“Fine. How are you?” I asked.
“Fine.” Although his voice was even, I could see the excitement in his eyes. He loved the thrill of exploring new places and had adapted quickly to the rigors of world travel. Although he now ran Dad’s construction company, he always took time off to join me on my photo shoots.
We set up camp on the ridge of a mountain. When darkness fell, we snuggled together inside our tent, preferring privacy to the company of the others. Strange jungle noises peppered the night. A loud screech pierced the darkness. I dug my fingernails into Owen’s arm.
“What do you think that was?” I asked.
“A monkey,” he said.
“You mean a devil monkey.”
His deep chuckle vibrated against my side. I held my breath as his hand smoothed along my rib cage and came to a stop below my navel. “How’s junior?”
“She’s fine, too,” I said, defying his wish for a son. According to the pregnancy test I’d taken, we were two months pregnant. After my rough childhood, I’d never wanted kids, but the thought of making a baby with Owen seemed like the perfect expression of our love.
His hands found the waistband of my panties and slipped inside. I stifled a moan as his fingertip dipped between my thighs. Outside the tent, I could hear the men’s voices and the crackling of the fire.
“You’re going to have to be quiet,” he said with his lips against my ear. “Because I’m going to ride you like a Harley on a bad piece of road.”
We’d been married for a year and still couldn’t keep our hands off each other. I wriggled out of my shorts and spread my legs for him. Even though we were sweaty and tired from the trail, neither of us cared. His weight settled on top of me. I helped him drag his shirt over his head then ran my fingers through the dusting of hair on his chest.
“You’re so hot,” I whispered and slapped his ass with the flat of my palm. The sound echoed through the tent.
“Stella.” His body shook as laughter rolled through him.
“Mosquito.” With my teeth, I tugged on his earlobe. He moaned. “Now who’s being noisy?”
“Behave, woman.” As he spoke, he slipped inside me. We stilled, enjoying the sudden friction, and the freedom from birth control.
“If you wanted an obedient woman, you should have married someone else.”
“You’re the only woman for me, Stella Henry.” In the darkness, his gaze sobered. He shifted his weight, driving deeper, rolling his hips in a slow circle.
I dug my heels into his ass, clawing his back with my nails. We rocked together slowly, savoring the intimacy. In my wildest dreams, I’d never conjured up anything as wonderful as my current life. We’d gone through hell to get here, but the struggle made the reward even sweeter.
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ON A cold spring morning, I stepped into Joe’s Java Junction and shook the rain from my hair. At the order counter, a tall gentleman took his cup of coffee and turned toward me. Our gazes connected with the impact of two colliding automobiles. He froze in his steps, lips pursed to blow on the hot liquid, and drew in a sharp, startled breath.
I stared into a set of familiar eyes over the rim of his cup as he took a sip. Recognition flared then extinguished in their depths. A tremor of panic shook my fingers, and I fought to maintain my composure. In all the years I’d lived in the city, I’d never once run into anyone from my past. I took comfort in the anonymity of living far from the small town where I’d grown up. In retrospect, I’d been a fool to believe my past was forgotten or that I could escape it so easily.
We stood facing each other, shocked into wordlessness, until a woman touched his arm. She was tall, slender, and immaculate in a tight black pencil skirt and high-heeled pumps. Blonde hair formed a perfect chignon at the nape of her neck. I smoothed a self-conscious hand over my brown hair, frizzy from the rain, and tried not to think about how it must look. Her gaze flicked from the man to me and back to the man again.
“Samuel?” The low, cultured tone of her voice speaking his name sent a shiver down my back. “We’re going to be late.”
His gaze disconnected from mine. I swallowed and stepped back, giving him a polite smile. He didn’t reciprocate. Instead, he turned to the woman and nodded, his hand resting on the small of her back. The contact was warm and intimate, the same way he’d touched me long ago. My chest tightened with emotions I’d thought forgotten.
“Samuel.” This time, the woman’s voice held a note of annoyance.
Once upon a time, this man and I had been more than acquaintances. He’d been the center of my universe, and I’d been his wife. I knew the way his hands felt on me, the way he looked when he came during sex, the way his skin tasted in the morning after his shower. Now we were nothing more than strangers with a shared past, brushing shoulders in a coffee shop, before moving onto our respective lives.
