Over The Line
On The Run Series – Book 2
By Lisa Desrochers
Buy : Amazon / B & N / ITunes / Kobo
Synopsis
The USA Today bestselling author of Outside the Lines once again explores love on the edge in an explosive new romance about obsession, betrayal, and a killer attraction.
Lee Delgado never planned on falling in love with the irresistible Oliver Savoca, son of a Chicago crime lord. Considering that their families are rivals, she knew it could never work. And now that both their fathers have been nabbed on racketeering charges, any real chance at a future with the man she loves has been shot to hell. But a greater blow is yet to come.
Not only does Lee learn that a contract is out on her life, she has reason to believe that Oliver is behind the devastating betrayal. Now she’s working closely—very closely—with Federal Agent Sean Callahan to help bring her man down. But however she’s come to feel about Callahan, Lee is still deeply, hopelessly, unabashedly in love with Oliver.
Where that fearless love takes Lee next is beyond her control—but the risk is worth every beat of her heart.
EXCERPT:
I want Lee to know, no matter where she goes, I will find her.
At the thought of her betrayal, rage rises up and wraps like an iron cloak around my heart, threatening to crush any bit of humanity left there. I close my eyes and hold my breath until it passes.
And I see her as she was before everything that came after—that first day of business law class at Kellogg, nearly two years ago.
She was starting her first year. I was in my second. I was already seated near Angela Bagglio, who I had a passing interest in due to her loose family ties to the Delgado organization. Her brother was a wiseguy wannabe, little more than a glorified gofer within the Delgado machine. But I’d discovered, sometimes it was the smallest details that led to the largest victories.
When Lee Delgado sashayed into the classroom, I’d like to say I was unaffected. I’d like to believe I was in complete control of everything that happened then and after.
But I’d be kidding myself.
Her bright hazel eyes surveyed the room, and when they caught for a second as they passed over me, I felt a shift in gravity itself. There were times reading nuances in expressions and actions was all that came between me and a slug in my head. That hitch in her perusal of the room left no doubt she was aware who I was.
From that second on, I was helpless to take my eyes off her.
Her sandy brown waves cascaded over the shoulders of her cream-colored silk blouse to an open collar that hung loose, revealing a hint of cleavage. Her burgundy pencil skirt hugged the round curves of her hips and ass and ended above the knee, giving me a glimpse of a pair of toned thighs and calves. She had a killer body and knew it. I had to respect a woman who knew her strengths and wasn’t afraid to use them to her advantage.
She took a seat in my row, but on the opposite side of the classroom. I was barely coherent when the professor started lecturing. I couldn’t tell you the first thing he said.
As she listened, she lifted a hand and combed through her waves with her fingers, separating out a strand and twirling it around her finger. A rush shuddered from my tailbone up my spine to my brain, and even though I had no clue why, that was the moment I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay away.
The rest, as they say, is history.
If she thinks she can hide from me, she’s got another thing coming.
Mob controlled gambling has always been a huge racket, with better payouts because we don’t pay taxes like the legal betting sites. Back in the day, bookies were involved and actual cash changed hands. Now nearly everything is electronic. Bets are collected directly from our clients’ online accounts and payouts are distributed back into them. Payout is calculated after each event based on outcome versus the spread. It’s one of the parts of my job that I truly enjoy. I’m always in the program, tweaking and modifying. But, suddenly, the week before Christmas, two days after Lee and I returned from our weekend in Aspen, I noticed the spread didn’t factor anymore and our payouts went through the roof. I thought maybe I’d screwed something up and tried to get into the program to check it. Ended up throwing my laptop against the wall when my pass code wouldn’t get me in.
It took me the next two days, and the fact that Lee wasn’t answering my texts or calls, to put together what had happened. Though I’m not sure exactly how she managed it, I know it had to have been her who hacked into my program and changed the payout ratios. I’ve looked at it from every angle and there are no other feasible possibilities. And it makes sense. I had an ulterior motive when we started hooking up, and I had no doubt she had one of her own. But as we got deeper into each other, things shifted and I lost focus. I let down my guard and gave her too much, and she took advantage of the opening.
