“She finally gave in and followed him to the dance floor. He stopped when he found a tight but unoccupied corner. Looking down at her with an expectant smile, Jemma felt the nerves in her stomach sizzle. It was so loud, she couldn’t possibly tell him she didn’t know what to do, but at the same time, how could she not?
Gathering all her courage, she rested her palms gently up his arms, raised on her tiptoes, craning her head up to his ear, and whispered right into his ear. “I can’t,” was all she said. At first she wasn’t sure he’d heard, but even then, she could feel the tremor that moved through his body at her contact. She was bolstered and buoyed with a tiny bit of confidence; he wasn’t as immune to her as he might pretend.”
All Jemma Keane wants is to find her voice at the sports and pop culture blog she writes for. But she’s been stuck fetching and fact-checking until she wants to scream. It isn’t until an unexpected opportunity at the Rio Olympic Games presents itself that she begins to discover a Jemma that she’d buried away long ago – a risk-taker and an adventurer who doesn’t just want to speak her mind, she wants to yell it from the top of Christ the Redeemer.
Gabriel Rocha hasn’t been back to Rio since he and his mother left more than ten years ago. He’d always imagined showing his best friend the real Rio during the Olympics, but when disaster strikes, he’s stuck with Jemma instead.
Jemma isn’t anything like what he expected. Gabe only means to protect her, but she weasels right past his guard and makes him want whatever she’ll give him. Sure, Gabe’s seen enough romantic comedies to realize how a fling with Jemma might end, but what he anticipates the least is that he never wants it to.