Tiger in Her Bed
Lizzie Lynn Lee
It was a simple dare. Walk to her brooding, hot boss, Quinn Alexander, in the middle of the New Year’s office party and kiss the arrogant smirk off the bastard. Fueled by too much alcohol, Vanessa Lyle impetuously takes up the challenge.
The next morning after the hangover fades, she’s mortified. To think she’d been drunkenly brazen enough to steal a kiss from her boss. Quinn will fire her for sure.
To her surprise, she gets to keep her job because Quinn demands she fix the problem she’s caused. Someone had taken a video of that scandalous kiss and posted it on social media. The video went viral. Quinn’s mom happens see the video and demands to meet his “girlfriend.” Quinn orders Vanessa to pretend to be his woman just to keep his mom off his back.
During a weekend at his parents’ house, Quinn takes pretending to a whole different level. He can’t keep his hands off her, in and out of his bed. But then she discovers his furry secret. Hot guy + big cat = trouble, and curvaceous Vanessa learns it the hard way…
First Edition 2015
©Copyright Lizzie Lynn Lee December 2015
Cover Art by (Lizzie Lynn Lee) ©Copyright (December/2015)
Edited by Tina Winograd
Proofread by LinnieSarah Helpern
This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
Table of Contents:
Summary
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Join Lizzie’s Mailing List
About the Author
Preview from The Man with the Dragon Wings
Chapter One
Not once had Vanessa Lyle considered she’d have to endure the dreadful walk of shame when she got to the office this morning. All eyes were glued on her as she shuffled past the lobby, into her cubicle. The partition in the workspace was so low—the company insisted the open space plan promoted workers’ productivity—that Vanessa couldn’t hide her face, even if she wanted to. So she dove under her desk, pretending to fix a computer cable, until it was safe for her to emerge.
Someone cleared their throat. Vanessa instinctively looked up.
Her coworker, Ivy Bishop, loomed from behind. “What are you doing?” she asked in her whinnying voice.
Vanessa winced inwardly. God, how she disliked this pugnacious person. It was Ivy’s fault she was in this situation. If Ivy hadn’t goaded her. If she hadn’t consumed so much alcohol.
If only.
If only.
That was the game she played over and over in her head.
Gah!
She needed a re-do button. She’d like to take everything back from that New Year’s Eve party.
“Do you need something?” Vanessa ignored Ivy’s query. She forced her face into a blank mask and climbed into her office chair. She powered up her dual monitors and the desktop and began her morning ritual: tidy up her workspace, arrange her notes and writing implements, then check her work journal. Mise en place. Preparation before work led to maximum productivity. It was going to be a busy day: two project meetings with the animation department and writing a patch program for the render farm.
Assuming she still had her job.
Vanessa wouldn’t put it past Quinn. She’d seen him fire people for lesser offenses. What she did to him at the office party put her in the cardinal sin category.
“I can’t believe you really kissed Quinn,” Ivy blurted.
Before Vanessa could open her mouth, others swooped in like hungry vultures.
“They said you walked up to Quinn and kissed him. Is it true?” asked the girl from accounting.
“Yowza. So how was it?” asked the girl’s friend.
Vanessa waved them off. “It was nothing. I was drunk. I didn’t know what I was doing,” she answered diplomatically. Like she was going to spill her guts to these people. Never! They were Quinn’s hardcore fangirls.
“You? Drunk?” The accounting girl rolled her eyes.
“What did Quinn do after you kissed him?” the other girl pressed.
“Uh-oh.” Vanessa pinched the bridge of her nose. The incident was rather hazy. Quinn looked surprised when she snuck up on him and tapped his shoulder. She then tip-toed and planted a light kiss on his lips. She remembered giggling afterward and did a thumbs up in Stephen and Ivy’s direction.
Then what happened after that?
Oh yeah. She recalled that Quinn had herded her toward the restroom, suggesting she was drunk. Duh, Captain Obvious. She remembered her boss helped her into a taxi, but not before pinning her against the wall, and kissing the life out of her.
Did that really happen or was it just a figment of her imagination?
There was no way Quinn would kiss her back. The man was an Ice King. Mr. All Work and No Play. His Majesty Lord Demon.
Now that she thought about it, did Quinn also get into the taxi and escort her to her rented home? Vanessa lived with two housemates, but at that time, Nina and Silvia had also been out partying. She couldn’t verify if Quinn had indeed taken her home.
And the next morning, Vanessa had the worst hangover ever. From that day on, she swore off alcohol for life.
“Well?” Quinn’s fangirls pressed.
“He knew I was wasted and put me into a cab and sent me home,” Vanessa said, omitting the rest.
“Did he say anything to you?” Ivy pestered.
Vanessa shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t remember.”
“Come on. This is Quinn we’re talking about. You must remember something.”
“I don’t know! Geez. After the fifth whiskey sour you guys forced me to drink, everything was kinda blurry.”
Ivy and the two girls looked disappointed.
