by T. S. Ryder
Devin had never looked so handsome. His long hair was tied back, and rather than a tuxedo, he wore a white shirt matched with white pants. The shirt was loose-fitting, with a V-neck and golden embroidery forming two panels on either side. He stood with his hands behind his back. The smile on his face was like the sun. His gaze moved to Hope and he inclined his head toward her when the two of them came to a stop at the end of the aisle.
A wooden arch had been erected there, and a priest stood beneath it. Beyond him was the sea. A boat waited in the water, and Charity’s heart beat faster as she considered what would happen after the wedding ceremony.
She turned to Hope and handed Storm to her with a whispered word to give the baby to Devin’s mother. Hope did so as Charity took the last few steps up to where Devin waited for her. He held his hands out to her and she took them. Behind him, his four brothers stood, all dressed in white like Devin, but with silver rather than gold embroidery.
Hope took a spot just behind Charity. Tears still streamed down her face, but she still smiled brightly. Charity smiled back at her. It had been a hard road to get here, and there was going to be more hardship for her sister in the days to come. But right now, everything was good. The sun shone, the sea glistened, and Devin squeezed her hand.
The priest began to speak. Charity wanted to hold onto every word, but her mind kept drifting to the future. She and Devin were going to have more children. They wanted at least four. She was going to continue her research here on the island, and he had put in an official bid for the alpha of the pack to be voted on and reviewed every five years. They needed leadership, but he didn’t think that the old way of doing things was going to work for them. Not now.
Before she knew it, it was time for them to exchange vows. Devin slid the ring, a plain gold band, onto her finger and raised it to his lips. “Charity, before you came into my life, I thought that all kindness came with a price. I didn’t believe in anything but myself. I thought that I had to face the world alone, and that if I screwed up, then everybody would hurt for it.”
Behind him, his brothers chuckled. Leo nodded. “He did,” he muttered, just loud enough for everybody to hear.
Devin turned to give him a half-glare. When he turned back to Charity, though, his grin was even bigger. “Since you came into my life, I realized that it’s not a matter of me being responsible for everything. I have to pull together with the people who matter most. I have to hold their hands and work with them to see the change we want. And I am so grateful that you will be holding my hand for the rest of my life.”
It was her turn. Nerves churned in her stomach as Leo reached around Devin to give her the ring. She slid it onto his hand, and like he had, raised it to her lips. She had spent a long time memorizing her vows, but suddenly it all seemed too canned. Even though she had poured her heart into them, they didn’t really express how she felt.
“Devin, I grew up in a household full of hate. I was taught that love was something that you talked about but didn’t actually feel. To me, love was always being disappointed, never feeling like you were good enough. It was something that only hurt.” She bent her head for a moment, gathering her thoughts. “Until I met you, I didn’t know that love could be something truly beautiful.”
Tears spilled over her cheeks and she dabbed them away quickly. Devin’s thumb moved to rub out one that escaped her, and she gave him a smile. Tenderness radiated from him, and she found herself wanting to just forget about everything else and just kiss him.
That would wait, though. “You taught me that love can be truly unselfish. That love is more than words. I love you. I love with all my heart, and I will do everything I can to show you that love every single day. Our children are going to grow up knowing what love really is. And you are the best man I could choose to help me teach them that.”
The priest beamed at the two of them. “Do you take one another as husband and wife?”
“Yes,” Charity and Devin replied as one.
“Then you may kiss one another.”
They leaned forward, meeting one another in the middle. Their guests sent up a cheer. When they parted, Leo and the other brothers crowded around them, pounding Devin on the back and kissing Charity on the cheek. Charity turned to hug Hope tightly.
“I’m glad you found him,” Hope whispered in her ear. “Your soulmate.” She kissed Charity on the cheek. “I’m going to the mainland. I have to go or I’ll miss the ferry. I love you.”
Charity hugged her tighter. “I love you, too. Call me. I’ll be there whenever you need me.”
Hope slipped away while everybody else crowded in to congratulate the couple. The music started up again and everybody started to dance. At one point, Charity had to retreat to the booth to feed Storm. After she was finished and the baby was asleep, Devin took her hand and pulled her to the water’s edge. He lifted her into the boat waiting for them and shoved them off. The well-wishers shouted and waved from the beach until they were out of sight.
Charity turned forward. She soon saw the island come into view. Her heart pattered in her chest and she actually held her breath as they landed. A tent had been set up on the beach. Later, Leo would bring Storm out with a few provisions, but right now it was just the two of them and the sea and the sky.
“It seems like forever since we were first here, doesn’t it?” Devin picked her up out of the boat and carried her across the beach towards the tent.
Charity nodded. “Forever . . . but in a good way. Oh, Devin. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“That was my line.” He set her down and kissed her firmly. He rested his forehead against hers. “Forever and a day. Because eternity will never be long enough for you and me.”
*****
THE END
The Shifting Boss's Mate
Description
A curvy personal assistant ready to re-start her life PLUS her hot possessive boss who has it all PLUS a rival who wants to destroy them both!
