The NOLA Heart Novels (Complete Series) Read online

  The NOLA Heart Novels

  The Complete Series

  Maria Luis

  Alkmini Books, LLC

  Down in the Big Easy, being cuffed just got a little hotter with the NOLA Heart series from Maria Luis. Four books. Four sexy men in uniform. Four romances that will leave you swooning. Plus, a 17,000 word short story featuring the one and only Julian O’Connor.

  Say You’ll Be Mine

  Laws of Engagement for dealing with an ex. Rule #1: no kissing. Rule #2: all clothes must stay on. And, rule #3: don’t even think about falling in love again. For Officer Brady Taylor and Shaelyn Lawrence, following the rules just got a little harder.

  Take A Chance On Me

  Jade Harper isn’t looking for Mr. Right. Hell, she’s not even looking for Mr. Right Now, but Officer Nathan Danvers has a way of blurring the lines between lust and love …

  Dare You To Love Me

  A wounded veteran not looking for love. A single mother determined to find Mr. Right. Luke O’Connor and Anna Bryce have nothing in common, but their chemistry is undeniable…

  Tempt Me With Forever

  Never trust a bad boy. Burned one too many times, Lizzie Danvers is determined to prove that playboys can’t be trusted — and she’s found the perfect man for the job in her brother’s co-worker, sexy Officer Gage Harvey.

  Keep in touch with Maria!

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  Maria Luis Reader Order

  NOLA Heart

  Say You’ll Be Mine

  Take A Chance On Me

  Dare You To Love Me

  Tempt Me With Forever

  Blades Hockey

  Power Play

  Sin Bin

  Hat Trick

  Body Check

  Blood Duet

  Sworn

  Defied

  Put A Ring On It

  Hold Me Today

  Kiss Me Tonight

  Love Me Tomorrow

  Broken Crown

  Road To Fire

  Sound of Madness

  ANK (title to be revealed)

  The NOLA Heart Novels: The Complete Series

  Maria Luis

  Copyright © 2020 by Alkmini Books, LLC

  It is illegal to distribute or resale this copy in any form.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Designer: Najla Qamber, Najla Qamber Designs

  Editing: Kathy Bosman, Indie Editing Chick

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Say You’ll Be Mine

  About This Book

  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

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Dear Fabulous Reader

  Take A Chance On Me

  About The Book

  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

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Dear Fabulous Reader

  Dare You To Love Me

  About This Book

  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

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  Dear Fabulous Reader

  Tempt Me With Forever

  About The Book

  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

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  29. From the desk of ThatMakeupGirl

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Dear Fabulous Reader

  Always Be Mine

  Author’s Note

  1. New Orleans, Louisiana

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  4. Good Morning, New Orleans

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  7. Good Morning, New Orleans

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  11. Good Morning, New Orleans

  Sneak Peek of Hold Me Today

  Join the Fun!

  Also by Maria Luis

  About the Author

  Say You’ll Be Mine

  Shaelyn & Brady

  Laws of Engagement for dealing with an Ex:

  Rule #1: Don't give into temptation for a kiss just to see if they taste the same.

  Rule #2: No clothing removal. Seriously, don't take them off.

  Twelve years and too many pairs of stilettos later, Shaelyn Lawrence is b
ack where she started: New Orleans. She's returned only to take care of her grandmother, and after that? She's out, hopefully long before she sees irresistible Brady Taylor, the boy who stomped all over her heart. But when a family member approaches her for help, there's only one person she can to turn to...and he's just as infuriatingly sexy as she remembers. Oh boy.

  New Orleans Detective Brady Taylor has his sights on the finish line: getting promoted to sergeant. Nothing, and no one, is getting in his way--except that he didn't prepare for her return, the girl who left him without a word. Resisting Shaelyn has never been his strong suit, and now all he can think about is stripping her out of her f*ck-me heels and kissing the lipstick off her sassy mouth. And when she asks him for help, he's forced to decide between his career and the woman he's never stopped loving.

  Rule #3: Don't even think about falling in love again...

  Contents

  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

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Dear Fabulous Reader

  From the time I ran my bike into a parked car (and bawled my eyes out) to the time your football pass cracked the Mercedes’ mirror across the street (and you swore AJ and I to secrecy), you have always been my biggest champion – as well as the reason I have found laughter in situations that bear no joy.

  You once told me that all an author needs is a set of characters that readers will adore – although Romance was never your thing (we all know Pretty Woman was your favorite movie by far), I hope Brady and Shaelyn would have made you smile.

  Good job, honey.

  1

  Spotting her ex-boyfriend in a dress was the very last thing Shaelyn Lawrence expected to see when she stopped at Rite-Aid for tampons.

