Blurb:
A boss can't date her employee- simple as that. No matter
how much Shayla wants to unravel a few of Grant's mysteries and take her
friendship with the shy, sarcastic man to the next level, she's determined to
keep her fantasies of him to herself.
After bear shifter Grant lost his girlfriend and three best
friends in a fire, he did his best to shut himself off from everyone around
him. Falling for Shayla wasn't part of his plan, but after a kiss that leaves
them both speechless and hungry for more, Grant can't keep his desire for his
boss under wraps any longer. Will he walk away from his new home in Great Oaks,
Virginia or will he risk his job and his barely healed heart to convince Shayla
to take a chance on him?
An obnoxious reporter and Shayla's bitter ex have teamed up
to chase down conspiracy theories that could destroy Shayla's business and
worse, put her life in danger. To find their happily-ever-after, Shayla and
Grant will have to trust in each other and find a way to crush all the
obstacles standing in their way.
Teaser:
When Grant pulled her closer to him, she was caught without
her usual charm and skills to steer a conversation wherever she wanted it to
go. When he leaned in, she didn’t back away. When he brushed his lips against
hers, she returned the kiss. When she wrapped her arms around him, the kiss
intensified.
His lips against hers were perfect, and she wanted so much
more, but she shouldn’t.
Teaser:
The fantasies about Shayla needed to stop. He couldn’t be rough with a woman he towered over by a foot. Also, he couldn’t date his boss. Grant was grateful for that technicality, because if Shayla wasn’t his boss, he’d be wanting something from her that he shouldn’t. And he didn’t need that kind of complication in his life.
Teaser:
Grant wanted more from Shayla than he should right then, and
he needed to want less, or at least not so much at once. He needed to pull back
from the edge and get himself under control, but he couldn’t do that with her
touching him. He had the perfect distraction for her. He ripped her lacy
panties off because they were in his way.
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Excerpt
What is it about Grant? Looking at the man sitting across the table from her
was no hardship; that was for damn sure. He had the tall, broad body of a
heavyweight UFC fighter, but he never used his size to intimidate the people
around him. She wanted to sweep his wavy, slightly shaggy dark hair out of his
gorgeous deep-brown eyes. His dark hair and eyes complemented his bronze skin.
He was hot, in a serious, dangerous kind of way. But in the two and a half
years Grant had worked for her, Shayla had hardly learned anything about
him.
The waitress at the popular nature-themed
restaurant, the Greenhouse Effect, showed them to their table. The plants
growing around all the walls and columns made the place look like a wild
garden, and the smell of lavender and jasmine mixed with the delicious scents
drifting from the kitchen. She tried not to drool, but breakfast seemed like
eons ago. Shayla sat next to Sydney and across from Grant. A too-tall
centerpiece of yellow-and-purple flowers blocked most of her view of him. Grant
moved the centerpiece to the side and gave her a shy smile. His smile made her
want answers, among other things.
She knew he was from New Jersey and had gone to
school in Wisconsin before moving to Richmond, Virginia, to work with Brook’s
Comprehensive, a huge company that did everything from urban development
projects to financial management for celebrities and politicians.
“Why do you want to make such a big change from
a large corporation to a simple start-up company?” she’d asked him in the
interview.
“Honestly?” Grant had paused then, the question
hanging.
Shayla had nodded. She’d take honesty over
smooth-faced, calculated interview answers any day.
“I want to live somewhere I can have a house and
some land. Maybe spend more time outside. Also, I want a job where I can do
more than just run numbers for projects where I never see the outcome.”
The last part had seemed to come as a surprise
to Grant. Maybe he hadn’t really known he wanted something more than a change
of scenery until he had said it out loud.
His answer had been simple and honest instead of
a long, drawn-out elaboration about the projected success of new companies in
the area or an extensive list of projects he had helped to fruition. She could
look at his résumé for all that stuff. Grant had wanted to be there, so she’d
hired him. Simple as that—after a clean background check and drug screening, of
course.
Grant the mystery man—a delicious mystery Shayla
would like to unravel, piece by piece, layer by layer. Ah, but I can’t. I’m his boss. In a
different lifetime, if we didn’t have the whole boss-employee obstacle going
on… No harm in looking, though, just a little, since he sat so
close. She promised herself to keep her thoughts G-rated—okay, maybe PG-13.
Grant had a talent with numbers and paid attention to detail. Also, he was a
little shy and standoffish to a lot of people when it came to anything other
than work. Shayla wondered where he sometimes went in his head, because, every
now and then, his smile wiped from his face, just for a second, before being
replaced with one a little harder. None of my business, she reminded
herself.
Shayla had really wanted to hug Grant that
morning after seeing him look so frustrated but decided that it might be wiser
and more appropriate to show him that there were a few people on his side.
Watching him break things and try to be all strong and humorous about it made
Shayla want to unravel the Grant mystery even more. It kind of hurt to watch
Grant pretending to be fine, but all Shayla could offer him was lunch and good
conversation. Hopefully Mr. Strong and Silent—Sydney called him that sometimes,
although never to his face—knew Shayla and Sydney cared. Shayla cared. Because he’s a friend. Just a friend.
