Running From Love (20 page)
Authors: Maggie Marr
Tags: #FIC027020 FICTION / Romance / Contemporary; FIC044000 FICTION / Contemporary Women
Poppy sat on the step and a lump formed in her throat. How had this happened? This near-perfect life that she now inhabited? She took a long deep breath. She’d never thought that she could ever have this existence with family and friends and feel safe and comfortable, not as though she were drowning and gasping for air. But she did. She had all this, plus the man she desperately loved. Trevor placed his phone on the table and checked in with Mimi, who smiled and waved him away.
Poppy rubbed water onto her arms. Her two nieces danced around in the pool pretending to be a dolphin and a mermaid, to Mia’s complete delight.
“How you doing there?” Trevor sat on the step behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her ear. “Have I told you how sexy my wife looks in her swimsuit?”
“Not yet,” Poppy smiled. “Why don’t you tell me now?”
“So damn sexy that if there weren’t so many people in this pool I’d absolutely strip it off her body.”
Poppy laughed and leaned back into Trevor’s chest and he tightened his arms around her. His lips pressed to her neck and a thrill pulsed through her body. This man. He excited her and loved her and made her happier than she’d ever dared imagine she could be. Her life was complete. She couldn’t imagine ever again running from love.
The End
Want to read the next installment in the Eligible Billionaires series? Get …
A Forever Love
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A Forever Love
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Thanks for reading
Running from Love
, the fifth book in the Eligible Billionaires Series. I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews help other readers find books and I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative. Please take a moment and write a review for
Running from Love.
The next book in the series is
A Forever
Love
, which is coming soon. Click if you'd like to read an excerpt from
A Forever Love
.
Books in the Eligible Billionaire Series:
Running from Love
A Forever Love
—coming soon
A Billionaire for Christmas
—coming soon
Omnibus:
Eligible Billionaires Books 1-3
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You may also enjoy my Glamour Series.
Impossible Glamour
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Omnibus:
The Glamour Series Books 1-3
The Hollywood Girls Club Series
Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club
Hollywood Girls Club the Series
The Eligible Billionaires Series
Running from Love
A Forever Love
– coming soon
A Billionaire for Christmas
– coming soon
Eligible Billionaires Books 1-3
The Powder Springs Series
The Christmas Promise
– coming soon
The Glamour Series
Impossible Glamour
– coming soon
Maggie Marr is an attorney, author, and producer. She began her career in the entertainment industry pushing the mail cart but rose to the position of motion picture literary agent. She has written for TV, film, and celebrities. Maggie has been featured on KCRW's
The Business
and reviewed by
Publishers Weekly
,
Kirkus
, and
Romantic Times
. She lives in LA with her family.
Maggie is eternally grateful for the graciousness and support of her readers.
Please visit her Website at:
http://www.maggiemarr.net
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Thank you to my readers, because I wouldn’t have this amazing job without your support. Thank you to my agent Kristin Nelson and her entire team at NLA. Thank you to Lori Bennett, the NLA Digital guru who makes everything digital work. Thank you to Angie Hodapp, for her patience and interior design of all my paperbacks. Thank you to Kim Killion, for another great cover and the entire vision for the Eligible Billionaires Series covers. Thank you to Jennifer Brown my editor, for her awesome editorial skills. Sarah Altman, virtual assistant extraordinaire, thank you.
Thank you to RWA, LARA, and WFWA, who provide me with information, knowledge, and fabulous friends.
Thank you to an exceptional group of women readers who support my work and keep me motivated and moving forward: Lindsy Henderson, Melissa Lamoureaux, Rosemary Feil, Sheila Nolin Schwartz, Roxana Perez Hidalgo, Debra Knotts, Megan McCaule, Laura Akers Collins, Kimberly Dawn, Victoria Schultz, Denise Boyd, Michelle Haxton, Amanda Weber, Christy McGlauchlen, and Kathy Church. I appreciate each of you and can never thank you enough for your kindness and support.