“Miss? What can I get for you?” By the narrowing of the barista’s eyes, she’d asked me more than once.
“Sugar-free vanilla non-fat latte with a double shot.” Although my lips formed the words, my gaze followed the back of Sam’s black trench coat out the door. He was taller than I remembered, his shoulders broader and his hair blonder. His driver met him on the sidewalk with an umbrella and ushered him to a silver BMW with blackout windows, the blonde at his side. I lifted a hand to the thin chain around my neck and fingered the plain gold band suspended on the end.
“Your change, miss?” The annoyed voice of the barista suggested she’d lost her patience with me. I tore my attention from Samuel and back to the girl frowning in front of me.
“Sorry,” I said with a half-hearted smile. The girl huffed and dropped a quarter into my outstretched palm. By the time I turned back to Samuel, he was gone, but the shock of seeing him followed me out of the coffee shop and back to the office.
Every time I slid into a chair behind the mahogany conference table, my pulse beat a little bit faster. Corporate life made my blood sing like the headiest drug. I took my normal seat next to the head of the table, where Ansel, the president, would sit. It was a position of honor and one I’d worked hard to attain. From beyond the gleam of polished hardwoods and brass, my co-workers stared at me. Usually the room hummed with friendly banter. This morning an eerie silence prevailed. I was still too overcome by my encounter with Samuel to analyze the source of the quiet.
“Good morning, everyone.” Ansel entered the executive conference room, his jaw clenched tight. He was a slender man; bookish glasses perched on his nose, with wisps of gray threading his brown hair. “Thank you for joining us at such short notice.” The strain around Ansel’s eyes caught my attention more than his words. “We’ll get to the crux of the matter in just a minute.” Instead of sitting next to me the way he usually did, he remained standing and shifted from foot to foot, avoiding my curious gaze. “We’re waiting on one more person.”
“Is everything okay?” I asked him, studying his face with concern. “Can I get you anything?” Ansel might be demanding and overbearing, but he’d always been kind to me.
He didn’t answer but patted my hand absently before turning away. I followed the trajectory of his gaze.
The smile on my lips fell away when the woman from the coffee shop strode into the room. She walked to the front and rested a hand on the arm of a man staring through the wall of windows at the blue sky outside. A man I’d failed to notice until this very second. The square set of the broad shoulders beneath an impeccable black suit brought the world to a stop for the space of an entire second. He stood with his hands shoved into his pockets, face turned away, the split of his suit jacket revealing a bite-worthy ass beneath the tailored trousers. Messy blond hair brushed the starched white collar of his shirt. When he glanced at the woman, morning sunlight glinted off random gold hairs in
the scruff on his square jaw, the glare obscuring most of his face. Samuel. A frisson of anxiety rippled through my gut.
“I could use some coffee,” Brian, head of advertising, said from my left. He leaned into my shoulder, whispering over my ear. I shivered and not in a good way. He was such a creep.
“Get it yourself,” I hissed, my eyes glued to the source of my anxiety.
“But you’re so good at it,” he replied, unruffled by my rebuff. For reasons unknown to me, Brian continued to treat me like a receptionist, asking me to make coffee, copies, and schedule appointments for him whenever Sadie, the receptionist, was out. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy, solid build, sandy brown hair, hazel eyes, and he could be charming when he wanted. He also had a reputation for sleeping with the staff, in spite of his fiancée and our company policy. When his thigh brushed against mine beneath the table, I glared and slid my chair to the side. Sleazeball. He smirked. “Pardon me.”
“Looks like we’re all here,” Ansel said, drawing my attention away from Brian. “We can go ahead now.”
Sam turned to face the group. I lifted my coffee cup to my lips. Grass-green eyes rested on my face. Brian’s thigh bumped me again beneath the table. I jerked, and the cup slipped from my fingers and landed on the table with a clank. Lukewarm coffee poured down the front of my pink silk blouse. Brian cursed and sprang to his feet, brushing at the splatters on his khaki pants. Camille, head of accounting, grabbed a handful of tissues from the credenza and thrust them at me, but I just sat there, staring numbly at Samuel.
“Dakota?” Ansel’s voice drifted through the chaotic haze in my mind. A frown puckered the space between his brows. My composure snapped into place.
