Today I'm celebrating the release of OFFICE MATE by Katie Ashley. This is a standalone, contemporary romance title. Check out the blurb and buy links below!
Office Mate
Katie Ashley
Releasing July 9
Thorn
From the first time I played army as a kid, the military has been my life. As an Airborne Major, I’d led my men through two tours in Afghanistan. But when my father was elected president, I became an even greater target for the enemy—a prize for someone to take out. To ensure not only the safety of myself, but of my men, I got stripped of my cammies, shoved into an Armani suit, and placed into a management position at my father’s company. After years of trekking through the desert with an assault rifle, I was way out of my area of expertise, which my transition coordinator was more than happy to let me know on a daily, if not hourly basis. The brunette bombshell would be the death of me in more ways than one, especially since I hadn’t been with a woman since my last deployment. She’s turning out to be one of the greatest foes I’ve ever done battle with.
Isabel
In the backwoods Georgia town I was born in, you either married right out of high school or got the hell out of town. I chose the second and never looked back. After graduating top in my class, I started working for The Callahan Corporation. Fast forward five years and I was about to become the youngest female manager in the history of my department. And then all the blood, sweat, and tears I’d put into my career were for nothing when the boss’s billionaire son was handed my position on a silver platter. Not only that, I was expected to help transition him into the job that was supposed to be mine. Sure, he’s easy on the eyes with his chiseled good-looks and impossibly built physique, but I’m not going to let that distract me. I hope soldier boy is good at military strategy because sabotage is the name of the game I’ll be playing.
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Yes, I utterly
despised myself for thinking that.
We’d just hit a
tedious part of reviewing the files on the computer when Thorn leaned his head
back and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If I’m going to get through the rest
of this, I’m going to need some strong coffee.” He stared pointedly at me.
Oh. Hell. No. He was not
suggesting I get his coffee.
In a sugary-sweet
tone, I replied, “I believe I showed you where the break room is last week, but
if you’ve forgotten, it’s down the hall and then take two lefts.”
“I
want an espresso from Starbucks.”
“Then
you’re going to need to take the elevator and go down the block.”
“How much plainer
do I need to make this, Ms. Flannery? I want a Venti espresso from Starbucks,
and you’re going to get it for me.”
“Well, Mr.
Callahan, there are a lot of things I want that I don’t get. That’s just life.
Furthermore, I know you’re still new to the workforce, but being a coffee
runner is not part of my job description. You have an assistant, AKA a
secretary for that, not to mention a Secret Service agent who is outside
thumbing through Cosmo.”
His blue eyes narrowed
at me. “I never said it was part of your job. However, I do believe it is part
of your job description not to be insubordinate to your superior.”
If I had been a
cartoon character, this was the moment imaginary steam would have billowed from
my ears at Thorn’s audacity. At that moment, I had two choices—my own version
of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken.
Fearing for my job, I could bow to Thorn’s will and get his damn coffee, or I
could throw caution to the wind and put Mr. Trust Fund Baby in his place. By
now, you should know me well enough to know which one I chose. It also didn’t
help that I’d caught the end of Nine to
Five, one of my all-time favorites, on HBO when I got in from work the
night before. Facing down my own version of Franklin Hart, I was going to make
Violet, Doralee, and Judy proud.
I jabbed his chest
with my index finger. “Look, soldier boy, I know you’re used to barking orders
and having your men and women scramble to obey them, but we’re not in
Afghanistan anymore, Toto. Now I’m going to walk out of here and tell your
secretary you’re about to piss yourself for an espresso.”
While I fully
expected Thorn to be enraged by my declaration, I didn’t expect the amused
smirk that twisted on his face. “Alice isn’t here.”
“Excuse
me?”
“She
took a half day to go to the dentist.”
Damn Alice and her teeth. Now my ass really was on the line. “Fine.
I will go get your precious espresso, but don’t doubt for one minute that I’ll
be filing a grievance via the proper channels,” I hissed.
Thorn
had the audacity to grin. “You make sure you do that.”
MOTHERFUCKER. After I whirled around, I started stalking
out of his office.
“Oh,
Ms. Flannery?” he called.
I
fought the urge to reply, Yes, Satan?