Thank you to my family and friends especially: Margaret L. Marr, Nancy Veskerna, Lauren Harrison, Gavin White, Nealie White, Linda and Bill Henderson, Lindsy and Mark Henderson, Eloise and Dixie Marr, Gayle Leftwich, Joyce and Tom Leahy, Paula and David Glasscock, Garrett L. Marr, Amy and Brent Zacky, Victoria and Karl Makinen, Sheryl and Steven Ross, Peggy Cafferty, Maria Seager, Sylvie Fox, Beverly Diehl, Kady Ambrose, Rebekah Ganiere, Debbie Decker, Christine Ashworth, Cami Brite, Chandra Years, Sarah Vance-Tompkins, Julia Blake, Jane Porter, Megan Crane, and Bob.
To my husband and my children, the love and laughter you give me each day exceeds my wildest dreams and my every expectation. Thank you; I love you.
A Forever Love
A Forever Love
, book six in The Eligible Billionaires
Series, coming soon from Maggie Marr.
Aubrey sipped her white wine and glanced around the wedding reception. Before today, she had never met any of the people at her table. Paloma, Aubrey’s best friend and the groom’s first wife, had on occasion mentioned a fondness for Prim Baxter, who sat to Aubrey’s right, next to her billionaire husband Tristan Rhoades.
Having worked in investment banking before returning to her childhood home, Aubrey knew Tristan by reputation. She’d heard a multitude of stories about his ruthless nature and his habit of buying and dissecting companies. But the man who sat beside Aubrey with his arm around his wife, teasing Prim about what Tristan called her near-addiction to anything colored gold, was much more jovial and charming than all the reports Aubrey had heard.
Aubrey glanced at the long head table where Ryan and his bride Charla sat. She was so very different than Paloma, but the bride did share one similarity with Ryan’s deceased wife: Charla seemed to love Ryan in that never-ending way that Paloma had loved him. Aubrey smiled. Paloma would be pleased, very, very, pleased that Ryan had found love once again.
“Aubrey, you mentioned that you live in Kansas?”
Aubrey turned to Prim and nodded. Prim was lovely, with her light brown skin and dark brown hair. Her smile was warm, and a quick intelligence inhabited her eyes.
“I run Rockwater Farms in Hudson,” Aubrey said.
“Wow, Kansas? What’s that like?” Tristan asked.
Aubrey’s smile widened. “Pretty great, actually. I was in investment banking for years, but when my mom passed away and my dad started to fail, it just seemed like the right time to go home.” Of course she wouldn’t mention the extenuating circumstance that had predicated her return trip from the heady atmosphere of investment banking in New York City to the Heartland of America.
“Wait? Rockwater Farms? Isn’t that the where the Red Barn is located?” Prim inquired.
Aubrey nodded. “The very one. Nina Hayes, the chef, is my sister.”
“Oh,” Prim nodded toward her husband. “Then don’t let this woman fool you. Rockwater Farms and The Red Barn is one of the best-kept secrets in America. I just read a profile on you in
Women Executives
. You’re building a farm to table model and a soon-to-be three star Michelin restaurant. ”
Heat pulsed through Aubrey’s face. Attention wasn’t something she craved and, well, tooting one’s own horn might work on the coasts, but in the center of America people put their heads down and worked.
“You’re very kind, but I can’t take all the credit. It’s my sister’s talents that have made The Red Barn so successful. I just run the farm side and take care of the numbers.”
“In Kansas?” Tristan asked.
Prim smacked him on the arm. “Stop. Not nice. Not funny. Warren Buffet is from Nebraska, for goodness’ sake, and it borders Kansas.”
“It does?” Tristan tilted his head. “I thought Nebraska bordered Oklahoma?”
Aubrey took another sip of her wine. Yes, she knew from experience that Midwest geography was as mystifying to most Los Angelinos and New Yorkers as Mandarin Chinese. She glanced down at her watch and did some quick math in her head. “Excuse me, won’t you?”