If Only You Knew by @AbboudAnastasia is a recommended read #romance #bookboost
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  • N. N. Light
    • Jan 23, 2023
    • 5 min read

If Only You Knew by @AbboudAnastasia is a recommended read #romance #bookboost



Title: If Only You Knew

Author: Anastasia Abboud

Genre: Contemporary Romance


Book Blurb:


Fly too close to the sun and you’ll get burned. Zechariah knows that only too well. But he hadn’t flown to the sun. She'd come to him. And he's absorbing her rays, wanting, needing, desperately reaching for more.

But the sun can’t shine in a cave, which is where he belongs.


Zechariah’s unappealing appearance has caused him nothing but grief all his life. Even his mother rejected him. How could someone as beautiful as Augusta Mae Anderson want to even be in the same room with him? Yet he's drawn to her – mind, body, heart.

Augusta Mae has never met anyone like Zechariah Baroudi. He doesn’t see her as a shallow, stupid blonde like everyone else does. Brilliant himself, he appreciates her hard work and her intellect, respects her. He accepts her for who she is and seems to understand her without even trying.

And he has the most beautiful eyes…

Too bad that his bodyguards – aka, his obnoxious brothers – won’t leave them alone. Too bad they're fighting with everyone they love because they’re together.

Too bad Augusta Mae and Zechariah could lose the love of a lifetime.


Note: this is the tenth anniversary edition of this book.


Excerpt:


“Miss Anderson, as I’ve explained, this can’t be done.” Constantine looked forlornly at the architectural renderings spread all over the desk. “It’s too long a span without intermediate columns.”


“And as I have explained, I will not allow you to stick a row of columns down the middle of my main hall. I didn’t work on this design for weeks so that you could ruin it.”


Constantine looked at the woman standing defiantly opposite him. Long, blonde hair, held by a bow, cascaded down her back as her bright blue eyes met his. She would have looked like an angel if it were not for the stubborn set of her jaw and a perpetually peevish expression.


How did they get stuck with this particular architect again? How had he managed to tie them to this domineering woman not once, but twice?


He glanced back at the drawings. “I don’t know how to explain this to you…”


“You don’t have to explain anything to her.” To Constantine’s surprise, Nick entered the room.


“He most certainly does,” she argued.


“You’re mistaken,” Nick said blithely, his dark eyes flashing at her. “And we don’t have to put our stamp on an unsound design, however ‘cute’ it might be.”


She folded her arms across her chest. “You’re being extremely unprofessional.”


“Am I? Constantine, I don’t have time for this. I came to tell you that I’m going to the city, now.”


Without another word, he walked casually out of the office. Constantine glanced at the architect, who was obviously fighting for composure.


“Excuse me a moment.” He hurried after his brother, catching up with him in the main office. “Nick, as I said, the investors want us on this project. We can’t just give it up. It’s worth too much.”


“If they want us, you should tell them to find another architect. I’m not working with that bitch again.”


“They, especially Mr. Westfield, the head honcho, say that they like her design. Do you think Zechariah could deal with her? He’s the one who will probably end up working on it, anyway.”


“I thought we agreed that he already has too much work.”


“We can take some of it and give him this. He might even enjoy it. It’s the type of work he does best.”


Nick shrugged. “You can ask him. If anyone has the patience to deal with that woman, he’s the one.”


Constantine’s face lit up. “Good. I’ll go ask him now.”


“Tell him I’ll bring lunch when I come back.”


“God go with you.”


Nick left and Constantine hurried to Zechariah’s office, bursting in without bothering to knock.


“Zechariah.”


“Yes?” His brother turned from his computer.


“There’s an architect waiting outside, the project manager for the Westfield Research

Facility. Nick refuses to work with her and, to tell you the truth, I’m not sure that I can, either.”


“Why not?”


Constantine hesitated. “We worked on a project with her about a year and a half ago, before you arrived. The firm she works for is old and respected, but Nick and I find her impractical and . . . mean.”


“But this is a big job, isn’t it?” Zechariah put the tips of his fingers together. “If she were really so impractical, would they have awarded it to her?”


“When you see her, you’ll be able to answer that question. Anyway, she’s here with the architectural renderings. Would you look at them? Nick and I thought that, if we took over some of your present jobs, you might be able to fit it in. It’s a big project, but it should be interesting if you can put up with her. Nick and I have no patience left where she’s concerned.”


Zechariah opened his hands. “Of course. I told you when I came that I’m ready to work.”


“Thank you.” Constantine started for the door, only to pause as he reached it. “Zechariah, if you find her intolerable, just say so. We’ll just tell the investors it’s her or us and see what happens.”


***


Augusta Mae Anderson stared down at her design. Unsound? Cute? How dare they? Why, oh why, did she have to work with these men again? Rude, uncompromising… Barbarians! Here she was, lead architect on a major project that could earn them all a great deal of both money and prestige, and they left her cooling her heels as it suited them.


“Sorry to have kept you waiting.” Constantine Baroudi had returned. Tall and a little bit soft in the middle, he had dark hair and large brown eyes in a good-natured face. He rather reminded Augusta Mae of a teddy bear and it had often surprised her in the past that he could be so irritating. “I’m going to introduce you to my brother,” he said, gathering together her drawings. “He’s a structural genius.”


“You have another brother?” Her heart sank.


“Yes. He will be the one to design the facility. It’s...”


“According to my plans,” she interrupted.


He frowned. “If he sees fit to do so.”


“If he’s to be the engineer, why haven’t I already met him?”


“The decision was just made,” he answered abruptly.


Augusta Mae felt her irritation mounting.


Constantine opened a door to reveal a long row of windows. As she stepped into the room, a man rose from where he was seated at a computer, his tall frame silhouetted against the light.


“Miss Anderson, my brother Zechariah Baroudi. Zechariah, Augusta Mae Anderson, the architect I told you about.”


“I’m glad to meet you, Miss Anderson.” A deep, compelling voice seemed to vibrate through her.


As he came closer, she found herself staring into the kindest eyes she’d ever seen.


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Author Biography:


For me, playing is the best -- playing outdoors in nature or in my garden, experimenting in the kitchen, spending time with those I love. I also enjoy disappearing into a good book, attempting crafts, learning, writing, exploring, discovering. I especially like to mix it up and have yet to perfect any of it; and I've come to realize that perfection's not the point. It's all wonderfully fun. That's the point! ​I prefer authentic and natural, be it food, lifestyle, people. I passionately enjoy both history and science, and certainly sociology to a degree, and I am most truly a romantic. ​​My husband and I have been married for over forty years. We reside near Houston, Texas, surrounded by loved ones. We have a blast with our little grandchildren. ​I thank God for this wonderful life.


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