SYNERGY
Twenty-two-year-old Jade Buchanan suffers one blow after another. First, her grandmother dies, then she’s forced to quit college to take over Gran’s mysteriously ailing company. While handling a rebellion among the senior managers, who resent taking orders from an inexperienced CEO, Jade desperately tries to uncover the reason for the company’s financial difficulties before it goes under. The only bright spot is working side by side with her long-time crush, Bryce, but he runs so hot and cold, she doesn’t know where she stands. Can Jade uncover the murderous embezzler in the company’s midst before she becomes a target—or is it already too late?
Even though Jade seems under-qualified, Bryce Radisson accepts his new position as COO, but working with an impulsive—and incredibly attractive—woman like Jade could be more than he can handle. His feelings for her are irrational and unprofessional. Even worse, she stokes in him a deep, uncontrollable passion that he fears will ruin him. As Jade digs deeper into the truth, Bryce has to choose between protecting himself or protecting the woman he loves.
SYNERGY
U-DISTRICT
BOOK 1
JODI ASHLAND
Copyright © 2015 Jodi Ashland
Excerpt from Obscurity copyright © 2015 Jodi Ashland
All rights reserved.
ISBN (print): 1943372004
ISBN-13 (print): 978-1-943372-00-3
ISBN (ebook): 1943372012
ISBN-13 (ebook): 978-1-943372-01-0
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Book cover design by http://damonza.com
Front cover photo used under license from Shutterstock.com
Back cover photo by Sue Elias
Title: The Fremont Troll, Seattle
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sue_elias/50210957
License: CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
Modified Material
Duvall Press logo design by http://damonza.com
Author Photo by Yen Lui at http://www.yuenluistudio.com
Editing, proofreading, and print formatting:
By Your Side Self-Publishing
http://www.ByYourSideSelfPub.com
Published by Duvall Press
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DEDICATION
To Mom and Dad, who have encouraged me to do anything or be anything I want to be. Your support has been unwavering. I love you.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The fun part about writing a book is the ability to write scenes that would otherwise not happen in real life. I took liberties with Jade and Bryce, having fun with their sexual tension in the office, given this was Jade and Bryce’s company. In reality, this behavior would be construed as sexual harassment and could result in the loss of a job. I also took liberties in structuring the Seattle Police Department in a manner that works best for my story.
For my debut novel, there are so many people to acknowledge. First, I have to thank my daughter who was my very first fan and offered encouragement. She wanted mommy to become an author and without support from my family, it never would have happened.
Mom read the first draft of the full manuscript and loved it, which gave me the “writing bug.” Then when Dad wanted to read it, I broke out in a sweat… what about the s-e-x? I quickly got over that and thankfully, Dad liked my story (even though he doesn’t read romance). He was the one who hooked me up with my first writers’ conference and a couple local writers’ chapters, where I’ve met so many wonderful authors and have taken many craft classes to improve my writing skills.
My book club, the Bodacious Book Babes, read the first draft and offered critical feedback at my request. Their encouragement kept me writing, and their honest feedback made me realize I had room to grow. Thank you.
I also have to thank my wonderful critique partners and fellow gifted authors, Sally Brandle and Jennifer Hilt, who helped me improve the story and plot.
Major thanks go to my wonderful editor, Dana Delamar at By Your Side Self-Publishing, who suggested I turn this into a stand-alone series. Once she got my brain moving in that direction, it just wouldn’t turn off. Your feedback and support has been priceless.
CHAPTER 1
DAMMIT, EVEN IF IT KILLED HER, she was going to find out who was stealing from her company. From what Gloria Buchanan had found so far, millions were missing. The culprit had to be an insider, someone she’d hired, someone she trusted like family. Her heart raced as she got closer to the truth. Just a few more clicks of the mouse, and she was sure she’d find her answers.
Gloria pushed her almond latte across her desk. It had grown lukewarm and left a bitter taste in her mouth. As she scrolled through a spreadsheet filled with transactions, a record jumped out, and she checked it against what she’d written down on the pad in front of her. The dollar amounts differed by almost thirty percent. She circled the number with her gold pen and pursed her lips.
This is how they’re embezzling funds.
Who would do this to her? She’d been good to her people.
As her breathing became shallow, Gloria rubbed her throat and scanned through more invoices looking for another discrepancy. More than one would prove it was no mistake, and then she could involve the police. She didn’t want to burden her granddaughter with this mess when Jade inherited her company. The doctors had given Gloria less than a year to live. In the time she had left, she needed to figure out who was stealing from her and bring them to justice.
Gloria breathed in deep. She tried to take another breath, but oxygen wasn’t making it into her lungs.