“You’re the first one who dared to do that and get away with it. I wish I had the courage.” The girl from accounting sighed theatrically. “Quinn is so yummy.”
The others chorused their agreements.
Vanessa rolled her eyes. Give me a break.
Ever since their boss, Quinn Alexander, took over his uncle’s position as CEO of Animatrica, one of the country’s top five game developer studios, he had been subjected to endless gossip from the female employees.
Quinn was tall, dark, and devastatingly handsome. He was physically fit and a sharp dresser. It didn’t matter that he was perpetually broody. All his crankiness was forgiven by the opposite sex because he was one hell of a male specimen, jammed into a fine package: gorgeous, smart, and extremely wealthy. Many of his male employees often jested when Quinn arrived at the office. “A Witcher? Quick, hide your women.” An inside joke in the gaming world based on a blockbuster RPG game where the main character, “Geralt of Rivia,” had such incredible sex appeal that women kept flocking to him wherever he went.
Vanessa didn’t jump onto the bandwagon with the rest of his female fans. It wasn’t because she didn’t think Quinn was hot as hell. He was out of her league. She was also practical. There was no point in coveting something she couldn’t win.
She’d always been the prim, proper, and level-he
aded one in her family. While her sisters partied through high school and college, she had always been known to have her nose in books, studying and getting good grades. She learned her limitations at a very early age.
While her two older sisters were blessed with their mother’s good genes: tall, willowy and beautiful, Vanessa unfortunately inherited her father’s traits: chubby, plain and socially awkward. Their mother was a B-movie actress in her golden days and their father was a math professor at Princeton.
After she graduated from college and got her dream job as a game designer, Vanessa maintained her Spartan lifestyle. At first, she did it because she wanted to excel at her work. By the time she realized she wanted more from life than just being good at what she did, it was too late. A geek could never shed her shell as a social butterfly.
But that night changed everything.
The damn New Year’s Eve office party.
What the hell was she thinking? She was a lightweight when it came to booze. She had one too many and impulsively agreed to a dare. All because she wanted to prove Stephen wrong. He was the team leader of her department. Since she was transferred under him, Stephen had thrown some digs at her that she wasn’t team player material.
Vanessa was academically brilliant and also an efficient worker. Efficient workers led to more productivity. She didn’t appreciate the bullshit that middle management liked to pull on her. Stupid meetings to discuss stupid stuff, when time was better spent on the actual work itself. When she insisted on doing her projects her way, she was branded difficult to work with. Too rigid. Uptight.
In her tipsy haze, she’d been irritated that Stephen nitpicked her personality over her capability to work. She challenged him with the idea she was capable of doing something unexpected. Something on a whim.
And that was when Ivy Bishop half-jokingly suggested Vanessa might as well walk up to Quinn and steal a kiss if she wanted to prove she wasn’t as strait-laced as everybody thought.
Quinn Alexander was dubbed Lord Demon for a reason. He was a perfectionist and workaholic to the core, and expected his employees to work as hard as he did. His smile was as rare as a two dollar bill. A broody hen was more cheerful than he was.
To think she would take Ivy’s bait and kissed Quinn so rashly…
Oh God, if Vanessa could take everything back, she’d gladly sell her soul to the Devil.
She really liked her job at Animatrica. What have I done?
Now she was going to have to start looking for a new job at second-rate companies.
Vanessa shooed Ivy and the fangirls from her cubicle. “Nothing to see here. I need to do work.”
They dispersed as they continued their chatter.
Swallowing a bitter gulp, Vanessa scrolled through her work emails. It shouldn’t have been a surprise when her mail box contained a few “R U Crazy?” messages. She didn’t need to be reminded how shitty her situation was. She’d planned to go to Quinn’s office and apologize for her behavior.
Somebody plodded up behind her. Vanessa lifted her head from the screen. Her supervisor, Stephen Morris, stopped at her cubicle. He wore a dark expression on his face.
“Quinn wants you. His office. Now,” Stephen announced without pleasantries.
Vanessa groaned. “It’s too early to fire his staff, don’t you think?”
Now Stephen looked uncomfortable. “Maybe I should have a talk with him too. Things got out of hand on our part. It was my stupid bet that started all of this.”
“Save it. I’ll go see him now.” Vanessa sighed. “I’ll pack my things afterward.”
“I don’t think he’ll go that far. You’re one of the best designers we’ve ever had. Quinn never fired anyone for personal problems. The party wasn’t work related.”
Vanessa forced a smile. “We’re talking about Lord Demon here. Let’s hope that EA or Pixar has a job opening that suits my talents. Otherwise, I have to move in with my folks.” She shuddered. What would her mother say to her? Or her busybody sisters? In her family, her only pride was her stable life, academic achievement, and her career. Getting fired from work was the worst humiliation that she could suffer.
Avoiding the pitying stares of Stephen and others, Vanessa squared her shoulders and marched to Quinn’s office on the top floor, like a brave soldier. She avoided the elevator. Instead, she used the stairwell to make her walk to the gallows seem longer. Man, she was going to miss this place.