Instead, I slowly pivoted around. “Yes, Mr. Callahan?”
“I
would offer you some cash, but I’m sure you’ll want a receipt to corroborate
your story.”
Smug bastard. Of course I wanted a receipt, and of
course I planned to put it with my grievance. I hated that he had the ability
to read my mind; it made it hard to maintain any ground with him. Well, sometimes he could read my mind—obviously,
if he were fully psychic, he would have busted me for the underhanded shit I’d
been doing to him.
I
gave a nod of my head before turning back around and sprinting out the door.
After I stopped by my office for my purse, I hopped on the elevator. When I
jabbed the button for the lobby, the woman behind me snickered.
“Tough
day, huh?”
“You
could say that.”
“Trust
me, I’ve been there.”
The
commiseration was nice, but at the same time, I inwardly groaned at my
behavior. I mean, when had I sunk so low as to act like a petulant toddler by
taking my frustrations out on an elevator button? That was somewhat of a
rhetorical question since I knew exactly why I was acting the way I was. It was
all because the devil incarnate had usurped me at my job and was hell-bent on
driving me batshit crazy.
While
it pained me to admit it, I really, really wanted to hurt Thorn Callahan, and that
in itself was unnerving because I normally wasn’t a violent person. Back home
in Georgia, I was constantly stopping my car to help wayward turtles in the
middle of the road. I’d even been known to put spiders outside rather than
squishing them.
Ugh, the man was driving
me absolutely insane, and it had only been three weeks. How was I possibly
going to make it a year to eighteen months with him? As I pushed through the
doors of the Starbucks, I found myself actually contemplating the thought of
changing companies, but I really didn’t want to go that route. It wasn’t that I
couldn’t have found another job, but more about the fact that I loved the
Callahan Corporation, which had been home to me for so many years.
After I placed my
order for Satan’s precious espresso, I started shuffling around in the bottom
of my purse for my debit card, and I finally found it hiding under a bottle of
dog laxatives. After I handed the card to the barista, my gaze once again fell
inside my purse, more specifically on the bottle.
You see, it wasn’t
normal for me to have dog laxatives rolling around in the bottom of my purse.
Dani was known to suffer from constipation from time to time, which the vet
assured me was part of living the city dog life. I hadn’t meant to bring them
with me that day. When I was raking stuff off the kitchen counter and into my
purse, I thought I’d swept up a bottle of Midol.
At that moment, a
truly devious idea entered my mind. It was so heinous that I actually sucked in
an agonized breath upon realizing I’d actually thought it. I even went so far
as to glance left and right to make sure no one was staring at me in fear. I
don’t know why I thought someone could suddenly have the ability to read my
mind, but if they did, I would be in big trouble.
I could almost
imagine the expressions of horror on their faces, as well as the dialogue that
might take place.
“That seemingly normal-looking chick right
there? She’s debating putting dog laxatives in her boss’s coffee.”
“Damn, that’s cold.”
“Forget cold—it’s downright psychotic. If
she keeps gobbling up the cuckoo puffs, she’ll be rocking a straight-jacket
down in Bellevue.”
“I dunno, bosses can be epic pricks. He
probably deserves a lengthy ride on the porcelain chariot.”
“Espresso for
Isabel.” I jumped out of my thoughts at the sound of my name being called.
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Katie Ashley is a New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon Best-Selling author of both Indie and Traditionally published books. She lives outside of Atlanta, Georgia with her daughter, Olivia, and her spoiled mutt, Duke. She has a slight obsession with Pinterest, The Golden Girls, Shakespeare, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Scooby-Doo.
With a BA in English, a BS in Secondary English Education, and a Masters in Adolescent English Education, she spent eleven years teaching both middle and high school English, as well as a few adjunct college English classes. As of January 2013, she hung up her red pen and expo markers to become a full-time writer. Each and every day she counts her blessings to be able to do her dream job.
Although her roots are firmly planted in the red Georgia clay, she loves traveling the country and world to meet readers and hang out with fellow authors. When she’s not writing or chasing down her toddler, you might find her watching reruns of The Golden Girls, reading historical biographies, along with romance novels, or spending way too much time on Facebook.
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