My throat is swelling shut—
Her eyes grew wide as she stared at the almond latte. It hadn’t tasted right. Why?
Not almond. Peanut. Real PEANUTS!
The racing of her heart and the shortness of breath meant only one thing. She’d experienced it for the first time when she was seven years old and had eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at a friend’s birthday party.
She was going into anaphylactic shock.
Gloria picked up the phone to page her assistant, who was sitting at the desk outside her closed office door. “Marge,” she wheezed before her throat clamped shut.
Someone is trying to kill me.
The phone fell from her hand and spilled the latte across her desk. Clutching her neck, Gloria sucked in air as hard as she could manage. Only a small amount made it into her lungs.
Her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk held an EpiPen. It had been over sixty years since someone had first injected her with epinephrine. When she reached down, the executive chair rolled out from under her. Her cry was silent as she fell to the floor. The room spun and her vision blurred.
Gloria rolled onto her back and felt for the leg of her desk, then reached up to the drawer. She found the leather strap of her purse and tugged, lacking the strength to
pull it free. Her one-year battle with cancer and recent chemo treatment had sapped most of her energy.
A white fog was taking her under. She almost welcomed it. Anything was better than her lungs struggling for air and her heart racing. One last pull on the purse, and it fell upside down on the floor beside her.
She fumbled through the contents, trying to locate what she desperately needed. She reached for the EpiPen.
Marge ran into the office and tripped over the purse, kicking her medication out of reach. “Mrs. Buchanan, oh dear.” She picked up the phone and dialed. “I need an ambulance.”
Gloria couldn’t speak. She clutched her heart as it stopped beating.
Marge pressed two fingers to Gloria’s neck, checked for a pulse, and then carefully tucked a gray curl behind her ear. “Go peacefully, Gloria.” Her voice hitched. She returned the spilled contents to Gloria’s purse. “I’ll clean this up for you.”
Gloria was slipping away. In her last moments, she wondered if she would have made a different decision, had she known then what she knew now.
No.
Her plans had already been set in motion. She expected her granddaughter to step up to the challenge and find the courage to fight. Otherwise, everything she had worked for would be lost.
This was it. Her time was up. Ironically, she wasn’t going to die of cancer after all. Perhaps the killer had done her a favor.
But Jade—Jade was now in danger.
CHAPTER 2
HE STOOD OUT LIKE A POLAR BEAR in California. Jade didn’t need her photographic memory to pick out the man with the navy blue suit and yellow tie a block away. The closest thing to business attire at Stanford was the khaki pants her professors wore.
She’d first caught sight of him just outside her dorm and then again as she’d gotten on the shuttle bus. His eyes had grown large in surprise then, and she could’ve sworn he’d looked right at her. But he didn’t follow her on, so no biggie, until there he was again, leaning against a column in the outdoor Main Quad hallway—right in front of her Managerial Accounting class.
One of the chattier girls, who normally sat a couple of rows behind her, groaned. “Thank goodness we won’t have to carry this book around anymore. The thing weighs a ton.” She shoved the textbook into her pack.
Jade laughed. “Tell me about it. If I didn’t think I could get fifty bucks by selling it back, we’d be roasting marshmallows over it.” She kept a close eye on the man as they walked along the arched portico, her sandal catching the edge of a red brick paver and making her trip.
“Hey, you okay?” The girl grabbed Jade’s arm to steady her.
“I’m good.” Jade hopped on one foot until the pain in her toes faded. “I’d swear that guy is following me.”
They both stopped and peered around the sandstone column. “Blue suit, yellow tie, tall with black hair?”
“That’s him.”
“He’s probably into you.”
“Yeah, right.” Jade smiled. “See you at finals.” She cut across the expansive oval lawn toward Old Union to her next MBA class, which started in fifty minutes. She checked behind her; the suit didn’t follow. Nothing was wrong, other than her overactive imagination. She dropped her pack to the ground and sank into the grass with her elbows propped up to draw in the sun’s rays.
Early June was hit or miss in Seattle when it came to sunshine. But here in California, she got a strong dose of Vitamin D every day. Just when she’d fully relaxed, her phone vibrated in her backpack. Jade scooped her cell out of her bag.
That’s weird.
Mom had left her three messages. She’d have to call her back. Jade picked up, “Aleks?”
“Hey, Jade.”
“What’s up? Aren’t you in class right now?”
“We got out early. I am so freaking out about finals.”
“You’ll do fine.”
“Easy for you to say, Miss Eidetic Memory. You just have to read something once and you remember it. If I don’t study something over and over again it just goes—poof—out of my head.”
Jade imagined Aleks running a hand over her multicolored hair when she said that.
“So, when are you coming home?” Aleks asked.