I knew I wouldn’t be seeing her over the holidays because her siblings were all coming back to the family home in Wilmette, just outside of Chicago, for Christmas. It took me another day to decide I had no choice but to go there.
But when I got to the house, the place was swarming with cops and Feds, and yellow police tape was strung across the pillars at the front door. The reports the next day said it was believed the Delgados had fled to Europe after a “gangland style attack” on their home.
The online gambling leg of our business has been bleeding cash at the rate of nearly a hundred grand a month since Lee fucked with the program. Every month it gets worse as word spreads of our big payouts. The guy who designed and encrypted the program is dead; a casualty of my father’s wrath when he made the mistake of telling Victor he’d corrected a system glitch that had cost us a couple hundred grand over the first year of implementation. I’ve done everything I can to break Lee’s pass code, but considering the illegal nature of the account, and the fact that I couldn’t enlist anyone who might report back to Victor what happened, my resources to resolve the issue have been severely limited.
So I put my time and energy into another avenue. Finding Lee.
Like everyone else in Chicago, I assumed that my father was responsible for the contract on Lee and her family. I talked to his guys. Tried to see if any of them had a bead on the Delgados’ location. I couldn’t find anyone who was even looking.
So, as much as I dreaded it, I went straight to the source.
I was dead to my father. He’d made that clear. But that day, for the first time since I’d crossed him, Victor looked at me with pride in his eyes when he asked, “You purchase that special delivery for our friends up in Wilmette?”
And that’s when I knew it wasn’t us. It’s also when I knew I was a dead man unless I could find a way out of this mess on my own.
So I looked harder for Lee, dug a little deeper into the Delgado family tree. I didn’t find her, but I managed to stumble on some other useful information during my search. And then, finally, the stroke of luck that led me here: Rob showing up in Chicago.
I’ve been able to keep everything under the rug since she left, but underground betting has always been the Savoca business’s bread and butter. If Victor or anyone else in the organization discovers the hemorrhage of cash that our gambling ring has become, it’s my head my loving pop will want on a spike.
I told the guys I had some personal business in Vegas; gave Al a direct order to park his ass at my apartment and not to move until I got back. I took a flight to Vegas, and from there, traveled to Florida on an ID I pinched off of a guy we rolled in Little Italy for not making book. He’s dead now, courtesy of Al, so he won’t be divulging my alter ego to anyone.
My family doesn’t know this particular alias. They’d have a hard time tracking me. Once I find Lee, things should move pretty fast. But I have to find her first.
So here I am.
Michel’s Review
I am loving the On The Run Series by Lisa Desrochers. This dynamic new series is quite different from most mafia themed series. It’s a series about a family, siblings in the witness protection program. Not only are they hiding from their enemies but they are also hiding from their own family. There is a power play within the family and they may be in the way. Their lives have been turned upside down. They’ve gone from privileged city kids from a powerful family to an ordinary middle class family in a small town on the west coast of Florida. In some ways their lives are on a better path, but in other ways it was an extreme sacrifice giving up loved ones, past educational accomplishments and careers. They are also all falling into a role of a parent for their younger brother Sherman. Each Delgado sibling gave up something. This is Lee Delgado’s story.
Lee Delgado was on a bright shining path. She was almost finished with her MBA in finance when she was forced into the witness protection program. Not only did she have to walk away from her educational accomplishments, she also had to walk away from the man she loved. That may be for the better because that man now holds a contract on her life.
Lee Delgado and Oliver Savoca should of never crossed paths. Their families are mortal enemies. Both families are vying for the ultimate power in the Chicago area. The Savoca family was responsible for the Delgado’s mothers death. War has been declared.
What started out as a way to extract revenge and retribution turned into a passionate love affair until Lee crossed the line. In her quest to destroy the Savoca family , she placed a price on Oliver’s head by his own father. Now he is seeking retribution.
Oliver Savoca has been brought up in a world of violence and retribution. He sees these archaic ways as an end to the modern day mafia. He’s studied finance and business. He wants to change his families ways in gaining power. The way to do it is through money. When Lee destroys everything he has worked for and breaks down his family dynamics, he knows it’s time for a change now. It all depends on Lee. He will hunt her down or die trying.
