High Heels & Hard Drives
Page 6
She laughed and immediately picked up her phone. “Get your freak on, girl,” she said with a smirk. “I gotchoo.”
I slipped into my boss’s office, giving Violet a finger wave, and then closed the door behind me. Why I was trying to be sneaky, I didn’t know. No one left on the floor cared what I was doing, and they certainly wouldn’t tattle on me to Bratty Patty. Still, there was something fun about being naughty.
“I have a few minutes while the software updates,” Ryan said, reaching for my hand and pulling me down into his lap when I moved around behind the desk. “I thought I’d…take advantage of it.”
Laughing softly, I wrapped my arms around him as I straddled his lap, my skirt slipping up my thighs enough to give him a show if he looked down…which he did. “Take advantage all you want,” I told him playfully. “I have an early warning system in place, should Patty decide she wanted to be back here early for whatever reason.”
“Mm, good,” he said, sliding his hands up my thighs and under my skirt as he leaned in to kiss me.
We kept it relatively PG-13, only light brushes of fingers over secret places, dry humping like teenagers as we kissed long and hard, tongues delving deep and teeth raking over lips.
“Move in with me,” Ryan murmured when we came up for air. He gripped my waist, his long fingers sweeping back and forth under the edge of my sweater on the bare skin of my back. “I want you with me every night when I go to sleep, every morning I wake up… You pretty much live there anyway. We’ve been together for a year, and there’s no point in—”
I kissed him to stop his nervous babbling. “Okay,” I mumbled against his lips, grinning when he took a deep breath in. “Did you really think I wouldn’t?”
He shrugged and reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear when I pulled away. “It’s a big step, and we haven’t really talked about it.”
“I’m all in, baby,” I teased, earning a big grin and a chuckle. “We can pack up the rest of my stuff this weekend if you want to, yeah?”
Nodding, he said, “Perfect. We can go out to celebrate just the two of us Friday, then have everyone over Saturday for pizza and beer so they can help us move the furniture and anything else too heavy for me to lift by myself.”
“Good. Sounds like a plan.”
“Seal the deal with a kiss?”
I grinned. “Always.”
As he tugged me forward once more, I realized that my life was as close to perfect as I could get it. I had a job I loved, friends who supported me and made me laugh, a boyfriend who loved me as much as I loved him, and a future that looked brighter than I’d ever thought possible.
Thank God for paper jams and tech support.
The End
Acknowledgments
We had been writing fanfiction together and separately for years when we decided in September 2014 that we wanted a strong, sexy male lead character who wasn’t a Dom or a vampire and a strong, sexy female lead who wasn’t a ball buster or bitch. We sat down to write, and this story is what came of it. Deb wrote the section in the male character’s POV, while Jenny wrote the female’s, but as always when we write together, it’s a joint effort and we each contributed to the entire novella. So often in books, if a female is sexy and flirty and strong, she’s also portrayed as a man-eater or with an attitude that makes her seem better than others. Bailey isn’t either of those things. She’s sexy, confident, and flirty, but she’s nice and sweet, too. Ryan is incredibly hot, confident, and flirty, but he’s a bit shy until he gets to know someone. Together, they make a gorgeous couple and a hot, hot, hot read.
We have to thank all our prereaders for all their help: Pamela, Goober, Jodi, and Cara, as well as Melanie, who provides endless support behind the scenes. Without these people, the book wouldn’t be nearly as smooth as it is. Thank you, ladies!
To our Sarge’s Girls group on Facebook—It truly is amazing the support you’ve shown us and our stories. You’ve embraced us from the first word of our first story, and we can’t thank you enough.
To the Twilight fandom—Through the good times and bad, we can always find a friend, encouraging words, and great stories. Thank you for bringing us together!
And finally, to Coreen, for her help in not only editing but for helping to bring this book to life. Thank you!
We hope you enjoy Ryan, Bailey, and their friends as they bring a little sexy flirting into and out of the office.
Deb & Jenny
About the Authors
Jenny Rarden loves being a wife and mother, but she’s also passionate about being a writer and editor. She began writing at an early age—a poem she wrote earned her a spot in a national poetry publication—but only truly started writing when she became a fan of the Stephanie Plum and Twilight book series and needed more. She also enjoys editing other people’s work, from fanfiction to original fiction. Being able to combine her love of grammar and attention to detail as an editor gives her great joy. She loves her two cats (but wants a dog), watching television and, of course, reading.
Website: www.jennyrarden.com
Twitter: @JenRar
Facebook: Facebook.com/jenny.rarden
Deb Rotuno was born and raised in central Florida, where she currently lives with her husband and four cats. She’s worked in retail for almost seventeen years, but if she were able to do anything she wanted, she would be a full-time reader, writer, and fur-baby mom. She has always been a big reader, and writing was something she started late in high school, but she began to dabble in it again once she discovered fanfic in 2009. Since then, she’s read and written plenty in her spare time, especially since she cannot watch a TV show or a movie without thinking about how she could write a story like it.
Website: www.debrotuno.com
Twitter: @Drotuno
Facebook: Facebook.com/drotuno
RR Books
Our website: www.rr-books.com
Our Twitter: @RR_Books
Our Facebook: Facebook.com/writers.at.rrbooks/
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Information
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Authors