A Weekend of Passion: Billionaire in Paris, #1

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Billionaire in Paris

Book 1:

Weekend of Passion https://books2read.com/u/bWKK61

Book 2:

Weekend of Romance

https://books2read.com/u/mdKKDZ

Book 3:

Weekend of Kisses

https://books2read.com/u/bP7574

Book 4:

Weekend of Love

https://books2read.com/u/47kkwg

COMPLETE COLLECTION – BOX SET

Her Tycoon Lover

Description

A Steamy Billionaire Romance Series

IT MAY SEEM IMPOSSIBLE to have a bad day in Paris, but beautiful, smart Grace Delacourt somehow accomplishes that as she is reamed by her boss right there on the sidewalk of an outdoor café. When a handsome, charismatic man advises Grace to walk away from her job, she has no idea that the man, seemingly just out for a cup of coffee, is a billionaire shipping tycoon.

Tony Petrides, owner of Greek Tower in the Paris business district—a successful empire in its own right, with offices all around the world—whisks Grace away from her boss’s screaming rant and turns her bad day into a memory that will stay with her forever. Unfortunately, their intense and unexpected romance is eventually derailed by a little white lie. Grace tells Tony goodbye, but when she returns home and finds herself unable to land another job, she is forced to accept a position on the West Coast, with Petrides Shipping, working one on one with the man himself.

Will their smoking-hot chemistry override past mistakes, or will one more lie finish them for good?

Contents

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Billionaire in Paris

Description

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

A Weekend of Romance - Book 2 Blurb

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Prologue

THE ONE SMALL CONSOLATION, if there was any solace to be had, was that, while Grace was having her backside chewed out by the world’s worst human being, most of the people around her probably didn’t understand the names she was being called. Grace and Billy, her supervisor, were a couple of Americans in Paris, and they totally acted like it.

Grace watched as the face of her cashmere-clad boss scrunched up in a screaming pucker. Once again, Grace had pissed her off, and she felt like a total failure as she was berated while the other patrons looked on around the bistro, arching their eyebrows at her as they stared over their tiny espresso cups. Just a short decade ago, Grace had been the hottest up-and-coming model with the Ford Agency, but her extreme distaste for that pretentious lifestyle forced her to step down and earn her living in a more ordinary job. She cat-walked right off the runway and into a regular daily grind, and now she regretted it even more. She was 28, but the physical beauty she was blessed with hadn’t faded; she certainly wasn’t over the proverbial hill, even for a modeling career. I’m better than this...aren’t I? she thought as she stared at her frantic employer.

Grace now found herself on the receiving end of yet another screaming rant of Billy Stevens, a heavy-hitter recently voted among the top five of the fifty most powerful women in the world. Not only that, but Billy was number one in international arbitration. During slow spells, the spoiled and headstrong drama queen traveled to three countries a week, but for all her worldly wisdom she was still the neediest, most insecure person Grace had ever met, and she expressed that insecurity via chronic abuse of her employees and anyone else she could unleash it on.

Walk away, said a smooth, calm voice.

Grace’s brow wrinkled in confusion as she spun around to make sure she wasn’t hearing things, shocked that her hallucination had a narrator. The voice was alluring, wise, and damn seductive, as if it was pulled right out of a Mercedes ad. As sexy as it was, though, she would have traded that in an instant to hear her daddy’s voice as she stood there in the middle of that foreign country, with her sole lifeline giving her the equivalent of a verbal enema.

Walk away, the voice encouraged again, whispered in Grace’s ear by a gentleman who’d stepped very close to her.

Billy didn’t miss a beat and continued spewing her hateful tirade, even stomping her high-heeled, immaculately pedicured foot on the concrete for effect. She obviously cared nothing about disturbing the peace, and she paid no mind to the fact that her loud, patronizing freak-out had a few of the diners walking away from their tables with their lattes still half-full.

Ignoring the rant, as she’d done so many times before, Grace looked at the stranger who had approached her. She was beginning to wonder if all French men were charismatic, loaded with animal magnetism. This handsome hunk was nearly perfect, at least on the outside, without a single blemish or wrinkle. His hair was cut close to his head, in no particular style, yet he somehow looked more than stylish. Masterful, she thought as she gazed at him, like a timeless piece of art. What in the hell is he doing here and not on display at The Louvre? Forget Mona Lisa’s smile. She’s got nothing on this guy.

Come. It will be okay, he said, nodding in the direction of the door.

But she’ll fire me, Grace protested. She did consider his suggestion, but it just didn’t seem feasible. I will gladly be your...safety net. He then extended his hand to introduce himself. George Petrides, he said with a smile. Tony.

Grace grinned back, still half-amazed she could hear him over her boss, who seemed to pump up the volume more with every angry syllable; then again, his luscious mouth wasn’t that far from her face. Tony? How the heck do you get that out of George? she asked with a sheepish chuckle, blushing like some silly schoolgirl.

My cousin Mike gave it to me. He feels George is...an old man’s name, Tony answered. He then tilted his head curiously in Billy’s direction. "She’s still going?"

Yeah, well, you’d be surprised how long she can go.

This is unacceptable, Tony said, shaking his perfectly disheveled head. Come with me, to my office. We’ll find something for you, depending on what skills you have. You mustn’t subject yourself to this unprofessional foolishness for a moment longer.

Wait. Petrides? Where have I heard that name before? Grace thought as she considered his shocking invitation. Her eyes narrowed. So where do you work? You sound pretty confident that you have room for me, and you don’t even know me, so—

Petrides Shipping, he said with an adorable grin.

What!? You can’t be serious, Grace said, staggering back a bit. Surely this is a jet-lag-induced hallucination.

