face the events that will lead her to a place of pure happiness or to the pits of a broken heart?

Get the latest update on new releases from the author at:

https://shylastarr.com/newsletter/

This book is Part Two of the “Tenacious Billionaire BWWM Romance Series”

Book 1 - Love Deceived

Adalia is too proud to accept help from the billionaire playboy, Trent Dawson. How long can she maintain her resolve? The bank is at her heels to repossess her business. To make matters worse, Adalia finds suspicious evidence of Trent's philandering ways. She must determine whether to trust Trent with the fate of her business and her heart.

Book 2 - Love Forgiven

Adalia is broken after a keen betrayal and the loss of her lifelong dream: her very own bakery.  But she has to carry on, especially now that she’s back living under her father’s roof and has her semi-abusive ex-boyfriend’s advances to contend with. She’s determined to continue baking, even if she has to work at the local market for the rest of her days, but she can’t shake thoughts of Trent and what happened between them.

Book 3 - Love Endured

Adalia Montclair is determined to be more than Mrs. Dawson. She’s going to start her own catering business. But a surprise pregnancy throws a wrench in the works, in the form of her new husband himself. Trent is determined to keep Adalia safe, even if it means keeping her at home and away from her dreams, a fate she can’t abide, even with a baby on board.  Still, even with tension growing, Adalia can’t keep her eyes or hands off her husband.

Book 4 - Love Everlasting

Adalia has just received the worst news of her entire life. Her son, Isaac, is gravely ill, and the only way to save him is a revolutionary treatment which will cost a lot of money. But a lot of money is exactly what Trent doesn’t have, now that Space Inc. has gone under. Time is running out and only by working together can Adalia and Trent save their son.  Their son’s illness and Michelle’s interference threatens to tear them apart, but Adalia isn’t one to give up that easily.

Tenacious Billionaire BWWM Romance Series

Love Forgiven

Book Two

By Shyla Starr

Copyright Revelry Publishing 2016

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

Other Books by Shyla Starr

About the Author – Shyla Starr

Connect with Shyla Starr

Chapter One

“THEY WANT them Black Forest cheesecakes done in thirty,” Melanie said, chewing on a stick of gum.

Adalia sighed and blinked a couple times. “I’m not a miracle worker. Besides, I hardly think anyone in the store is going to riot if I don’t get it out on time.”

Annie’s Market specialized in nothing but providing loads of baked goods to as many customers as possible – in short, the quality was terrible. The recipes in the bakery section were set and Adalia’s creativity was stifled, but a job was a job and God knew she needed the money after that debauchery with Trent.

Melanie shuffled out of the kitchen and the doors swung in her wake. The girl had about as much finesse as a bull on steroids. She’d worked there for a week as Adalia’s manager, and it was difficult to respect her.

Failure, failure, failure. The word repeated itself in her head.

Measure out the flour, failure, weigh the sugar, failure, beat the eggs, failure. It didn’t matter what she did or which way she looked at things. She’d messed up. Big time.

Melanie shoved back into the kitchen. “Store manager says to get ‘em done or you’re in trouble.”

“You went to the store manager?” Adalia stared at her and shook her head.

“Yeah, and there’s some guy here to see you.”

Adalia’s heart leapt into her throat, and she stopped moving completely. Screw the Black Forest cakes, what if Trent had arrived? Mortification paralyzed her; she was glued to the spot.

The last thing she’d want was the billionaire to see her slumming it in a tiny store bakery.

“Who?” Adalia whispered.

Melanie raised an eyebrow. “Derick or something, I didn’t hear proper. Get them cakes ready.” She turned and charged out again, still chewing gum like it was her air to breathe.

“Derick,” Adalia said to herself, shaking her head in confusion. Who the hell was Derick? She dusted off her hands on her grubby apron and strolled out of the kitchen and into the kiosk area.

It wasn’t Derick; it was DeShawn.

“Hey baby,” he murmured, resting his elbows on top of the glass case, and gazing into her eyes. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

“I’m honored,” she replied, and the sarcasm was lost on him. She didn’t want to see Trent, but she surely didn’t want to see her ex-boyfriend either. He’d pretty much messed with her mind for long enough, and she didn’t need that added pressure or drama.

“You working here now?”

“No,” she grumbled. “I just come here to work out.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” she said with a sweet smile. “What do you want, DeShawn? I’ve got things to do right now.” She glanced out over the empty store and made eye contact with the manager.

