Second Chance With The Ceo

After one fake kiss, she’s crushing on the sexy CEO—again! Only from USA TODAY bestselling author Anna DePalo!

Teacher Marisa Danieli needs a headliner for her school fund-raiser. Her best bet? Cole Serenghetti, former star hockey player turned CEO of his family’s construction empire. Sure, she had a disastrous high school crush on the guy, but business is business…

Until it turns into funny business—and posing as a couple. This time, the feelings are red-hot and made worse by the fact that Marisa’s ex-fiancé is dating Cole’s ex-girlfriend! Is Marisa’s fund-raiser coup about to backfire, or is this second chance with the CEO the real deal?

“Still can’t resist the sports guys?”

“I’m a slow learner.”

She’d been anything but a slow learner the one time they’d had sex. She’d been the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted.

He cursed silently. He had to stop thinking about her. Even though right now the sunlight from a nearby window caught in her hair, creating a halo effect, and illuminated the fascinating flecks in her eyes. But what really drew him was the bow of her mouth. Soft, pink and unadorned—just waiting to be kissed, even now, fifteen years later.

She frowned. “Are you okay?”

“Fine. I’m stalked by schoolteachers all the time.” She flushed.

“If you came to get my attention, you’ve got it.”

* * *

Second Chance with the CEO is part of the The Serenghetti Brothers series—In business and the bedroom, these alpha brothers drive a hard bargain!

Dear Reader,

It’s good to be writing for Harlequin Desire again after taking time to attend to family! This is my thirteenth Desire book, and the first in a series about the Serenghetti family—four powerful, passionate Italian-American siblings!

Teacher Marisa Danieli needs a fantastic headliner for the Pershing School fund-raiser in order to earn a job promotion. Unfortunately, her best bet is sweet-talking Cole Serenghetti—former professional hockey player returned to the family fold as CEO of Serenghetti Construction, high school troublemaker and, most important, her disastrous teenage crush...until she got him suspended from school.

Cole would rather eat an ice puck than headline Marisa’s fund-raiser, but fairly soon, thanks to one steamy kiss in a bar for the sake of their exes, everyone believes that Marisa and Cole are a couple. The second time around, will everything work out for Pershing’s most scandalous fake couple, or will history repeat itself?

Watch out for more stories about the Serenghetti siblings, coming soon from Harlequin Desire!

Warmest wishes,

Anna

Website: www.AnnaDePalo.com

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/AnnaDePaloBooks

Twitter: @Anna_DePalo

Second Chance with the CEO

Anna DePalo

www.millsandboon.co.uk

USA TODAY bestselling author ANNA DEPALO is a Harvard graduate and former intellectual-property attorney who lives with her husband, son and daughter in her native New York. She writes sexy, humorous books that have been published in more than twenty countries and has won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Golden Leaf and the Book Buyers Best Award. For the latest news, sign up for her newsletter at www.annadepalo.com.

For Colby, Nicholas & Olivia, for understanding that I write.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

One

“Cole Serenghetti,” she muttered, “come out, come out, wherever you are.”

She knew she sounded like a corny fairy-tale character, but she’d been short on happy endings lately, and the words couldn’t hurt, could they?

Then again, there was always be careful what you wish for...

As if she’d conjured him, a tall man appeared under a crossbeam at the construction site.

A feeling of dread curled in her stomach. How many times had she started out thinking she could do this and then her courage had flagged? Three? Four?

Still, the students at Pershing School depended on her bringing Cole Serenghetti to heel—her job could hinge on it, as well.

Marisa lifted her hand from the steering wheel and squeezed it to stop a sudden tremor. Then she raised her field glasses.

Features obscured under his yellow hard hat, the man strode down the dirt path leading to the opening in the chain-link fence surrounding the construction site, which would soon be a four-story medical office complex. Clad in jeans, a plaid shirt and vest and work boots, he could have been just any other construction worker. But he had an air of command...and his physique showed potential for inclusion in a beefcake calendar.

Marisa’s heart pounded hard in her chest.

Cole Serenghetti. Former professional hockey player returned to the family fold as CEO of Serenghetti Construction, high school troublemaker and her disastrous teenage crush.

Could the package be worse?

Marisa slunk lower in the driver’s seat, letting the binoculars dangle against her chest from their cord. The last thing she needed was for a police officer to come around and ask why she was stalking a rich bad-boy real estate developer.