Title: Granted
Author: Ellis Summers
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Book Blurb:
Restaurant entrepreneur and fiancé to a congressman, thirty-year-old, Amazing Grant has kept her distance from her mobster family, as well as entombed her own less-than-savory past. Until now.
The family assassin summons Amazing to Paris for a meeting with the clan. With their recent blackmail threats against her fiancé, and an Interpol General using her past to jeopardize her freedom, the only thing worse than dragging the people she loves into her battle is discovering why her relatives want an heirloom journal she’s been hiding, to remain buried.
Granted is a fast-paced, compelling thriller. With murder, mystery, family, and betrayal, this book has everything you can ask for. Plus a little fun and romance.
Excerpt:
When Eli appeared at my hotel suite, I didn't know whether to be relieved to see him or irritated he came without warning. His presence was reassuring, but deep inside I sensed he wasn't always entirely honest with me. Yet, I couldn't really condemn the man I loved since I was guilty of deception, too.
"Surprise, Maze." His soft lips landed on mine, and he kicked the door closed.
"How did you know I was in Switzerland?" I snuggled into his soft shirt and inhaled his cocoa and cedar aftershave. "Are you spying on me?"
"You have a wild imagination." He chuckled, patting my ass. "Your cousin called. He's worried and asked me to join you. I flew all night from D.C."
"Well, thank you, Congressman, but sometimes I think you're too close to my cousins." I nudged him away and entered the bedroom, intent on packing my suitcase. "I'm capable of flying alone."
He stood behind me. "Stop pretending you're not afraid," he whispered.
His strong hands massaged my tense shoulders as his warm breath soothed my insides.
He turned me around and brushed his strawberry-blond hair from his forehead. "You're a five-foot fireball who needs to start asking for help. At least get some protection."
"I don't need protection from my family. They act tough, but they're all cowards."
I tossed the rest of my clothes and last pair of sandals into my suitcase, then zipped it up.
Eli could read me better than I cared to admit.
I was scared, and as we drove to the Zurich airport, I tried to keep my nerves from running wild. As a congressman on intelligence committees, Eli probably knew my grandfather Richard was a fugitive and on the run. But what Eli couldn't know was that Richard always kept everyone else in the family from bothering me about a missing journal. Everyone thought I had the heirloom in my possession, but my constant denials had kept them at bay.
With Richard out of the picture, I'd be bombarded with efforts to find it. I'd spent my adult life avoiding the Grants and their criminal enterprises, but with our patriarch gone, anything could happen, especially since the rumors about the journal spoke of incriminating evidence against the family.
After we arrived at the airport, Eli pulled our luggage from the trunk of the cab. "I'll check our bags. Probably a long line inside."
I grabbed my purse and kissed his cheek. "I'll meet you at security. I've got to make a stop in the ladies' room."
A short time later, as I neared the bustling lounge entrance, Eli phoned. "I just saw your father breeze up the escalator."
His hushed words sent a tingle down my spine.
"Hmm. Thanks for the warning." It was such a shame Daddy George wasn't in prison where he belonged.
I entered the only place I could escape my father, and once in front of the mirror, dug a brush from the bottom of my purse. The door opened, and a woman in a green jogging outfit strode into the bathroom, settling at the neighboring sink. She fluffed her stylish red hair while staring in the mirror. At me.
My muscles tensed. I put my brush away. "Do you have a message from my father, or do you have the hots for me?"
Still looking in the mirror, her expression remained stoic and sour. “He wants a word.”
Sure, now he wanted to speak to me.
I tried my entire childhood to talk to him.
"I'll give him a jingle."
In a flash, she grabbed my elbow with a tight grip. Yanking away, I clasped her wrist and stepped behind her. Without a thought, I bent her arm and shoved her elbow into her back. Years of mastering martial arts finally paid off.
She bent over, her face scrunched, and I twisted her wrist with a slow spin. She released a groan through gritted teeth.
While enjoying her writhing, I happened to glance at my nails. "You know, I just had a manicure this morning."
She squirmed, her red mop flopping into her eyes. "So?"
"So, smudging my nails to put you in your place irritates me." I pulled her arm higher up her back. "When I let go, I'm going to leave. You're not to follow or come near me again. Oui?"
She grimaced while holding very still. "Sure. Whatever. Don't break my arm," she pleaded. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
I released her, then huffed out the door — my nostrils flaring. Although my great-grandfather Adam claimed his journal would someday save me, keeping his obscure inheritance hidden had been a burden and now, possibly my downfall.
I left the ladies' lounge and spotted my father in his three-piece pinstripe, motioning me over with a wave of his hand. Flashing my middle finger in his direction, I continued on my way and joined the line for security screening.
It was one of our friendlier exchanges and just another day in the Grant world, where the gem mining business mixed with mob-style thuggery.
I couldn't discuss this incident with Eli. My heart would break if my suspicions about how his work investigating my family related to his pursuit of me.
Ignorance was my drug, and I'd become a hopeless addict.
***
A soft finger slid down the bridge of my nose, and tender lips kissed my eyelids. Mmm. Eli. I woke from my pretend nap.
He sat beside me in our first-class lounge chairs and handed me a shot of whiskey. Given his loosened tie and mussed hair, it looked like he already had several.
“You’re seriously going to sleep the whole way home?”
I downed the golden liquid and smiled. “That's my plan.” To avoid questions.
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Author Biography:
I’m an author specializing in novels about fun characters with unusual lives going through dramatic situations. My stories have high stakes, twists and turns, along with a touch of romance and humor. I live along the California coast, enjoying daily walks on the beach and discovering the gardens hidden away in town.
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ellissummers5
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorellis/