Two New Novellas for ONLY $.99 each
Dear Jane
An Animal Attraction Novella
Marissa Clarke
Releasing January 9th, 2017
Entangled Lovestruck
Jane Dixon
is a dating disaster. Flammable tablecloths and broken arms are just a typical
evening for her unlucky companions. No wonder Jane never gets past a first
date. But luckily her co-worker and new bff says he’s got loads of friends
who’d date her more than once. If only she could stop thinking about how much
fun he was to hang out with. And she’d never dropped a bucket of ice on his
junk. Win.
All attorney Eric Blackwell has to do to make junior partner is not screw anything up for six weeks, which seems like a slam dunk until he finds himself matchmaker to the office “One Date Wonder” aka the boss’s daughter. It’s hard to stay focused when setting up the hottest girl he’s ever met with everyone but himself. Maybe he could just set her up with all the wrong men, and keep his hands off his new friend… Yeah. His promotion is toast.
All attorney Eric Blackwell has to do to make junior partner is not screw anything up for six weeks, which seems like a slam dunk until he finds himself matchmaker to the office “One Date Wonder” aka the boss’s daughter. It’s hard to stay focused when setting up the hottest girl he’s ever met with everyone but himself. Maybe he could just set her up with all the wrong men, and keep his hands off his new friend… Yeah. His promotion is toast.
Properly Groomed
Wedding Favors #3
Boone Brux
Releasing January 9th, 2017
Entangled Lovestruck
Playing house just got real…
When Joya
Bennett wakes up after her brother’s wedding, half-naked and lying next to her
lifelong crush, she’s mortified. OMG, did she try to jump his bones? Worse, did
she succeed? Intending to lay low and housesit for her brother until the
embarrassment fades, she sneaks away before he wakes up.
What she
didn’t plan on is having company.
Lincoln
Fisher doesn’t do relationships, but if he did, his friend’s little sister
would be the one to tie him down. Good thing Joya had one too many drinks
during the reception or he’d have crossed a line. Her brother would kill him
if he found out all the places Linc wanted to kiss the sexy, auburn-haired
beauty.
And now
they’re stuck in the same house. For two weeks.
She’s
off-limits. And he needs to keep it that way, even if the heat building between
them is hot enough to blow off the roof…
Each book in the Wedding Favors series is a stand-alone, full-length story that can be enjoyed out of order.
Book #1 Bridesmaid Blues
Book #2 Random Acts of Marriage
Book #3 Properly Groomed
Each book in the Wedding Favors series is a stand-alone, full-length story that can be enjoyed out of order.
Book #1 Bridesmaid Blues
Book #2 Random Acts of Marriage
Book #3 Properly Groomed
Dear Jane
After dropping off
his briefcase in his office, Eric made his way to the end of the hallway and
knocked on Jane’s door, flowers in hand.
He felt ridiculous.
Sort of like he had before his prom in high school, only Jane wasn’t going to
dance with him and the flowers were from someone else. Still, this was a chance
to actually speak to her and that was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. He
was about to make her day with a clearly expensive bouquet of flowers from
another man. His chest tightened. So did his grip on the vase. He was beginning
to think pathetic wasn’t a strong enough descriptor.
“Come in,” she
called.
When he opened the
door, she didn’t look up from her computer screen, clearly engrossed in
whatever she was reading. Brow furrowed, she tapped the end of a pen on the
side of her monitor. Holy shit, she was beautiful—intensely focused with the
sun from the wall of windows making her hair shine like gold. He’d never been
this close to her before and found himself a little overwhelmed, which was
ridiculous. He was head of an entire team at one of the most prestigious law
firms in New York City. Nothing should overwhelm him. Get it together,
Blackwell.
When she finally
looked up, her eyes widened and she pushed to her feet behind the huge, shiny
desk. “I’m sorry. I thought you were Marcie dropping something off.”
“Well, I am… Not
Marcie, but dropping something off.” Great. Just great. He groaned
inwardly at how ridiculous his first words ever spoken to this woman were.
Her large blue eyes
flitted from his face to the flowers and back again.
“These are for you,”
he said, awkwardly holding them out.
“Oh…um…” She circled
her desk, moving closer. “Wow. Thanks.”
“I’m Eric
Blackwell.” He cleared his throat. “From Mergers and Acquisitions.”
She smiled, flashing
straight, white teeth. “Yeah, I know.”
She knew? His heart
hammered harder, which seemed impossible. He cleared his throat again. “Marcie
was swamped and asked me to deliver these for her.”
“Oh…” She glanced at
the flowers, her smile fading slightly.
“Yeah, she had a bunch
of stuff come in at once, and I was already heading this way, so…”
She nodded. “That
was nice of you. Thanks.” With her hair pulled into a knot on the back of her
head, her eyes looked huge.
Eric placed the vase
on her desk, taking a deep breath. Shit. She even smelled good. Maybe it
was the flowers. “These are nice. You must have an admirer.” And his morbid
curiosity wanted to know who it was so he could direct his irrational jealousy
appropriately. He pulled the envelope from the arrangement and handed it to
her, hoping not only to extend his time this close to her but also get some
intel.
He gritted his teeth
as she pulled out the card. This level of interest was incontestable proof that
he was working way too hard and playing way too little. Since his break up with
Shannon almost a year ago, he’d done nothing but work. No wonder being this
close to a woman was the highlight of his day. He had to fix this. Quick.
No. He needed to
hold tight until after he made junior partner. That had been his goal from the
start. It was important he get that promotion. The money would be nice,
but really, it was all about the security, something he never had growing up.
Jane’s face clouded
as she studied the card. “Who does this kind of thing? What kind of…” She waved
a hand in an exasperated motion. “What kind of jerk uses a romantic gesture as
a way to deliver a message like this. Really?”
And here he’d
thought dropping off the flowers would associate him with something positive in
her mind. Today sucked.
“I thought I’d
gotten a date right for once, you know what I mean?”
Nope. Not a
clue. How could a woman like this—obviously smart since she worked at
one of the premier law firms in NYC, and gorgeous on top of that—get anything
wrong on a date? Eric had an overwhelming urge to hunt down and beat the shit
out of the prick who sent those flowers.
When she turned, her
eyes brimmed with tears. Not the stream down your face kind, but controlled and
held in. Oh God, not tears. They made him feel helpless and “holdy.” That’s
what his mother had called it. His solution for tears was to hug, which he
absolutely under no circumstances could do to Jane Dixon. The image of holding
her soft body against his harder one, made him… well, harder. He clasped his
hands behind his back to keep from taking Jane in his arms. “I’m sorry. I…”
She blinked, pushing
the tears back before they could fully form. “No, I’m sorry. You were
just doing something nice for Marcie. You had no idea you’d been thrown in the
room with the One-date Wonder.”
“Maybe I should—” He
stepped backward toward the door.
She threw her hands
up. “Seriously, how I can screw it up every time? Every. Single. Time.” She
paced to the edge of her desk. “Do you know that I haven’t had a second date
since I graduated law school?”
His day had just
gone from pathetic to surreal. All he could do was shake his head.
She paced to the
potted plant in the corner and then back to her desk. “Oh yeah. Loads of first
dates. Never a second. And you know what?”
Hopefully that was
rhetorical, because no way in hell could he possibly guess what would come out
of her mouth next.
“I’m so done. I’m
never going to find a guy to ask me out twice. I should swear off men forever.
Men suck. Dating sucks.” She took a shuddering breath. “I suck.” And then one
of the tears she’d held back this whole time escaped—only one—as she stood
perfectly still and silent.
As if on auto-pilot,
he crossed to her and folded her in his arms like he’d done with his mother so
many times in his life. This wasn’t anything like those hugs, though, and his
body made that fact painfully clear as she circled her arms around his waist
under his jacket and leaned her cheek against his chest. And it was definitely
her and not the flowers that smelled good.
After a few seconds,
Eric’s heart hammered so hard he was certain Jane could hear it. There wouldn’t
be enough lifeboats in the world to save Operation Smooth Sailing if he
continued to rub his hands up and down his boss’s daughter’s back. Reluctantly,
he loosened his grip, pulled away to create some space between them, and gave
her shoulder an awkward, platonic pat.
“Sorry.” She
straightened his lapel and brushed it, stepping back to arm’s length. “I…” She
took a deep breath. “…got a little emotional on you there.”
Eric remained frozen
in place, only a couple of feet from her, completely clueless what to do or
say. He needed a how-to manual for this kind of thing.
She leaned against
her desk, facing him. “I’m so frustrated.”
Ditto.
“I mean, why can’t a
guy just go out on a date without an agenda or strategy? And why are women held
to a different standard?”
Rhetorical.
Please let that be rhetorical. He tried to look
somewhere else, but couldn’t draw his gaze away from her hands as she fiddled
with the necklace that disappeared into her cleavage behind her silk blouse.
“If a guy spills ice
water in his date’s lap, she wouldn’t hold it against him forever. She wouldn’t
send him flowers with a Dear John letter attached. Am I right?”
Ice water in his lap
might be just the ticket right now, Eric decided, finally pulling his gaze away
from the freckle on her neck peeking out from under her silk collar. “No. Uh… I
mean, yes. Yes, you’re right.” Right in so many ways it made him dizzy. Coming
to her office had been a mistake. It had to be the ten months of abstinence in
combination with the ridiculous hours he’d been putting in leading up to this
merger, and the stress of blowing his promotion this close to his annual review
that had him in this state.
“I guess I’m just
scared I’ll never find a guy who’ll go out with me more than once. It’s kind of
a joke in my family. My three brothers are married and I can’t even get a
second date.”
“Maybe it’s just
that you’re going out with the wrong guys. I know lots of men who would give
anything to go out with someone like you.”
“You do?” Her
eyebrows rose, her expression hopeful.
“Sure.” He could
think of one in particular, but sadly there was that non-fraternization clause
he’d signed when he was hired.
“Ohmygod, you’re the
best, Eric!” She held out her hand. “You’re on.”
What the
hell? He accepted her extended hand, and she gave it a vigorous
handshake.
“I’m free on Fridays
after seven.” She scribbled on a Post-It note on her desk. “Give one of your
friends my number, and we’ll set up a time.”
He took the slip of
paper. “O—kay.”
She smiled. It was a
huge smile that lit up her entire face, like the sun coming out. “Great. You’re
the best. Really, you are.”
Oh yeah. He was the
best for sure. The best at mucking everything up. He finally had Jane’s phone
number and now he was tasked with finding another man to give it to. Perfect.
“Oh. And I have
another favor to ask.”
Maybe this could
turn around.
She held up a finger
and wagged it. “No lawyers. I will never date one. Ever. I’d rather stay single
the rest of my life.”
Nope. No turning
this disaster around.
Numb, and not
exactly sure how he’d gone from up-and-coming attorney to flower delivery boy
to Jane Dixon’s personal dating service, Eric shuffled out the door and down
the hallway to the safety of his office. This time, he closed the door.
Marissa
Clarke is a
multi-award-winning, RITA® nominated author of romance for adults and teens.
She lives in Texas, where everything is bigger, especially the mosquitoes. When
not writing, she wrangles her rowdy pack of three teens, husband, and a Cairn
terrier named Annabel, who rules the house (and Marissa's heart) with an iron
paw.
Marissa Clarke is a pseudonym. Her real name is Mary Lindsey and she also
writes young adult novels for Penguin USA.
To receive updates and insider information on Marissa's upcoming books,
subscribe to her newsletter.
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