Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 18896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 94(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 94(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
Stephan was remaining in the city. Work and office protocol no longer stood between them.
Nothing did except her courage and the good-girl role she’d played all her life. A role she could afford to let go of, at least this once. It had served her well in foster care while watching the younger kids and later in other office work but it was time to let it go. At least for the night.
Being naughty had no place in business. Neither did coming on to a man she worked alongside. But Samantha’s life was on track, she was living her happily ever after, and talking about starting a family. It was time for Brandy to act on her own on desires.
Then with the onset of the new year, she would put Stephan behind her and step back into the stable, secure, independent life she’d created for herself.
She smoothed her skirt and straightened her hat, giving one last jingle of her bells for good luck. No matter how naughty she had to be to accomplish her goal, Brandy intended to get her man.
* * *
Maxwell Corbin glanced at the men and women milling about the large conference room. Muffled laughs, discreet corner discussions, and a handshake every now and then along with lots of laughs. Nothing like The Back Door bar where he preferred to hang out, he thought. The atmosphere, though light, was still an office party, and immediately reminded him of why he’d traded in his SoHo apartment and the possibility of working at his father’s downtown New York City law firm for a place above his friend’s bar. He’d recently moved in after the current tenant moved out. No matter how happy it would make his father if Max decided to return to the corporate world, he had to live his own life, his own way.
As he made for the eggnog across the room, his sneakered foot crushed a stray pretzel, marring the otherwise pristine carpet. Beside him, someone made a toast to an upcoming pitch he hoped to cinch, increased income, and the hard work to come. They didn’t work all night here but his father’s employees and partners did. Max shook his head. The only thing worth staying up all night for was sex—something he hadn’t had in too damn long, mostly because no woman had interested him enough. But lately he’d begun to wonder what being discriminating and picky had gotten him besides a cold bed at night.
He lifted the ladle to serve himself a drink when the faint ringing of bells caught his attention. He turned toward the sound and the expensively decorated Christmas tree, a pine, lavishly trimmed with white and gold, with dozens of boxes beneath the branches to increase holiday spirit. He stepped to the left so he could see around the tree and caught sight of a dainty elf kneeling over a bulging bag of toys. As she reached inside the large bag, the hem on her miniskirt hiked up higher, revealing black lace beneath white fur trim.
Max swallowed hard. So much for disinterest, he thought wryly. A longer glance as she dug through her huge bag and he discovered the lace ended at mid-thigh. He wondered what she wore beneath that green suit, if the hands-on exploration would be as satisfying as his imagination.
He tried to swallow but his mouth had gone dry. If he had to spend time at any office holiday party—this one because his twin had invited him—then maybe the pixie in the corner would make his time here worthwhile. He dodged his way around the business suits and headed for the tinsel-laden elf.
On his way, he realized that not only was she the sole focus of his attention, but he was the center of hers. She’d straightened from her chore and looked at him dead-on, heat and something more in her smoky gaze. Drink forgotten, he walked the rest of the way to where she stood. Despite the drone of preoccupied, chattering people, Max felt as if he were approaching her in utter silence.
As he closed in, he raised his gaze from the white fur anklet to her belted, trim waist to her green-eyed stare. Sea-green scrutiny made more vibrant by the interested flush in her cheeks. After promising his brother he’d show up at this gig, he’d mentally called the day a bust, but when she pulled him behind the tree, rose onto her booted tiptoes, and touched her mouth to his, he reassessed his opinion.
He’d been kissed before—but he’d never been kissed. Not with such intensity and single-minded purpose. She tasted sweet and smelled sensual and fragrant, making both his mind and his body come alive. Her hands gripped his shoulders in a death-lock as her champagne-flavored tongue darted past his willing lips.
She had a potent effect, yet despite it all her touch was endearingly hesitant, turning him on while arousing a fierce protectiveness within him at the same time. He gripped her waist to anchor her, something she obviously took as a sign of acceptance because a soft but satisfied sigh escaped and he caught the erotic sound with his mouth, deep in his throat. Though he hadn’t a clue what he’d done to become the lucky recipient of her attention, he wasn’t about to question good fortune. He’d rather make more of his own.