Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
She’s counting down the days until she leaves Tuscany. He’s counting on making her stay.
Some people go to Tuscany to find themselves. Allegra Bianchi goes to escape—New York, her ex’s new relationship, and a career that derailed the moment she was passed over for partner.
Her plan is simple: settle her eccentric Italian grandmother’s estate, sell whatever isn’t nailed down, and return to the life she’s worked too hard to lose.
Instead, she walks into a mess—a crumbling antique shop, two hundred acres of leased vineyard land, and one infuriating clause in the will: live and work in the shop for three months, or inherit nothing.
Then there’s the neighbor she clashes with instantly. Matteo Lucchese is the infuriatingly handsome winemaker who leases her family’s land and refuses to be impressed by her credentials—or her attitude. He’s rugged and stubborn, stuck living in a time that feels long past, and the word rush isn’t part of his vocabulary. Basically, they’re exact opposites.
But as the days stretch into weeks, Tuscany chips away at the armor Allegra doesn’t realize she’s wearing, and Matteo shows her the appeal of slowing down, of staying rooted, of wanting something other than climbing the corporate ladder.
She goes to Tuscany to escape.
But now that the countdown to going home is on, Allegra isn’t sure she’s ready to leave.
And the life she’s falling for comes with a looming expiration date
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter 1
Allegra
“CAN YOU DO me a favor and pick up calamine lotion on your way in?”
“Oh no.” My assistant sighed. “Again?”
Her husband’s voice grumbled from somewhere behind her. “Hang up. It’s six o’clock in the damn morning.”
It sounded like Cassie covered the phone, but I could still make out her words. “Allegra’s freaking out about the partnership announcement.”
“Sucks. But she’ll still be freaking out after the sun comes up. I have a twenty-four-hour shift at the firehouse starting in a few hours.”
“Sorry,” she whispered. “I’ll go in the other room.”
There was a brief pause, followed by the creak of a door opening and shutting, before she came back on the line. “Seriously, Allegra, you’ve got this. You’re worrying for nothing. You billed over twenty-eight hundred hours last year, more than anyone at the entire firm. And the partners give you all the high-profile cases.”
My paralegal was right. I deserved to be made partner after six years of working my butt off. Eight associates had started the same day I did, and only three of us were left now. Three had gotten fired within the first year, and two had left to start their own practice together. The only other remaining associates were Dale and Sierra, and they weren’t much competition. Dale was smart and hardworking, with a ton of potential, but he was a disorganized mess and had recently blown a filing deadline that led to the client suing our firm, Kasoff, Faust & Moore, for seven figures. And it wasn’t the first time he’d missed an important date. It was just the first time it had come back to bite him in the ass.
“I’m sorry I woke you,” I said. “I didn’t realize it was so early. I’m on my way to the office to run my cross by Will before I go to court to annihilate Mr. Whittaker, and I was almost there before I noticed the bumps starting on my chest.”
“It’s fine. I should’ve been awake already, but I stayed up late bingeing some stupid reality TV show. I’ll pick up the lotion on my way in and leave it on your desk, in case we miss each other. I have to run to Brooklyn family court to pick up the sealed records you need for the DeLaurentis case. Good luck today. Not that you need it—in court or at the partnership announcement tonight.”
“Thanks, Cass.”
I swiped my phone off as I arrived at the office. Most days I rushed in and out without giving the building any thought, but this morning I slowed and took in the full glory of 625 Lexington Avenue. The rising sun cast a shimmery glow across the face of the iconic skyscraper, giving it a majestic feeling. Six years ago, this very day, I’d stood here with my hands shaking, nervous about my first day at one of the biggest law firms in New York City. This time tomorrow, I should be a partner—I’d better be, considering how much I’d given up to get here. Taking a deep breath, I pushed through the front door and then the turnstile, saying good morning to the security guard before heading to the elevator bank.