It's In His Kiss - By Mary Leo Page 0,1

will contact you soon. He loves you very much.”

Her words brought up a well of emotion that Rose had thought she’d dealt with, but clearly she had not. She never could understand why her father had deserted her mom, and now to hear a stranger talk about his return was overwhelming.

The gypsy turned to them once again and gave the final prediction. “Great things will come to you in the next twelve months. You will have success beyond your wildest dreams. But this heart is not a good luck charm. It is a symbol of love and you have been called by it. Each of you must find your one true love and make him return your love before February fourteenth of next year, or everything you’ve gained will be lost.”

Rose and her friends had walked away from the gypsy laughing over her prophesies, but Rose couldn’t shake what the woman had said about her father or about each of them finding their true love. And none of them could get over the dire prediction about losing everything if one of them didn’t “fill up the heart,” whatever that meant.

The festive night had ended on a somber note.

The very next day, Rose received a phone call from her father asking for her forgiveness and would she consider meeting him for coffee. He was passing through San Diego and wanted to see her again.

She agreed, and he’d been calling her once a month ever since. Not exactly the relationship Rose had hoped for, but at least he was back in her life.

Rose, with all of her logic, brushed the prediction off as a coincidence. Then when they opened With a Twist to great fanfare, she decided the gypsy had put the idea out there and they had simply followed through with it, getting the extra nudge they had needed to make their dream come true from the gypsy’s prediction.

But when the red crystal heart turned up in Jasmine’s office with no viable explanation for its presence, Rose began to believe in its power.

The gypsy’s warning that all three must find love and have it returned or all three would lose everything wasn’t exactly an encouraging prediction.

More like a calamitous threat!

Still, none of them had known the strength of the crystal heart until Jasmine had brought it into the bar area that very morning and placed it up on a shelf. She thought it was a nice touch for the upcoming romantic holiday. Rose, in her zest for cleanliness and sparkle, had taken it down momentarily to wipe off any trace of finger prints, and placed it directly in a small patch of sunlight that beamed on the walnut bar.

Now the heart radiated a brilliant unearthly red, a red so deep and so full of life it dazzled Rose as she stared across the bar at Max, who she hadn’t seen in more than ten years.

This can’t be happening, she thought as he finally noticed her staring at him, the red glow shining brighter with each step he took.

Rose hadn’t officially opened the place yet, but the front door had been unlocked for deliveries. Max apparently had come in through that door, rolling a black carry-on suitcase behind him and a black backpack slung over one shoulder. He wore a black leather jacket, a black tight-fitting tee, and well worn jeans that hugged all the right places.

Maximilian Rosso had certainly grown tenfold into that childhood baritone voice he’d had, and was now walking toward her, an aura around him now glowing a deep shade of sparkling red.

She wondered if his voice was still deep and sexy.

Of all the gin joints in all the world … Max just happened to be the one man Rose wanted more than air, but logic told her to keep her distance. She’d been down that rocky road with him once before when they were teens and it brought her nothing but grief and heartache.

“Rosie?” he asked after a few seconds of checking her out, while a pulsating red sparkled all around him and dragged different shades of scarlet as he moved. It appeared as if all the degrees of color couldn’t quite keep up with his movements. Like they were a moment out of sync.

Could he see the glow?

She quickly moved the crystal out of the sunlight, but the darn thing wouldn’t stop glowing. She even threw the white bar towel over it, but it made no impact. Instead, its beam just grew more intense as if