He glared at her and tilted his head to the side like the oversized buzzard he was. “Hurry up,” he mouthed then tapped his cheap Kmart watch.

She forced herself not to roll her eyes at the authority figure. Once upon a time, she’d loved baking, but that was when she’d been able to create something from fresh, not stick to the plan, no matter how disgusting it was.

“Baby?” DeShawn’s voice interrupted her train of thought.

“What is it?” She snapped her focus back to his face. “Like I said, I’m busy.”

“And I said I want you back.”

Agony erupted in her chest, pushing aside every other emotion. She’d been through so much, tasted a hint of success and then fallen hard. All she wanted was to get back on her feet and move on with her life, but DeShawn was back.

“Why? Give me one good reason why.”

“Because I love you, baby,” he said, leaning over the case of day-old cakes to grab at her arm. She didn’t jerk it away and he managed to bring it up and take hold of her hand instead. He brought the tips of her fingers to his lips and kissed them gently.

There wasn’t heat like there was with Trent, but it still brought out something in her. Something good. A long forgotten memory of what it was like to be touched by a person who cared.

Did DeShawn truly care?

“I don’t trust you, and I don’t need that,” she said, pulling her hand from his grasp and wiping the back on her apron with a sour expression.

“You never gave me a chance to prove myself to you. I love you so much, baby, and you ain’t never given me the chance to show it.”

“What are you talking about?” she spat, trembling from head to toe. “I gave you every chance in the world to show your love for me and you didn’t make any effort whatsoever.”

“I came to your daddy’s place to talk to you.”

“What?!” Adalia laughed out loud and the manager shot her a look of pure loathing. “I’m not talking about after I dumped your sorry ass. By then, it was too late. I’m talking about before. Because when it really mattered, you didn’t give a crap.”

“I was high a lot of the time.”

“Precisely.” Adalia gripped the low-slung counter with both hands.

Melanie appeared beside her. “You gotta get back to work. The Black Forest cakes aren’t gonna bake themselves.”

“What the hell does a store need two managers for?” Adalia blurted, then snapped her mouth shut.

Melanie glared at her for a minute then charged off again, muttering to herself.

That meant more trouble for her. The bakery manager chewed and steamed her way over to the store manager and flung her arms around, describing what Adalia had said in minute detail, apparently.

“You realize how busy I am, right?” Adalia breathed slowly, through the anger and disappointment in herself.

“Yeah, true that. Look, girl, I can’t live without you. I’m not gonna treat you bad again. Only give you what you deserve. You gotta believe me.”

“No, DeShawn, all I ‘gotta’ do is work and keep this damn job so I can earn enough money to make rent this damn month.”

“So, come live wit’ me.” DeShawn grinned and spread his arms wide, then scratched beneath the line of his do-rag. His muscles rippled beneath his tank top, but she didn’t have that spark with him.

Maybe she’d never feel that chemistry again. Hell, she’d probably imagined it in the first place.

“I’m not moving in with you, DeShawn. There’s no question about that in my mind.”

“Aight,” he said, then rapped his knuckles on the glass counter. “So lemme take you on a date.”

The store manager held up a hand to Melanie’s face, then walked past her and marched in Adalia’s direction.

Some of the shelves in the store leaned skew, the cans had a layer of dust which matched the grime on the front windows. Hardly any sunlight made it through to the back, so the fluorescents buzzing and clicking overhead made perfect sense.

“You need to leave now,” Adalia murmured, bracing herself for the complaints from the manager. “I ain’t leaving,” DeShawn said. The manager, Mr. Hubbard, was almost at the kiosk.

“What?”

“I ain’t leaving until you say you’ll go on a date with me.”

“Do you realize I could lose my job over this? Do you even care?”

“I care about you, but I ain’t gonna take no for no answer, and you need to see that, girl.” DeShawn seemed oblivious to the risk he’d put her under just by showing up. She was at the end of her tether with him and with everything else.

Mr. Hubbard was steps away.

“Fine, I’ll go on a date with you. Just get outta here!” She hissed it at him, then plastered up a broad smile.

“Adalia,” Hubbard said, stopping beside DeShawn. “I’d like to see you in the kitchen for a moment.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, still with that sick, fake smile on her lips. It suited how she felt inside: nauseated by the situation and what she had to do each day. She was a sellout.

“On Friday, baby,” DeShawn called out after.

The kitchen doors swung shut behind her.