Grant raised his soda in a toast. “To things not
being worse,” he announced with a rueful half smile. “And, uh”—he cleared his
throat—“to good company.” He nodded at Sydney, and when he met Shayla’s gaze,
he held it. In Grant’s dark eyes she saw hunger, wide-open desire, and about a
million other things she couldn’t puzzle out. They both looked away. Grant
looked at her that way sometimes, and Shayla did her best to ignore it. Grant
might have a small crush on her, or he could have a thing for petite,
small-breasted girls possessing a great fashion sense.
Sydney broke the silence. “To good food and even
better friends.” She clinked Grant’s glass, and Shayla came back to reality and
smiled, pretending she wasn’t experiencing several different kinds of
inappropriate thoughts and feelings for a sexy, complicated man who was her
employee and also her friend. She needed to remember that things could never go
any further than a panty-melting look, and behave.
Her phone buzzed. Grateful for the distraction,
she dug it out of her purse to see a text message and call-back number from
that pest of a reporter back in Maryland. That pain in the ass wanted another
interview with Shayla. Like once in the hospital and once for a “where are the
survivors now” follow-up a few months later hadn’t been enough. May as well take care of this before
it becomes twenty voice mails piled in my in-box.
“I’ll just be a moment,” she promised Sydney and
Grant. If that harpy journalist wanted an interview, it would be her last one
with Shayla, and it would cost the reporter. Big-time. She walked outside into
the cold and wind.
Kendall Baron, obnoxious reporter, answered her
phone rather quickly. No polite niceties, no how have you been?, no what’s new?, blah-blah-blah,
for Baron—she cut to the chase.
“Listen, Ms. Patrick, I know you’ve done two
interviews with me for SCA news in Maryland, but I’ve joined an entertainment
news show, and I have a human-interest story on survivors of disasters that I’m
trying to put together. You’d be a perfect fit for the story.”
“Can you tell me a little more about the piece?
Because last time your questions went a little off on a tangent, what with you
being way too convinced I must have had some type of top-secret life-saving
surgery or—no, what was it?—that I survived the bombs because I’m a little more
than just human?” Jeez. Shayla
had some talents, for sure, but being indestructible wasn’t one of them.
“We’ll do the basics about the accident and how
you’re adjusting to life afterward. Plus, there’s the shock-and-awe factor of
how amazing it is to survive such a destructive act, so we’ll put together a
computer reconstruction of the accident for the viewers. So a few questions,
maybe thirty minutes of your time, is all I’m asking,” Baron assured her. “I
want you for this story, Ms. Patrick. What’s your price?”
“Ten thousand dollars.”
“What? That’s—”
“I don’t
want the money. I want the check donated directly to Hope and Healing, a charity
that helps fund plastic surgery, prosthetic limbs, and burn treatments for
disaster survivors around the world.”
“Fine. I’ll send proof of payment of two thousand dollars
to Hope and Healing after the interview’s over.”
“My other condition is that this is the last
time you contact me for an interview. Or for any reason in general.”
“You have my word. I’ll text you a couple of
dates I have available in a minute, and you can just send me back which one
works for you. I’ll even come to Brass Cat so you don’t have to travel.”
Baron didn’t seem like the most honorable woman,
but Hope and Healing would get two grand, and Shayla wouldn’t be harassed to do
any more interviews.
WHEN SHAYLA STEPPED outside to deal with a text
that had her looking all kinds of irritated, Grant found himself under Sydney’s
microscope. She asked him the same question she always asked him. “When are you
gonna make a move?” Only this time, the girl wasn’t joking. “Next Saturday at
the Saint Patrick’s Day Festival would be a good opportunity.”
He’d forgotten about agreeing to go to the
festival with Sydney and her husband, Derrick. Sydney always invited Grant to
different events, and like an idiot, he usually agreed.
“She’s my boss.” Didn’t Sydney and the bear get
that? “That’s a pretty big obstacle. For Shayla and for me.”
Sydney sighed. “I know. I just think you guys
would be good together is all. Well, not just good, amazing. Awesome.
Phenomenal—”
“Shut up. I get it.”
More likely is that he would lose his shit for Shayla,
and then, because life wasn’t warm and fuzzy with a guaranteed happy ending for
all, she’d be gone, and Grant would be in a world of hurt and misery, so much
worse than simply going all Hulk and breaking a door handle. The bear made a
rude comment about Grant’s lack of balls. The bear would get over it. Grant
wasn’t ready to fall down a rabbit hole and find himself crazy in love with an
adorable, clever, gorgeous, smart, sweet woman who would probably get bored
with his silent, antisocial behavior in about five minutes. She was his boss,
and that made it all impossible anyway. The bear muttered something about Grant
being dumb for a math geek.
I’d be an
idiot to think I have a chance with her. We’re too different. Plus, she’s my
fucking boss! He hoped the bear
was listening.
Copyright © Christina Lynn Lambert
Author Links:
About Christina
A few years ago, I read my first romance novel and I was hooked, so much so that I decided to give the idea of writing a story a chance. My style is more gritty than sweet and I look forward to writing many more stories with strong heroines and imperfect but determined characters. Love, courage, hope, and second chances are a few of my favorite themes. When I’m not writing, I enjoy spending time outside and finding ways to avoid cooking. I live in beautiful Virginia with my husband, two daughters, and a sweet, hairy monster of a dog.
