From That Moment
A Promise Me Novel
Carrie Ann Ryan
Contents
FROM THAT MOMENT
Acknowledgments
From that Moment
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
A Note from Carrie Ann Ryan
About the Author
Also from Carrie Ann Ryan
FROM THAT MOMENT
A PROMISE ME NOVEL
By
Carrie Ann Ryan
FROM THAT MOMENT
A Promise Me Novel
By: Carrie Ann Ryan
© 2020 Carrie Ann Ryan
ISBN: 978-1-947007-89-5
Cover Art by Sweet N Spicy Designs
Photograph by Wander Photography
* * *
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
Praise for Carrie Ann Ryan
“Count on Carrie Ann Ryan for emotional, sexy, character driven stories that capture your heart!” – Carly Phillips, NY Times bestselling author
“Carrie Ann Ryan’s romances are my newest addiction! The emotion in her books captures me from the very beginning. The hope and healing hold me close until the end. These love stories will simply sweep you away.” ~ NYT Bestselling Author Deveny Perry
"Carrie Ann Ryan writes the perfect balance of sweet and heat ensuring every story feeds the soul." - Audrey Carlan, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
“Carrie Ann Ryan never fails to draw readers in with passion, raw sensuality, and characters that pop off the page. Any book by Carrie Ann is an absolute treat.” – New York Times Bestselling Author J. Kenner
“Carrie Ann Ryan knows how to pull your heartstrings and make your pulse pound! Her wonderful Redwood Pack series will draw you in and keep you reading long into the night. I can’t wait to see what comes next with the new generation, the Talons. Keep them coming, Carrie Ann!” –Lara Adrian, New York Times bestselling author of CRAVE THE NIGHT
"With snarky humor, sizzling love scenes, and brilliant, imaginative worldbuilding, The Dante's Circle series reads as if Carrie Ann Ryan peeked at my personal wish list!" – NYT Bestselling Author, Larissa Ione
"Carrie Ann Ryan writes sexy shifters in a world full of passionate happily-ever-afters." – New York Times Bestselling Author Vivian Arend
“Carrie Ann’s books are sexy with characters you can’t help but love from page one. They are heat and heart blended to perfection.” New York Times Bestselling Author Jayne Rylon
Carrie Ann Ryan's books are wickedly funny and deliciously hot, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. They'll keep you up all night!” USA Today Bestselling Author Cari Quinn
"Once again, Carrie Ann Ryan knocks the Dante's Circle series out of the park. The queen of hot, sexy, enthralling paranormal romance, Carrie Ann is an author not to miss!" New York Times bestselling Author Marie Harte
To our Essential Workers
Thank you.
Thank you.
Acknowledgments
I wanted to write a story about officemates who hated each other and somehow it turned into something far more. Thank you Nana Malone for helping me figure out exactly what that meant!
Thank you Chelle for wrangling my words and my mind. I know this one wasn’t easy for many reasons, but it’s so much shinier because of you.
Thank you Jaycee for this cover. This might be my favorite cover of yours. Ever.
And thank you to Wander for this image! They are the perfect Prior and Paris!!
And as always, thank you dear readers for going on this journey with me. I hope you love the Brady Brothers and the PROMISE ME series!
Happy reading, everyone!
~Carrie Ann
From that Moment
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Carrie Ann Ryan continues her sexy new contemporary stand-alone series with an enemies-to-lovers office romance.
Paris Trissel is in a dating rut. Despite the pact she made with her friends to find someone to share her life with, she’s throwing in the towel after only a few blind dates. Add in the fact that the new hire at the job she used to love happens to be the Brady brother she can’t stand, and Paris is having a terrible year.
Prior Brady’s life seems pretty perfect from the outside. He has a wonderful, caring girlfriend, a family he’s never been closer to, and a new job he can’t wait to sink his teeth and talents into. Too bad the woman he has to work with for hours a day hates him on sight.
Once the two are forced to find the balance between chemistry and temptation, however, they’ll realize they’re stronger together than apart. Except when Paris’s past comes back with a vengeance, bringing terror, pain, and horror with it, both she and Prior will have to lean on each other.
In more ways than one.
Chapter 1
Prior
“I think you’re going to like it here, though I still don’t know why you only want to stay for six months. I don’t know, once you meet everybody, you might want to stay for a bit longer. There are some perks.” Benji elbowed me in the ribs, though it wasn’t hard enough to hurt, and then he winked. “If you know what I mean.”