Chapter Two

“Adalia, you’re treading on thin ice here.” Hubbard pointed his finger right under her nose and waggled it around, spreading the smell of baking cake through the kitchen. “I told you I wanted these Black Forest cakes ready and they’re not, are they?”

“Mr. Hubbard, I apologize but –”

“Are they?” he repeated, frowning at her, daring her to give him lip. God, she wished she could, but she had to keep this crappy job.

“Not yet, sir.”

“Then what are you doing chatting up customers in my shop?”

It wasn’t technically his shop, it was Annie’s, but he liked to strut around as if he owned the place. That was what sleeping with the boss got you. If you had no morals, of course.

“I wasn’t chatting him up, sir. He paid me a surprise visit. I assure you, I had no intention of –”

Hubbard raised a palm to her face then clipped his fingers and thumb together to make a ‘talking’ motion. “Yeah, I’m hearing too much of this. You need to get back to work and get those cakes out of the damn oven. Don’t let me hear you giving Melanie cheek again, either. She’s above you, and you need to accept that.”

Adalia glared at him for a minute, but softened her gaze slowly. She wouldn’t stoop to this guy’s level. He obviously had an inferiority complex – maybe he was bullied as a child or something, who knew?

“Yes sir, understood.” She gave him a winning smile, and his frown deepened. “I’ll get back to work.”

Mr. Hubbard charged out of the kitchen and the doors swung shut behind him then rebounded again.

Melanie traipsed in with an expression of smug satisfaction on her mug. She chewed and chewed and chewed on that damn gum. “You talk to the big boss?”

“Yes,” Adalia said, gritting her teeth and strolling to the ovens. She checked the timer, then switched it off and brought out the cakes, one-by-one. Melanie burned a hole in the back of her head as she worked, but she didn’t turn around and talk to her.

“You think you’re better than me or somethin’?” Melanie growled between lip smacks.

“Pardon?” Adalia tipped the cakes out onto cooling trays and went to wash her hands. She scrubbed them, running the water loud to block out the manager’s inquiries.

“Hey,” Melanie yelled over the rushing water from the faucet. “I asked if you think you’re better than me.”

Adalia sighed and turned to face the younger woman, who had dark brown hair and a lurid pink streak through the front of it. That was the fashion with teenagers nowadays, and Melanie couldn’t be a day over nineteen.

Her mascara was badly smudged at the corners of her eyes, and had formed clumps in the middle of her eyelids.

Did Adalia think she was better than Melanie? No, she didn’t think she was better than anyone, and that was the God honest truth. She was definitely a better baker than Melanie and that was what grated her the most.

“Answer my question or I’ll go talk to Mr. Hubbard again.”

The girl had to be insecure to take this much of an issue with a snappy comment.

“Honestly? No, I don’t think I’m better than you, Melanie. I think everyone’s equal and that’s the difference between your view point and mine.”

“What’re you trying to say?” Melanie spat her gum into the trash can next to the door and pulled herself up to sit on the counter.

“Nothing that really matters anymore. Just that I have work to do, and I’m sure you do too.” If that wasn’t amicable in the face of severe irritation, then what was?

Melanie narrowed her eyes and mulled her words over for a few minutes, then gave up on figuring the sentiment out and gave a snort. “Whatever, just get them Black Forest cakes done, y’hear?”

“Sure,” Adalia replied, “just waiting for them to cool.”

The other woman slid off the counter and clomped out of the kitchen again. Peace and quiet at last. Adalia let out a relieved sigh and rested her forehead against the fridge to cool it.

There was too much pressure building and now she’d agreed to a date with DeShawn to top it all off. Friday night. Maybe she could dig her way to China by Friday night. Or somehow raise enough money to take a bus out of the city. Who was she kidding with that?

If she left, he’d damn well follow her. The guy was persistent.

Riiiiiiing.

Her phone tinkled to life in her pocket and she gave a beleaguered sigh. That had to be DeShawn, calling to confirm. She brought it out, clicking the green button without checking the ID.

“Yes? Now’s not the time, as I’m sure you know.” Adalia leaned against the steel fridge some more, bathing her nostrils in the scent of cooling cake.

“Adalia, it’s so good to hear your voice again.” It was Trent. Trent Dawson was on the phone with her. Her heart raced for a moment, and she gripped the phone tight.

“What do you want?” she snapped. “What do you actually want this time, Trent?”

“Jesus, relax,” he said, then chuckled. “I see you haven’t changed in the past couple months.”