“I’m not.” Jade leaned back into the grass. “I got a temp job working at a small company to help move their financial data to a new IT system. One of my friends said I could crash at her place this summer.”
“Ohhhh, that is so not fair. Summer won’t be the same without you. And Bryce is here…” Aleks dangled the solid-gold carrot.
Bryce, the man Jade had lusted after since she was sixteen years old, since the first day her grandmother had introduced them in Gran’s office. When it came to Bryce, Jade remembered every single detail, and she still had the nasty habit of comparing any man she met to him.
Jade stared past the students hanging out on the lawn, past the red roofs of the Spanish-colonial buildings, and past Memorial Chapel, until the image from a memory was so vivid, she could see the muscles in Bryce’s forearm flexing while he played with some coins in his pocket. There was an adorable little birthmark the shape of Iowa on his wrist. His black trousers hung low on his hips, and when he smiled, her insides melted like chocolate fondue.
Bryce was intelligent and charismatic, and his coolheadedness commanded the respect of the employees, even her grandmother. In Jade’s eyes, he was damn near perfect, which was why Aleks was using him to get her to come home.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jade sighed, “Bryce doesn’t look at me that way. He still thinks of me as the silly teenager who couldn’t say a word any time I was near him. It was mortifying.”
“You’re totally hot now. I bet when he sees you, he’ll take notice.”
Maybe. But even though she’d hoped for that, a reunion with Bryce wouldn’t be happening any time soon. “Gran won’t let me work at Synergy again until I finish college.”
“She still hasn’t budged?”
“No. I’m not a kid anymore, yet she’s still forcing decisions on me. At least she can’t stop me from working here this summer.”
“It’s so not fair. I know how much you love working at Synergy.”
“Tell me about it.” Jade crossed her ankles.
“You doing anything fun tonight?”
“Yeah, I’m going to a party at Phi Kappa Psi.”
“I bet your frat parties are so much better at Stanford than U-Dub.”
“Nope, they’re pretty much the same. The stench of stale beer, sticky floors, loud music, and hot frat boys.”
“Speaking of hot—I met this guy.”
“Ooh, who is he?” Jade pulled a water bottle from her pack.
“His name is Kyle. A bunch of us went to Trinity Nightclub last night in Pioneer Square and we kind of hit it off. He’s going there again tonight so I thought—”
“You’d just happen to be there too.”
“Uh-huh. I just hope he goes.”
“Did you get his number?”
“No, stupid move.”
“Well, I hope he’s there and it goes well.” Jade drank from her water bottle and put the cap back on. She was concerned for Aleks. Every time she tried to get close to a man, she’d clam up and push him away. Jade knew how much Aleks wanted to have a relationship again. “Don’t rush yourself. What happened to you takes a long time to get over.”
“Five years is a long time with no s-e-x.”
Jade couldn’t imagine going that long without. “I know… but when you find someone you feel safe with, it will happen again and you won’t have to force it.”
“See, you’re the rational one. This is why I need you to come back home.”
Jade’s chest tightened. She didn’t have siblings, but if she could pick a sister, it would be Aleks. “Well, if you need me that much…” Jade drew it out for effect. “I’ll come home.”
“You’re the best.”
“I just need to—” Jade’s eyes narrowed. The man in the suit and ye
llow tie was walking right toward her.
“Jade?”
“Sorry, Aleks. I need to go. There’s this creepy stalker dude who’s been following me around all morning. I’m going to find out what this guy’s deal is.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Jade shrugged. “Only one way to find out. Call you back in a few.” She threw her pack over her shoulder and walked several feet toward him, then stopped and propped a fist on her hip. Now that she was close, she judged the guy to be in his early thirties.
He glanced at something in his hand, then proceeded to roam predatory eyes from her red tank top, over her jean shorts to her red-painted toenails, and back up again. He’d just totally checked her out.
This isn’t a strip joint, perv.
Jade tugged her shirt down and crossed her arms. “Okay I’m done with the stalker routine. Why are you following me?”
“Jade Buchanan?” The man smiled, his teeth perfectly straight and unnaturally white.
“Maybe. Who wants to know?”
“I’ve been looking for you all morning.” He held up a black-and-white thumbnail image of her high school graduation picture. Her hair had been only shoulder length back then, and she hadn’t been sporting her beloved red tips. Well, that explained why he’d followed her around campus to verify who she was. The fact that he had her picture and knew where her classes were officially creeped her out. Goose bumps ran down the back of her neck as she gripped her cell phone, ready to call campus security.
He held out a manicured hand two shades darker than her California tan. His eyes shot to the four colorful gemstones lining her ear. “I’m Joshua Greenberg from Johansson Tek.”
Synergy: New Adult Romantic Suspense (U-District, #1) Page 1