“Excuse me,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”
Before anyone could speak, I sprinted out of the room and into my office. I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, pressing a hand against my chest to calm my racing pulse. It just wasn’t possible, was it? How could he be here? For the second time this morning, memories better left forgotten flooded my thoughts. Sweet, drowsy kisses. Riding bicycles in the rain. Laughing over morning coffee. The painful squeeze of my chest forced me to cut them off.
“Dakota? Can I help you?” A light tap at the door and the voice of my assistant, Melody, called me to action. “Ansel said to hurry.”
Of all the places in this enormous city, what was he doing here? I didn’t have any idea what he’d done since our divorce or the career path he’d taken. I didn’t want to know. I’d managed to get past our morning brush at the coffee shop by shoving it deep down into the darkest recesses of my being and padlocking the door. I could hardly avoid him now. Not when he was in the next room.
I shrugged out of the blouse and pulled my jacket from the closet. With shaking fingers, I buttoned the front and took a hasty glance in the mirror on the back of the door. A bit more cleavage revealed than I preferred, but it would have to do. I opened the door, thrust the blouse at Melody, and returned to the conference room. Samuel had taken me by surprise, but I’d never let him know. I couldn’t, not when I was the one responsible for our breakup.
“I apologize for the delay,” I said, wearing my winningest smile. “Let’s get to business, shall we?”
Ansel tapped the table, calling the room to order. “I’d like to introduce you to Samuel Seaforth, president of Infinity Enterprises. This morning, Samuel took over controlling interest of Harmony Developments and he’ll be heading up the company from today forward.”
The blood left my face and drained all the way into my toes. A murmur of concern rippled around the room. Samuel Seaforth was taking over the company. My company. All of my plans for the future withered and died in front of my eyes at this unwelcome revelation.
Samuel shoved his hands deeper into his trouser pockets, a gesture so familiar it brought a sharp stab of nostalgia. Our eyes met again and a tremor shook my hands.
“Thank you, Ansel,” Samuel said, still staring at me. “I want to assure everyone that we mean to make this merger as painless as possible. There will be growing pains, of course, as we blend the two companies into one and reorganize the company structure. And to that end, we are asking you to reapply for your positions.” He gestured to the woman at his side. “Dahlia will be conducting interviews throughout the rest of the week in order to get acquainted with each of you and determine who’s best suited for the positions.”
“Some of us have contracts,” I interjected. Ansel had insisted I sign an employment agreement when I took the Project Acquisitions Director position. Now I had to wonder if he’d known all along about the merger and had taken steps to protect me. I cast him a grateful glance. He answered with an almost imperceptible nod.
“So you do, Ms. Atwell,” Samuel said. His deep voice dwelled on the syllables of my name, and not in a good way. “You and I will discuss your situation at a later date. In private.” He dismissed me with a turn of his head, addressing the rest of the room. “Now, let’s talk about our future.”
Dive into Pretty Broken Girl today! It’s FREE.
Also by Jeana E. Mann
The Rich Royal and Ruthless Collection
THE EXILED PRINCE TRILOGY
The Exiled Prince
The Dirty Princess
The War King
THE REBEL QUEEN DUET
The Royal Arrangement
The Rebel Queen
The Ruthless Knight
PRETTY BROKEN SERIES
(In reading order)
Pretty Broken Girl
Pretty Filthy Lies
Pretty Dirty Secrets
Pretty Wild Thing
Pretty Broken Promises
Pretty Broken Dreams
Pretty Broken Baby
Pretty Broken Hearts
Pretty Broken Bastard
FELONY ROMANCE SERIES
Intoxicated
Unexpected
Vindicated
Impulsive
Drift
Committed
STANDALONES
Lies We Tell
Dirty Work
SHORT STORIES
Everything
Linger
About the Author
Jeana is a USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author from Indiana. She gave up a career in the corporate world to write about sexy billionaires and alpha bad boys. With over twenty books, three series, and many awards beneath her belt, she’s never regretted her choice to live out her dream. She’s a free spirit, a wanderer at heart, and loves animals with a passion. When she’s not tripping over random objects, you’ll find her walking in the sunshine with her rambunctious dogs and dreaming about true love. Subscribe to Jeana’s newsletter and get the inside scoop on new and upcoming releases, giveaways, and much more! CLICK HERE
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Copyright © 2018 and 2020 by Jeana E. Mann
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