Book ~ "High Stakes" (2012) Cheryl Douglas

From Goodreads ~ Former party girl, Alisa Turner, made a deal with her daddy, Trey. He’ll provide the seed money for her new business venture as long as she promises to stay out of trouble. Too bad her good intentions tumble 30,000 feet when she meets a sexy stranger on a flight to sin city. 

Hotel mogul, Liam Bryson, has never believed in love at first sight, but when a sexy little siren twenty years his junior tempts him into a night of high stakes Blackjack, he’s suddenly playing for keeps. 

Alisa wakes up in Liam’s bed the next morning, cursing Tequila and the five carat diamond on her left hand. She demands an annulment before her over-protective father finds out she reneged on their agreement but her new hubby isn’t prepared to let her go without a fight.

Alisa is 25, lives in Nashville and recently broke up with her singer fiance, Nick, when she caught him cheating with an ex-girlfriend.  She is still getting over the hurt and betrayal and he is trying to get her back.  To show him what he threw away, she non-stop parties, getting her pictures in all the magazines.  Her dad, Trey, finally says she has to settle down or he'll cut her off ... so he gives her the money to start to boutique which gives her something to focus on.

“Have you seen this garbage?” Trey Turner asked, tossing the rolled up newspaper in his daughter’s general direction. “That’s the third time this month I’ve seen your face in some rag, drinkin’ or partyin’ with—”

Alisa held her hand up. “I’m not having this conversation with you again. I’m twenty-five, not five. That means I get to decide what I do and with whom I do it.” She loved and respected her father, but if he had his way, she’d live under his roof and abide by his rules until she was too old to care about having fun.

“Oh yeah?” He smirked. “Who bought you that fancy condo you just had to have, or how about that new A7…” His eyes fell to her shoes. “Gucci?” He whistled under his breath. “Must’ve cost a pretty penny. Might be the last pair you buy for a good long while. I hear waitresses are only makin’ minimum wage plus tips. That’s probably not enough to buy designer shoes or purses.”

“You’re threatening me?” Alisa couldn’t believe what she heard. She and her father had always been close. He may not always agree with the choices she made, but he never threatened to cut her off before.

“Call it what you want.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep you from self-destructin’ the way I did.”

Alisa knew her father’s history with alcohol. When her parents divorced, before remarrying more than twenty-five years ago, he’d hit the bottle hard and nearly destroyed everything he worked so hard to achieve. But she wasn’t him. She was young and single, trying to enjoy life a little before settling down into the life of domestic bliss so many of her friends seemed to favor. The life she’d almost had, before another woman stole it from her.

Liam is a gazillionaire twenty years older than Alisa, lives in San Francisco and distrusts women ... he enjoys their company but doubts any would want to be with him if he wasn't rich and successful.  He is raising his 14-year-old daughter (her mother isn't in her life because all she wanted was money not responsibility).

Alisa and Liam meet on a flight to Las Vegas and there's an instant connection.  They agree to spend their one day/evening/night in Vegas together, have fun and then part ways.  Liam decides he can't let Alisa go, though, and proposes ... and she accepts.  It seemed like a good idea at the time ... until Alisa wakes up the next day as Mrs. Bryson and Liam won't let her back out of it.

This is part of a series called Nashville Nights ... this is the next generation.  I hadn't read any others in the series and I didn't need to ... enough background was provided.

I liked the writing style ... it was a quick and easy read.  I can't imagine meeting and instantly falling in love with someone and marrying them within 12 hours but I left my sense of belief at the door and went with it.

I liked the characters ... Alisa matured a lot over the short time span.  Liam seemed like a nice and generous guy.  Despite the fact she doesn't have a mother in her life and her father is away on business a lot, Liam's daughter, Abby, is likeable and not spoiled.  I liked Alisa and Liam's family members.

As a head's up, the language and activities tend to be mature at times.

One thing that annoyed me, though, was Liam's constant use of the endearment "sweetheart" ... he called Alisa "Sweetheart" all the time, even when they had just met on the plane.  I found it way overused.