  But there she was, dropping a box of Tampax Pearls into her blue basket when Brady Taylor stepped past the hygiene aisle. Red fabric clung to his masculine frame, and the scalloped, mid-thigh hem offset the black Nike tennis shoes on his feet and the black Saints baseball cap on his head.

  After twelve years away, there’d been no doubt in her mind that she’d run into Brady after returning home to New Orleans. The city was small, their social circle even smaller. But even knowing that their meet-up was inevitable hadn’t prepared her for this.

  Shaelyn stood on her tiptoes to absorb the sight of him over a display of female hygiene products. His dress was made of lace. Brady Taylor, I-was-born-with-a-voice-as-deep-as-sin, was brazenly wearing lace in public, and he wasn’t alone. He stood with a group of four men who also wore red dresses.

  It would have been ridiculous if not for the fact that no less than two women doubled back around to ogle the men in the same time frame that Shaelyn stood there clutching boxes of overnight pads to hold herself steady on her toes.

  Pull it together, girl.

  Turning to one of his buddies, Brady clapped him on the back and then reached up to adjust his hat over his short, dark hair. Despite the twelve years and the heartbreak, Shaelyn could still recall the silky texture of his hair. How his eyes used to flutter shut with pleasure as she combed her fingers through the thick layers.

  Shaelyn barely refrained a snort as she spared Brady one last glance and backed around the opposite end of the aisle.

  She’d been way too naïve at eighteen, naïve enough to believe Brady when he talked love, marriage, the whole nine yards. At thirty, Shaelyn no longer mistook lust for love.

  And no matter what excuses he might scrounge up whenever they officially crossed paths—because they would, eventually—Shaelyn knew one last thing: for as long as she was stuck in New Orleans, she wanted nothing to do with the man who’d sent her running from Louisiana with a shattered heart.

  “I saw Brady Taylor wearing a red dress today.”

  Shaelyn’s grandmother craned her head, blue eyes blinking slowly from behind black, cat-eye bifocals. “Did you tell the boy hello?” Meme Elaine asked.

  “I think he’s a few years beyond being a boy.” Shaelyn popped a red cherry tomato into her mouth. “Is he gay?”

  “Did he seem gay to you?”

  It was hard to forget how the cheap fabric had molded to his frame. He was taller than she remembered. Broader. Because of his hat, she hadn’t gotten a good glimpse of his face, but that was probably a good thing. He’d been sinfully handsome at eighteen, and she wasn’t above hoping that he’d lost some of his looks in the last decade.

  No one ought to be that attractive.

  “He was wearing a dress.”

  “Cher, have you been gone so long you’ve forgotten your roots? Today was the Red Dress Run.”

  Ah, right. The day in which New Orleanians embarked on a half-marathon while wearing red dresses, all in the name of charity. Only in New Orleans did no one bat an eye at the sight of hundreds of people running down the street in dresses—or in nothing at all.

  She’d been gone too long. It was official.

  During the past twelve years, she’d called Jacksonville, Washington D.C., and New York City home. The sense that something new, something better, was always around the corner, had kept her moving. New York had been home for the longest, and she could acknowledge, at least to herself, that the city that never sleeps had reaped its toll on her.

  Returning to New Orleans had never entered her radar until last month.

  Not until her grandmother had delivered the news.

  Shaelyn hid her worry behind a casual tone. “What did the doctor say this morning?”

  Meme Elaine blinked once, her eyes appearing cartoon-like behind the bifocals, and glanced down at her plate. “Oh, nothing. The nice doctor told me that I need to watch out for my sugars.”

  “You said your prognosis was bad.” It was the only reason Shaelyn had bought a plane ticket and moved back to the one place she’d sworn never to return. Growing up in New Orleans had been good, until it’d turned bad. But her grandmother had been there for Shaelyn every step of the way, even when her own parents hadn’t, and there wasn’t much she wouldn’t do for the Lawrence matriarch. Meme Elaine was everything to her—a package of mother, grandmother, and friend all wrapped up into one. “Let me go with you to your next appointment.”

  “I won’t be done in by a packet of Splenda, cher.”

  It was more than just the sweeteners and they both knew it. Deciding to let the matter drop, Shaelyn reached for her glass of sweet tea and shifted her full attention to her grandmother. Although Elaine Lawrence didn’t look sick, it was clear she had long slipped past caring about her genteel Southern heritage. Neon-green rollers were tucked into thinning white hair, shimmery-blue eyeshadow dusted her eyelids, and on her feet were a pair of pink leopard-print slippers. The slippers were fuzzy and Shaelyn’s cat, Freckles, had a bad habit of swatting at them as though offended by their very existence.