Lee Delgado and Oliver Savoca are the modern day Romeo and Juliet of the mafia world. Their secret affair goes beyond the mafia codes. The Delgado family will never accept their darkest enemy into the family. The Savoca family will kill them both before they allow their union.
When Oliver hunts Lee down and finds her in a sleepy town in Florida, the dynamics of their relationship begin to change. They may not survive the change but they will know where their true feelings lie.
When all secrets are revealed, the Delgado family is in for a shocker. The Savoca family will also be falling apart just as the Delgado family has.
The Delgado siblings are survivors. They have adapted to their new lives. They are building new hopes and dreams. They are finally free of the violent world they were born into. Now they just have to stay alive to fulfill those dreams.
I love this new series. It is intense, passionate, and emotional. Lisa Desrochers has tapped into each of the members of the Delgado family. Each sibling has their own story yet at the same time, they have one thing that remains their top priority…Family. There is danger and hopeless in every shadow but at the same time there is renewal and hope at the break of dawn each and every day.
I highly recommend the On The Run series. The first two books were fantastic. I can’t wait for the next book!
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On The Run Series
Outside The Lines
On The Run Series – Book 1
By Lisa Desrochers
Buy: Amazon / B & N / ITunes
Synopsis
From the author of the USA Today bestselling A Little Too Far series, the first in an edgy new contemporary romance series that follows a family on the run…
As the oldest son of a Chicago crime lord, Robert Delgado always knew how dangerous life could be. With his mother dead and his father in prison, he’s taking charge of his family’s safety—putting himself and his siblings in witness protection to hide out in a backwater Florida town.
Fourth grade teacher Adri Wilson is worried about the new boy in her class. Sherm is quiet and evasive, especially when he’s around his even cagier older brother. Adri can’t help her attraction to Rob, or the urge to help them both in whatever way she can.
But the Delgados have enemies on two sides of the mob—their father’s former crew and the rival family he helped take down. It’s only a matter of time before someone finds them. And if Rob isn’t careful, Adri could end up in the crossfire…
*******
Over The Line
On The Run Series – Book 2
By Lisa Desrochers
Buy : Amazon / B & N / ITunes / Kobo
Synopsis
The USA Today bestselling author of Outside the Lines once again explores love on the edge in an explosive new romance about obsession, betrayal, and a killer attraction.
Lee Delgado never planned on falling in love with the irresistible Oliver Savoca, son of a Chicago crime lord. Considering that their families are rivals, she knew it could never work. And now that both their fathers have been nabbed on racketeering charges, any real chance at a future with the man she loves has been shot to hell. But a greater blow is yet to come.
Not only does Lee learn that a contract is out on her life, she has reason to believe that Oliver is behind the devastating betrayal. Now she’s working closely—very closely—with Federal Agent Sean Callahan to help bring her man down. But however she’s come to feel about Callahan, Lee is still deeply, hopelessly, unabashedly in love with Oliver.
Where that fearless love takes Lee next is beyond her control—but the risk is worth every beat of her heart.
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Lisa Desrochers is the author of the USA Today bestselling A Little Too Far series and the YA Personal Demons trilogy. She lives in northern California with her husband, two very busy daughters, and Shini the tarantula. There is never a time that she can be found without a book in her hand, and she adores stories that take her to new places and then take her by surprise. Connect with her online at www.lisadwrites.com, on her blog at lisadesrochers.blogspot.com, on Twitter at @LisaDez, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LisaDesrochersAuthor.
I had my first library card at the age of four. My mom was a part-time librarian at the Coplay Library in Coplay, Pennsylvania for 29 years, where I spent a good portion of my time growing up attending “story hour” every day after school.
Craft beer and the sexy men who brew it.
The Marriage Contract – Book 1
New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Katee Robert learned to tell her stories at her grandpa’s knee. She found romance novels at age twelve and it changed her life. When not writing sexy contemporary and speculative fiction romance novels, she spends her time playing imaginary games with her wee ones, driving her husband batty with what-if questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Connect with Katee at: 
Saucy Southern Readers 