Animatrica was one of few studios in North America that offered generous perks to its employees. They hired an in-house chef to cater workers’ lunches and dinners. There was a free gym, recreational lounge, laundry center, and a quiet place where the employees could take a nap. Not to mention the free fresh fruit and snack bar. And in return, Animatrica expected you to “practically live” at work, which she had no problem doing, considering she was single. Eighty percent of its employees were under the age of thirty and workaholics just like her.
The company got popular about eighteen months ago when its gaming apps became a worldwide sensation. A Silicon Valley tech giant bought the rights for a cool $6.2 billion, putting Quinn’s family a newly minted Forbes’ list of the nouveau riche. And a highly anticipated sequel was currently under development—the very game Vanessa and her team had been working on since spring.
If she got fired today, that meant she had to kiss the project goodbye. Her blood, sweat and tears. That game was her baby.
Just thinking about it made her want to cry.
Vanessa blinked back her tears and pushed the stairwell door open. The fifth floor of the building was manned by a hag named Mary, the floor secretary—probably the oldest of the employees at Animatrica. Rumor said she was in her fifties.
And today, Mary greeted her with a dark scowl usually saved for the unfortunate souls who had to go to the fifth floor to deal with one of the managers.
Vanessa motioned toward Quinn’s office. “I was told His Lordship wanted me.”
Mary wasn’t amused by her joke. She gave her the iciest stare before she flicked her wrist, telling her to “go.”
Vanessa wheeled around and exhaled deep before knocking on Quinn’s office door. It was ajar.
“Come in,” a deep, mellifluous, basso profondo kind of voice replied.
Vanessa had forgotten to breathe for a moment. “You wanted to see me, Quinn?” He insisted that he remain on a first name basis with all his employees.
He lifted his gaze from his computer screen. His expression was bland, and betrayed nothing. “Please close the door behind you.”
Vanessa winced inwardly. Argh. Not a good sign. Quinn was an advocate of transparency. He rarely told his employees to close the door of his office. Unless he fired people. Jesus. Her heart dropped into her guts. This was it. She was done for. Her fate had been sealed. She braced herself for the forthcoming unpleasantness. She promised herself she wouldn’t cry afterward. Because nothing was more degrading than crying at work after losing a job. Of course, she had never been fired before, but there was the first time for everything.
She closed the door with a soft click.
Quinn waved at the empty chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat, Vanessa.”
Like a rusty robot too frightened to squeak, she slowly planted herself in the aforementioned chair. She nervously scanned her surroundings, taking it all in. It seemed Quinn had prepared for her termination. There was usually no extra chair by his desk. He received his guests in the library or the private conference room.
Vanessa forced herself to look at him, facing him eye to eye. She wondered if apologizing or begging him to let her keep her job would do her any good at this point. Unlike his uncle, Quinn wasn’t easily swayed by theatrics. If a madman pointed a gun at his head and forced him to admit the color of his blood was blue, Quinn would still say red, even if it cost him his dear life.
Quinn was a man of principle.
A filtered stream of light from the window panes bounced on his chiseled features. Vanessa re
sented the fact that some people were blessed with everything. He was smart, wealthy, and great looking. Maybe great looking was an understatement. He was drop-dead gorgeous.
Rumor had it that Quinn had some Latino blood in his Anglo line, making him rather exotic. Quinn’s skin was caramel but his eyes were vivid green. His hair was the color of deep amber. The girls in the office often fawned over his emerald eyes or the lustrous shade of his hair. A few confessed they were dying to lick him, to see if he tasted as good as he looked.
Vanessa never understood such dumb obsessions. But then again, she wasn’t like other girls. She didn’t like to waste her time on things that could be explained with simple logic.
Quinn cut his gaze from the laptop. He cleared his throat and straightened his posture. “How are you this morning?” He sounded almost nice.
Too friendly, in fact.
Vanessa cringed inwardly. Was he trying to soften the blow before royally sacking her? “This is it then. Are you going to fire me?”
Surprisingly, Quinn looked amused. “Sometimes I forget you’re not like the others. You never beat around the bush. That’s a quality I like in you, Vanessa. So I’ll be frank. I called you in today regarding the incident at the New Year’s Eve party.”
Vanessa swallowed hard. Here we go. The invisible knot in her throat made her almost choke. “I… I only can say that I’m deeply sorry. There’s no excuse for what I did. I’m deeply ashamed for my bad judgment.”
Quinn stilled. He tapped his fingers on the glossy surface of his desk. “You’re ashamed of kissing me? Hmm. Somehow my pride is wounded. Here I thought I was a prize catch.”
“I’m sure you are, but that’s hardly relevant in this case, isn’t it?” Vanessa thought hard for a moment. “Can I, at least, be allowed to resign instead? My past performance has been exemplary. If I resign …” Her words trailed away. She was hoping to keep her resume squeaky clean.
Quinn stared straight into her eyes. “This job is important to you, isn’t it?”
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