by Lynda Aicher
The closed office doors sped by, her pace increasing the more reality reemerged. She’d just watched an illicit sex game play out in the boardroom. And she’d been caught doing so.
She threw herself against the crash bar, slammed through the fire door and flew up the stairs as fast as her heels and pencil skirt allowed. Her hand squeaked against the metal railing when she gripped it to turn on the landing. The door slammed shut below, and she flinched, her muscles tensing. She shot a quick look back, at once fearing Carson had followed her while hoping he would.
And then what? Would she be fired? Threatened into silence? Harassed?
She yanked on the door handle when she reached her floor only to stumble forward when it didn’t open. Of course it was locked. She jerked up, her arm throbbing, and fumbled for her ID badge clipped to her waist. Her hand was shaking when she finally swiped her ID through the card reader.
She dashed to her office, her head swiveling the entire time. Would Carson show up before she could leave? Would he cut her off at the exit? Block her flight of embarrassment?
Force her against the wall and lay a hot demanding kiss on her?
Right. Like that had a chance in hell of happening.
It took more precious seconds for her to grab her purse, lock her drawers with fingers that refused to cooperate and swipe her coat off the rack before she could flee the office entirely. Her pulse rate didn’t decrease one iota the entire time.
Not when she peeked around the corner in the hallway or tried to quietly tiptoe down the wooden staircase near the office lobby. Not when she bit her lip and seemed to wait forever for the down arrow to light up on any one of the bank of elevators. Not when the ding of arrival pinged through the silence to signal her freedom.
And not when she caught of glimpse of Carson Haggert staring at her from across the lobby, a knowing smile curling his lips as the elevator doors closed.
She clenched her purse tighter, adrenaline flying through her system to leave her sweaty and chilled at once. Her mind reeled, thoughts scrambling in and out before a single one could take hold.
She wasn’t naïve or exactly sheltered, but this stuff didn’t happen to her—or anyone she knew. Nothing in her thirty years of life had prepared her for this. Not one thing.
The rapid click of her heels across the marble-tiled lobby echoed through the open atrium to highlight her flight. The security guard studied her, a brow raised in unasked question.
“Night,” she managed to croak out over the scratchy dryland that’d overtaken her throat. The chilled dampness hit her in the face the second she shoved through the revolving glass door. She sucked in a deep breath and slipped into her jacket before the foggy air could sink into her bones.
The sidewalk was fairly empty, which made the air seem colder and the shadows deeper. She laughed at herself, yet the quick tap of her heels didn’t slow. A glance over her shoulder showed a few people huddled into their coats, chins tucked low against the chill. But no Carson, even though she’d half expected to see him.
Expected or wanted?
God, she was being naïve and stupid.
The florescent light buzzed under the protective cover of the bus shelter that provided zero protection from the curling wisps of fog. Her silk shirt clung to her back, and a shudder overtook her entire body. Goose bumps broke out on her bare legs despite the erotic warmth that still encased her. She huddled further into her trench coat, but it didn’t help.
How had she gotten herself into this mess? If she’d left the boardroom when she’d first realized what she’d walked in on, then she wouldn’t be so screwed. No, if she hadn’t misplaced the reports in the first place, she wouldn’t have returned to the office to hunt for them only to stumble into an illicit ménage à trois.
Images of the steamy threesome combined with the commanding presence of Carson crashed in as the bus pulled up. Another shiver trembled down her, ending with the tight clench of her pussy around the unfulfilled want.
No. No way. There was no way she’d ever be able to do something like that. She shook her head in an attempt to clear the visuals scorched into her memory. It didn’t work. Would they be imprinted forever, tormenting her with ideas and longings she’d never dare act on?
She didn’t glance at any of the other passengers on the short ride home, instead opting to stare unseeing out the window. What would they think if they knew what she’d seen—done? Would any of them care?
The events of the evening were finally sinking in when she trudged toward her building. A warm yellow glow lit up the window of her little two-bedroom condo. The curtains shifted, and then the shadowed outline of her two cats appeared as they perched on the window ledge to greet her.
There. That was her life.
One that didn’t include office sex scandals or orgy-fests in the boardroom. Would that be classified as an orgy? Probably not, given there—Stop!
She stomped up the four flights to her condo, determined to put the night behind her. She wouldn’t think about any of it. Not tonight. Not tomorrow.
Not ever again.
Right.
And what would happen when she saw Carson Haggert at work?