Curvy 20-something Jacqueline Smith isn't looking for romance; she's looking for a job.
Three years after the death of her parents sent her spiraling into a deep depression, she's ready to get back in the saddle and take control of her life once more. The problem is that nobody seems to want to hire her.
Nobody except Myles Foster, that is. The Alpha of the largest werewolf pack in North America is a self-made billionaire and the head of a massive agricultural empire. He’s also sizzling hot. But Myles is not looking for a mate–and certainly not a human one.
Which is just fine for Jackie.
At least it would be fine, if Myles wasn't so dang sexy. She knows it's ridiculous. Men like Myles don't go for women like her, and Jackie's not ready to make room in her life for love. It’s not like she needs another wrong man around, anyway.
Besides, sleeping with her boss would be so unprofessional…
But then a rival challenges Myles in an Alpha fight and Myles must make a difficult decision. Can he fight off his rival? And will Jackie be able to resist her attraction to him? Find out now in this steamy billionaire romance!
Chapter One
The interview wasn't going well. Jacqueline Smith didn't need to be a mind reader to know that. All three of the interviewers, two men and a woman, were asking the most basic of questions, nodding with little smiles at her answers, but not engaging with her at any deeper level. They had already decided not to hire her.
Cross being a personal assistant to Myles Foster, owner of one of the largest agricultural empires in North America, off the list.
It was the same every time she had an interview for a new job. The interviewer would welcome her in, shake her hand and then spend the fifteen-minute interview thinking more about the size of her waist than the words coming out of her mouth.
Still, she kept a bright smile on her face. Her mother always said that her smile was her best feature.
"So, Miss Smith," the woman said, looking over her resume. "
It says here that you were the personal assistant to Scarlet Thorne, the CEO of Dragonco Games, but it's been three years since you last worked. Can you tell us why that is?"
"I left my position at Dragonco due to personal issues."
Those 'issues' being her parents dying in a car accident and the resulting depression Jackie had sunk into. The next three years had wreaked havoc on her, both emotionally and physically. She had gone from a size twelve to a size twenty-nine, and she just didn't have the energy to get out of bed, let alone hold onto a demanding job.
Eventually, her sister had forced her to go to therapy, and slowly Jackie had managed to find ways to cope. She was ready to get back to work now and so had sent her resume out, only to be met with these polite but uninterested smiles. Though she had managed to get her weight back under control and was back down to a size twenty, which really didn't look too terrible on her six-foot frame, she was no longer an attractive candidate for the high-energy job of being a personal assistant.
Not that she was going to say anything about that to these interviewers. That would be unprofessional.
It would help if I was able to buy something more suitable to wear for these interviews, Jackie thought. Running out of money was one of the main reasons she wanted to get back into the workforce, but on her budget she hadn't been able to afford the high-quality suits she used to have.
Still, she kept eye contact with first one interviewer and then another, hoping she could turn this around. "When I was at Dragonco, I was responsible for everything from scheduling Mrs. Thorne's meetings to arranging for her dry cleaning to be picked up. She also trusted me to take minutes during meetings with the board of directors, and I handled disciplinary action for several departments."
"But she didn't hold your job for you?"
Jackie's smile faltered. "Dragonco's offices were moved overseas last year. I want to stay more domestic."
"You have an impressive resume," the female interviewer said, doing that paper-shuffling thing that meant she was about to tell Jackie that they'd call her if they wanted her. "But what do you really know about the agriculture business?"
Jackie's heart sank. She needed this job. She had already been turned down from most of the gaming companies she had applied to, and it was really taking a number on her confidence. "It's true I have more experience in gaming, but as you can see from my resume I have recently completed an agricultural management course at the local university, and the skills I gained as a personal assistant are transferable to any field."
"I see. Well, it was so good to meet—"
The door behind Jackie opened. She swiveled to see who would interrupt an interview. Her jaw dropped as the man entered. Myles Foster himself. What was the company owner coming to sit in on a preliminary interview for?
Jackie recognized him, of course. Everybody knew his story. He had inherited his father's place as Alpha of his werewolf pack, the largest pack in North America, at the age of sixteen. The same year, oil had been found on his packlands, but rather than wasting his good fortune Myles had reinvested that money. Within a decade he owned land throughout the United States and Canada and was invested in crops and livestock of all sorts. Not many men could boast of having an agricultural empire as successful as his.
Of course his calendars sold well, too. Jackie had bought one for her sister just that year, and the two of them had spent plenty of time drooling over the various shirtless poses, reassuring themselves that his strong jaw and chiseled eight-pack had to be photoshopped.
Myles closed the door behind himself, his expression vaguely annoyed.
"Mr. Foster." One of the men jumped to his feet and offered his boss the chair. "We weren't aware that you were going to join us in the interviews today."
"I'm tired of you sending me idiots and decided to see what we have today for myself," Myles replied, not taking the chair. He stared at Jackie, head cocked to one side.