I looked at the other man and kept a pleasant smile on my face. I hoped to hell I had no idea what he meant. Because if this was the start of my new job, then it was going to be a long fucking six months.
I was going to take this job today and be here for the next half a year. The branch wanted me to plug up a hole that people kept revolving through over the past year or so.
I was a software engineer and was damn good at my job. Working on a project usually took longer than six months. However, turnover on this one seemed greater than normal.
I’d always wanted to work for this department of the company, even in a temporary position. When my current branch offered to loan me out, I greedily accepted.
I loved my current job, but I adored the fact that I could work with another team for a little while. It wasn’t that unheard of when both branches were owned by the same conglomerate. The fact that I got bored easily, even with jobs I loved, meant that this was a perfect break for me. It wasn’t the first time I had done it, but it was the first time I’d felt so uneasy about the guy talking to me.
Benji had been working at this particular branch for the past six years and had moved up in the ranks quickly. I had seen his work and appreciated what it did for the company. I hadn’t spoken to him in person before, though. Now, I understood why that had probably been a good thing for both of us.
“So is my office this way?” I asked, changing the subject. I didn’t want to wonder what Benji was talking about for long. Not if I wanted to keep this job.
“Oh, yes. You’re right next door to your software quality engineer.”
“That’ll be helpful, considering she’s go
ing to check all of my work for the next six months.”
Benji rolled his eyes. “She’ll probably give you a hard time about it, too. She loves telling us everything we do wrong.”
I frowned, grateful that no one was around to overhear.
“That’s sort of her job, isn’t it?” I asked. “I mean, I develop it, and she tests it. There’s always going to be kinks in the system that we need to figure out.”
“I think she enjoys telling men that they’re wrong. If you know what I mean.”
I hated that phrase.
I held back a sigh and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. Oh, good. It was going to be one of those places. I couldn’t wait.
“So, here’s your office,” Benji said, moving into a nicely sized room with a desk, a couple of tables against the walls, and a bright window.
I was going to love that view and natural light.
At my current place, I shared an office with someone because the rooms were about twice the size of these. And my office mate hated light. Seriously, I was pretty sure he was a vampire. That meant my beautiful window always had its blinds closed. No matter what I did, I resolved myself to the fact that I would never be able to see the outside world again from my office.
At least that’s how it felt. That’s why I did my best to work from home most days.
Considering my job, I was able to do that. I kind of liked this office so far, though. Maybe I would work onsite more often. I’d have to see how things worked. For instance, if Benji continued on his path of freaking me out, maybe I’d telecommute. I guess it all depended on my software quality engineer.
For all I knew, they did have it out for every developer out there and enjoyed telling us what was wrong.
What I didn’t like was the fact that the man sounded fucking sexist when he said it. I would like to see and form my own opinions.
“Looks great,” I said and turned to Benji. “Thanks. Seriously. I’ll be back tomorrow to start for real, but I’m thankful that you showed me around today.”
“I’m glad you’re going to be here. Even though it’s only six months, maybe you’ll like it. We always like new blood. It gets kind of annoying after a while when everyone just leaves because they’re afraid of the Shark.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, confused and a little weary.
“Yes, Benji. Excuse me?” a very familiar voice said from behind us. I turned and could have cursed under my breath.
Paris. Of course, it was Paris.
The one person in the area that I knew, who legit acted as if she hated me, though I had no idea why.
Paris, the best friend of the woman who was marrying my brother.
Oh, yes, that Paris.
“Hey, didn’t see you there,” Benji said, his hand on his tie, running his fingers down the length as if he hadn’t just been bad-mouthing someone.
And I knew it had to have been about Paris. It had to be given the way the two were acting.
“No, you wouldn’t with your back to me. If you’re going to talk crap about me and call me names like you love to do, I would make sure that the door isn’t open, and you’re not saying it for everybody to hear.” Paris crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. “You. You’re the new software engineer? Of course, you are. Because why not have more of the boys’ club here?”
My brows went up to my hairline, and I held up my hands. “Hey, what the hell?”
“Don’t what the hell me. If I ever hear you saying the word Shark around here, I will make sure you don’t last another day. I mean, it’s not like you will anyway. Right? No one else has.”
“Wait. You guys know each other?” Benji asked, his gaze darting between us.
“We’re friends,” I said.
“Uh, no, we aren’t.”
I looked at Paris and raised a single brow this time. “We’ve broken bread together. We hang out because your friend is marrying my brother. I would assume we’re friends.”