Don’t miss AFTER HOURS, book one in THE BOARDROOM series from Lynda Aicher and Carina Press!
www.CarinaPress.com
Copyright © 2017 by Lynda Aicher
Also available from Lynda Aicher
and Carina Press
Wicked Play series:
Bonds of Trust
Bonds of Need
Bonds of Desire
Bonds of Hope
Bonds of Denial
Bonds of Courage
Shattered Bonds
Power Play series:
Game Play
Back in Play
Penalty Play
The Boardroom series:
After Hours
About the Author
Lynda Aicher is a multipublished author who loves to write emotionally charged romances. Her novels have been featured in USA TODAY, Publishers Weekly and RT Book Reviews. She has been a finalist in the Romance Writers of America’s RITA® Award contest and has won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award and the BDSM Writers Con’s Golden Flogger Award. Prior to becoming an author, she spent years traveling weekly as a consultant implementing computer software into global companies before opting to end her nomadic lifestyle in order to raise her children. Now her imagination is the only limitation on where she can go, and her writing lets her escape from the daily duties of being a mom, wife, chauffeur, scheduler, cook, teacher, cleaner and mediator. You can find her online at:
lyndaaicher.com | Facebook.com/lyndaaicherauthor | @lyndaaicher
Introducing the Carina Press Romance Promise!
The Carina Press team all have one thing in common: we are romance readers with a longtime love of the genre. And we know what readers are looking for in a romance: a guarantee of a happily-ever-after (HEA) or happy-for-now (HFN). With that in mind, we’re initiating the Carina Press Romance Promise. When you see a book tagged with these words in our cover copy/book description, we’re making you, the reader, a very important promise:
This book contains a romance central to the plot and ends in an HEA or HFN.
Simple, right? But so important, we know!
Look for the Carina Press Romance Promise and one-click with confidence that we understand what’s at the heart of the romance genre!
Look for this line in Carina Press book descriptions:
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!
Find out more at CarinaPress.com/RomancePromise.
Find out more at CarinaPress.com.
Craving more erotic
romance from Lynda Aicher? Read the Wicked Play series now!
Welcome to the Twin Cities’ most exclusive BDSM club, The Den, where every sexual fetish can be explored without judgment or risk of exposure. Release your secret desires and come join in the wicked play.
BONDS OF TRUST (Wicked Play, book one)
BONDS OF NEED (Wicked Play, book two)
BONDS OF DESIRE (Wicked Play, book three)
BONDS OF HOPE (Wicked Play, book four)
BONDS OF DENIAL (Wicked Play, book five)
BONDS OF COURAGE (Wicked Play, book six)
SHATTERED BONDS (Wicked Play, book seven)
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More satisfying erotic romances to fill your desires.
Read one—or all—of these!
TOO TABOO: An Erotic Romance Anthology
In this erotic romance anthology, a sex surrogate is drawn into a relationship with a client she wasn’t expecting—and can’t resist. Two rugged men show a trespasser just what happens when a good girl breaks the rules. And an experienced agent in seduction is captured by her enemy, who turns her worst fears into her darkest cravings.
This anthology includes:
ABSOLVE ME by Morgaine Cameron
TWICE AS HARD by Amber Bardan
SEDUCTION SQUAD: CAPTURED by Amanda Stewart
Stories also available for purchase separately.
LITTLE DANCER by Brianna Hale
Twenty-year-old dancer Abby Williams is shocked when a spark of curiosity and taboo desire have her wanting more from the darkly handsome and commanding Rufus Kingsolver. Under Rufus’s firm hand, they explore the erotic depths of their unconventional, yet beautiful, relationship. Abby is falling deeper in love with Rufus and the Little/Dom lifestyle, but it’s not long before she comes face-to-face with her darkest fear—judgment from the outside world.
Daddy knows best, but what if, this once, he can’t protect her?
PRINCESS BRAT by Brianna Hale
Throwing tantrums may be childish behavior, but it’s the only way Adrienne Westley feels she can be heard. Bodyguard Dieter Vanderbroeck doesn’t give in to her bratty attitude, try as she might to defy him. With a commanding voice and a firm hand, Dieter’s authoritative tone calls to a part of Adrienne that she’s long kept hidden—and as Dieter begins to unravel her submissive nature, it becomes harder and harder to keep things professional.
The Luminous series by Stacey Lynn
DOMINATE ME
The first time I felt Master Jensen’s presence beside me, I knew he would be the one to show me all the kinky pleasures of Luminous. That I would give my body to him. Begin my journey to sexual freedom at his feet. But when I dared raise my eyes to his, I saw he would get a part of me no man had had before: my trust.
CRAVE ME
I know I shouldn’t covet my sister’s ex-boyfriend. She may have wanted nothing to do with his BDSM lifestyle, but I’m a born submissive. And the only place I want to be is under Simon’s command. But he won’t go near me. Not with the memory of her so close. That leaves me no choice. If he won’t touch me when he knows who I am, I’ll have to come to him in disguise. He’s worth the risk. I’m meant to be his. Now I just have to prove it to him.
LONG FOR ME
I’ve seen what happens when you give everything to a man. That’s not what I want. I won’t have my heart crushed in anyone’s fist. Then he changed everything. Him. Bennett Ashby. My boss. Seeing him at Luminous, dressed in leather pants and wielding a whip... Do I crave this? My mind says no, but my body is starting to have very different ideas.
“Well done and titillating. Interference from well-meaning friends adds an interesting measure of conflict to the story.”
—RT Book Reviews on DOMINATE ME
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ISBN-13: 9781488081101
Done Deal
Copyright © 2017 by Lynda Aicher
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
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