BEFORE SUMMER ENDS
by Susan Mallery

Harlequin | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

A long, hot summer with her secret crush…

What could possibly go wrong?

Nissa Lang knows Desmond Stilling is out of her league. He’s a CEO, she’s a teacher. He’s gorgeous, she’s…not. So when her house-sitting gig falls through and Desmond offers her a place to stay for the summer, she vows not to reveal how she’s felt about him since their first—and only—kiss.

Desmond should’ve known better than to bring temptation into his house. He decided long ago that his best friend’s sister was too sweet, too good, for him. She deserves a guy who can give his heart. For her sake, he’s stayed away. But as her laughter breathes life into his lonely mansion, he’s not sure how long he’ll be able to resist.

From Harlequin Special Edition: Believe in love. Overcome obstacles. Find happiness.

Excerpt

He tried to shake off those thoughts and return his attention to his work, but quickly realized that wasn’t happening. He obviously wasn’t going to get anything done until Nissa arrived and got settled. For some reason, he was more focused on that than the Asian sales report.

He got up and crossed to the large window in his study. The late-June days were long and sunny, and the garden flourished. The grass was dark green, flowers provided plenty of color in
the planting beds, the trees looked healthy. The gardeners did a good job, regardless of the seasons, but in the summer, their hard work paid off.

He turned at the sound of the vacuum cleaner being turned on somewhere upstairs. Hilde had been in a state since he’d told her Nissa was coming to stay. There had been cleaning and
washing and other tasks he couldn’t begin to imagine. The refrigerator overflowed with food and there were fresh flowers everywhere in the house.

Her burst of happy activity made him feel guilty. His housekeeper obviously didn’t have enough to do in a day. The house was large, but there wasn’t anyone to make a mess. He rarely ate dinner at home, so she wasn’t spending much time cooking. He would guess she was bored working for him—a problem he didn’t know how to solve. If he’d stayed married to Rosemary, they would have had kids by now. That would have increased the workload. Of course, if they’d stayed together, he and Rosemary would have been living in different wings of the house, barely seeing each other, except when they passed in the hallway.

His phone buzzed. He pulled it out, then smiled when he read the text.

I’m here. Just giving you a heads-up because the house is so big, I thought you’d need an extra minute or five to walk to the door and I really don’t want to be kept waiting.

He was still chuckling when he heard the doorbell ring a few seconds later.

About the Author

Author Website

Twitter: @susanmallery

Facebook: @SusanMallery

Instagram: @susanmallery

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SUSAN MALLERY is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that define women’s lives—family, friendship, romance. Library Journal says, “Mallery is the master of blending emotionally believable characters in realistic situations,” and readers seem to agree—40 million copies of her books have sold worldwide. Her warm, humorous stories make the world a happier place to live.

Susan grew up in California and now lives in Seattle with her husband. She’s passionate about animal welfare, especially that of the two ragdoll cats and an adorable poodle who think of her as mom.