“And you would assume wrong. We are forced into each other’s proximity because of people we care about. That doesn’t make us friends.”
“Okay, then,” I said softly. “That’s going to make the upcoming wedding and everything else fucking hard, isn’t it?”
“Don’t curse. This is work.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry about that. Also, I wasn’t the one who called you that name.” I turned to Benji. “And Benji isn’t going to be saying it again, will you?”
Benji held up both hands. “No, I promise. I’ll be good.”
“Whatever,” Paris said. “I guess you’re starting tomorrow? Good. Just know you better work hard because I don’t take lackluster work from anyone. I’m good at my job. If you have a problem with that, let me know now so I can deal with it because I’m going to be the one telling you when you do things wrong. If you have a problem hearing that from me, get over it now.”
Benji slid out of the door past Paris, leaving the two of us alone in the office.
I shook my head, wondering what the fuck was going on.
“Can you close the door for a second?”
“Uh, no. Why the hell would I do that?”
“Language,” I said, teasing at first. When her eyes narrowed, I lifted my chin, steadying my gaze. “Let’s talk, okay? I’m as surprised as you. I didn’t know you worked here. Honestly. Let’s get everything out in the open. However, considering that Benji—and God knows who else—probably has his ears pressed against his door trying to listen in, let’s get some privacy.”
Paris narrowed her eyes, then took a few steps into my office, closing the door behind her.
“Fine. I’ll give you two minutes.” She did a show of looking at her watch, and I barely resisted the urge to chuckle.
“Okay, since I’m on a timer, what’s wrong?”
Paris just glared at me. “I don’t know, maybe this hostile work environment.”
“You’re the one sniping at me when we didn’t even get to fully introduce ourselves. I don’t even fucking know your last name.”
Color tinged her cheeks, but she didn’t back down.
“Trissel. Paris Trissel. And I know you’re one of the Brady brothers. Though not the fun bunch, are you?”
“Ha-ha. I’ve never once heard a Brady Bunch joke in my life. Gasp. You were the first person to ever make one. Ever.”
“Prior.”
“No. Let’s get this out. I don’t know why you don’t like me. Maybe you don’t like anyone. That’s your prerogative. We’re going to be working together for the next six months, and yes, you’re going to be checking my work. Thank God. I’m going to make some mistakes. Hopefully, not ones that break the whole damn system, but I’m going to make mistakes. I’m going to need help getting the bugs out. And that’s your job.”
“And you don’t mind the fact that I’m going to be the one scrutinizing your work?”
“Paris. You’re good at what you do.”
“And how do you know that?”
“Because Hazel and the other girls constantly say that you’re brilliant and tell me about what you do. I just didn’t think you worked here. I never asked.”
She blinked at me. “The girls said that?”
“Of course. You are all smart, talented women.” I purposely didn’t say beautiful because we were at work, but Paris was fucking hot.
Long, dark hair and a slender body with curves in all the right places. I had taken note before, of course, and I was kicking myself that I had noticed in the way I had.
Today, she even wore glasses, big square ones that were in fashion these days, and that only made her look hotter.
In fact, she had worn these glasses before, and I’d had a fantasy of her bent over my desk as I…okay, enough of that.
We were working together now, and I had Allison, my girlfriend. So not the images I should have in my mind.
“I need your help here, Paris.”
“So you say. But you were in here with Benji
when he was talking how he usually does.” She blew her bangs from her face, kind of fogging up her glasses a bit as she did, and I held back a smile.
She was so damn cute. I shouldn’t be thinking that at all. Only, it was the friend part of my brain that did so. And I had to keep that thought from my mind because it would be rude as fuck to say something like that about a coworker. I needed to change the way I thought about Paris.
I could do it. At least for six months. Right?
“I thought that Benji was a jerk, and I was going to call him out on it, but then you walked in.?
“So you say,” she said. And once again, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“It’s the truth, Paris. You don’t have to believe me, but hopefully, you’ll see it eventually. I’m not the asshole you think I am.” I paused. “I know…language.”
She turned away from me, letting out a long breath. “They call me the Shark. You heard that?”
“I did. I thought it was a good thing in our line of work. I don’t think it is from your tone or his.”
“They call me Shark because I smell blood in the water when it comes to mistakes, and they like making fun of my period.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, my hands fisting at my sides. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Oh, they haven’t said it out loud to me, but I heard one of the guys whispering about it once. So, I’m going to assume that’s what he meant.”
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