I am serious—very—and don’t be nervous. He laughed. I’m cool. His bright blue eyes traveled to her current boss. A lot nicer than that anyway.

Very nice, Grace said, looking him over from head to toe. Very nice indeed. It dawned on her that she already knew him, to some degree, because for a while she’d been following the businessman’s Twitter feed, admiring all those tweets about humanitarianism, innovation, flying to the moon, and pictures of him at parties, reclining on yacht decks and rubbing perfectly tanned elbows with babes. Yeah, very nice...and super cool. As a matter of fact—

Are you even listening to me? screeched Billy, interrupting her thoughts.

Grace looked to Tony with a smile. Am I? she asked him.

Tony shook his head.

I guess not, she confessed to Billy, then looked at Tony again. So do I quit or what?

Tony nodded.

"What? You’re quitting? Billy laughed scornfully. You can’t quit, you dildo. We’re in the middle of a case, and I brought you out here specifically to help me."

A case? Tony asked, leaning close. What do you do?

I was a legal assistant for a while, but now I’m Billy’s executive assistant...or at least I was. So far, I’ve had the lofty, world-changing responsibilities of making sure she has her supply of special-grain granola bars and Japanese massage oil, since the Paris Ritz apparently blows when it comes to giving a proper massage.

Hmm, Tony said, rubbing his chin in thought for a moment. In that case, it’s definitely time to quit.

Billy finally spun around to acknowledge the man who was talking to Grace. Who are you, mister? she demanded in her ear-shattering, annoying chirp.

George Petrides, replied Tony with a confidence few people dared to address Billy with. Grace noted that Tony didn’t let Billy in on his nickname, and that made her smile from the inside out.

Billy blanched. Billy Stevens, she stammered, extending her hand.

I know. He grinned as he shook her hand weakly. He then held up the magazine he was carrying, the most recent edition of Business Legal, with her face right there on the cover. At first I was shocked, reading that article, and there you were right in front of me. Small world, I guess, though it did take me a moment to recognize you. Some people just aren’t recognizable when they’re angry, their faces all contorted. As I got closer, though, I realized who you are.

Why don’t we go grab some coffee, George? said Billy, completely blowing off the episode and quickly regaining her composure, putting on her proper businesswoman façade in a hurry to impress him.

I can’t, he said, taking Grace’s arm. I have to conduct an interview.

Chapter 1

GRACE TOOK THE JOB because she had to, though she didn’t accept it right away. The first and second times they asked, she refused, but the third plea turned out to be a charm for the company but not so much for her. After her first few days with Wilton & Case, Grace Delacourt knew it was a huge mistake. Yes, it paid more than she’d ever earned before, even for a rare high-priced modeling gig, but she was also expected to accomplish more work in the span of seven days than was humanly possible. On paper it was the best job she’d ever had, but it certainly wasn’t like that in real life.

She hated it almost immediately, but that didn’t really matter because she was virtually stuck. If she walked out, she couldn’t put the job on her résumé, and there would be no explaining the gap in jobs or why she left one job before getting another. It would be a hard sell to make anyone believe she was a rock-star personal assistant if she left so many loose ends.

On the bright side, her boss, a grown woman who went by the name of Billy, paid her way to Paris, but before long Grace had learned a hard lesson: Far too many times, all she could do was press her lips in a tight line and bear the verbal tirades Billy consistently threw at her.

That all changed when she met Tony Petrides, a chance collision in a sidewalk café. He pried her away from the tornado that was Billy Stevens.

They took a few steps, but then he stopped suddenly and positioned his cell phone to write a text. ’Scuse me, he said. This’ll only take a sec’.

Tony was busy, just like Billy was. He received a gazillion texts, calls, and emails a day. Grace was surprised he found time in his day to even visit a café, let alone time for a curveball, like rescuing her from her shrew of a boss.

After he finished his text, his fingers flying like lightning over the phone, they strolled the couple blocks to his office in the business sector known as La Defense. Grace kept a careful eye on him as they walked. Tony was average height or maybe slightly taller than most men she knew. She was tall for a woman, so they were nearly shoulder to shoulder. His hair was adorable, messy in a purposeful sort of way and cropped close to his scalp. His skin was a perfect complexion, and he had an amazingly natural, musky male scent about him. For all his laidback style, she guessed he paid a small fortune for facials. Either that, or he comes from a really good gene pool, she surmised. He also exuded a smooth warmth, and while he was obviously a powerful man, there was a sense of safety about him. Grace had known a lot of power-hitters in her couple of careers, but she’d never felt so comfortable around any of them. He pointed to his offices as they approached. Petrides Shipping occupied the entire building, the Greek Tower, though they did occasionally rent out a few random suites. The building lobby was more spectacular than Grace’s hotel, and that was hard to top since Billy always insisted that their lodging was the best, no matter where they went. Billy was a lot of things, but she absolutely wasn’t one to settle.

And speaking of jeans, Grace thought with a smile as she stared at his attire. In spite of all the stiff, pretentious suits milling around and the fact that his name was on the marquis, Tony was dressed casually and stuck out like a sore thumb in his cotton hoodie and jeans. Grace had been around Billy’s world long enough to spot expensive; she knew that, although Tony looked like he was ready to attend a hockey game, his ensemble must have set him back an easy two grand.

He seemed to be well-liked, as the Petrides Shipping employees smiled when they saw him. He bumped fists and shook hands with a few. Grace didn’t know squat about Petrides Shipping, except that the company was a longstanding, family-owned shipbuilder. She knew for sure that, at the moment, Tony was the Petrides in Petrides Shipping, the top dog. The good news was that as far as bosses went, he was everything Billy Stevens was not.

He easily walked through the security checkpoint with a wink and a nod, but he was apologetic when they insisted that her purse be scanned. She really