The calendars didn't do him justice. He was taller than Jackie realized, a good foot taller than her even, and even though he was fully clothed in a tailored suit the cut showed off his massive shoulders and flat stomach. Five o'clock shadow roughed his cheeks and chin, but he looked even better for it than if he had been clean-shaven. But all that could be seen in a calendar. Maybe the reason he was so much better in real life was because of the smell. There was a distinctive scent of werewolf thorn coming off him.
Jackie's nostrils flared as she eagerly sucked in the smell. Maybe it was a good thing that she wasn't going to get this job. It would be difficult to keep her head around him.
"You've got some werewolf in you," Myles said, his cool gray eyes staring hard at her.
Jackie brushed a long, loose golden curl behind her shoulder. "Yeah. Yes, I mean. Um, I, my." What was wrong with her? She was never this tongue-tied! She cleared her throat. "My great-grandfather on my mother's side. But I can't shift or anything, although I'm told I have a better sense of smell than… others."
Why did she have to blush? It was going to clash terribly with her honey-gold hair and the olive blouse she had chosen for this interview.
Myles, whether because of her reaction or her confirmation that she had some werewolf in her, suddenly smiled. Perfectly white teeth flashed; they were all even except his canines, which were slightly longer and more tapered than the rest of his teeth. He broke from Jackie's gaze, letting her suck in a deep breath. Yep, it was definitely a good thing she wasn't going to get this job. It would be far too hard to be professional.
"Dragonco," he said, glancing through her resume. "Impressive. Scarlet has always struck me as a rather demanding individual. Well, we'll give it a month to see how you do. Be here seven o'clock sharp tomorrow morning. Julia here will get you your ID card. I look forward to working with you."
Myles nodded, clearly done with the conversation. Jackie's jaw dropped, and she hardly had the presence of mind to jump to her feet and shake his hand, thanking him for the opportunity. The three interviewers looked shocked but Julia, the woman, gave her a rundown of how the offices worked and made her an ID card before she left.
It wasn't until Jackie had called her sister to tell her the news that it really hit her. She had a job working for Myles Foster, the most gorgeous man in the entire universe.
She was so screwed.
"Just don't give away your treasures and you'll be fine," her sister advised.
Jackie snorted at the phrasing. "Penny, I'm not going to sleep with him. I'm not ready for any sort of relationship."
"Honey, that's not what I meant at all."
"I know what you meant. And I'm saying that it's not going to happen. Even if he oozes sex appeal and he smells better than a roomful of hamburgers. Now I want a hamburger." Jackie winced as a wailing child's voice came over the phone. She loved her nieces and nephews, but she didn’t know how her sister survived them. "It sounds like you have to go. Tell the kids I love them."
"I will." Penny's voice was layered with Big Sister Concerns. "And I mean it, Jack. Don't do anything you'll regret. I know you, you only get involved with men you think are going to stick with you forever. And all this 'mating for life' stuff that the werewolves like to talk about is nonsense. They cheat just as much as anybody else."
Jackie repressed a sigh. The idea of forever love was romantic, but romance wasn't anywhere on her list of concerns right now. "Love you."
She hung up and then tugged her long hair back into a ponytail. Her mouth ached for something to eat, but it was only half an hour until supper, so she decided to watch an episode of Beverly Hillbillies while she jogged on the treadmill instead. Nerves were already fluttering in her stomach at the prospect of this new job, but she swallowed them down and focused instead on the positive things.
Five months into her new diet and exercise routine and she was still going strong.
She had found three new business suits in a consignment store that she could easily tailor to fit her frame.
Her bathing suit looke
d cute.
Myles Foster was her boss.
Jackie grinned. Myles Foster was her boss. The job could still turn out to be terrible, but at that moment she felt like the luckiest woman alive.
Chapter Two
The next two weeks were hard. Myles expected his employees, even brand-new ones like Jackie, to excel in whatever they were doing. After the first day Jackie cried herself to sleep and wondered if she had taken too long out of the workforce–maybe it would be better to start at a lower position and work back up.
But she picked herself up, and the next day blew her boss's expectations out of the water. Despite her panicky start she found herself thriving in the high-pressure, busy workplace. For the first time in a long time, she felt more than just content. She felt happy. She enjoyed going to work.
And it wasn't just because Myles was so hot. He had high standards for his employees, but he also provided high rewards for a job well done, giving her a two thousand dollar bonus after the first week to expand her business wardrobe. It was then she knew that the trial period, even though he had said it would be a month, was over, and she was officially his PA.
"I can fit you in next Thursday at three." Jackie pinched her phone between her shoulder and ear, pen poised over her appointment book.
A rancher wanted to meet with Myles for an investment into his land. Her boss never turned down meetings with farmers or ranchers, although he was very stringent in who he invested in. It was one of the things Jackie admired about him.
The rancher agreed, and Jackie penciled in the name before she thanked him for his call and hung up. Setting the planner aside, she did a quick google search of the man. Myles liked to have background information on potential investments.