Occupational Hazard: The Ultimate Workplace Romance Box Set

by Eve Langlais

  He collapsed onto her back, and wrapped his hands around her waist to hold her tight. He remained inside her until his cock grew flaccid, then he pulled out. He dropped beside her and pulled her down, holding her head against his chest. She stayed there, listening to the pounding of his heart, and knew there was no place she’d rather be, no man she’d rather be with.

  You are mine and mine alone.

  As she thought about what he said, she wondered if he meant it, or was that just something a Dom said as his passion peaked.

  Quinn climbed to his feet and pulled her up with him. “How about a swim?” When she caught the tenderness in his eyes, it had her wondering if it was it possible that he’d want to continue with this relationship when they returned home. Then again, what if this weekend was it, and when they returned home they’d both go back to their lives?

  Her stomach tightened because she had no idea how she could go back to dating nice, kind men, who had no idea what she wanted in a relationship. She pushed that disheartening thought aside and decided now was not the time to dwell on it. Now was the time to enjoy Quinn, and this island, and forget about reality for awhile.

  “I’d love to,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as shaky as her insides.

  The rest of the day and night was spent in each other’s arms, and they woke to a glorious Sunday where they played in the surf and made love beneath the sun. Before she realized it, Sunday night was upon them, and it was time to head back to reality.

  After their last lovemaking session a little over an hour ago, Quinn had instructed her to go to her room to pack. Dressed in a pantsuit not at all unlike the one she’d arrived in, and leaving the clothes behind that Quinn had purchased for her, her heart felt heavy as she sealed her suitcase. She swallowed the knot in her throat, her gut warning that this could very well be the last she was going to see of Quinn, considering he hadn’t made mention of seeing her or continuing with their relationship when they left this idyllic island behind.

  A knock came on her door and she hurried to it, but disappointment settled in her stomach when she found Michael there to collect her.

  “Mr. Montgomery is ready to escort you back home.”

  She followed him to the plane, and took her seat in the back as Quinn, who was once again dressed in his flight suit, flew her back home. She sat quietly, and while she tried to catch his attention, he kept his eyes forward and his focus on the controls. A long time later they landed, and she tried not to appear as apprehensive as she felt when he opened her door to help her from the plane. His crew came to greet him and tend to the plane. He spoke to them as she stood there waiting for instructions, waiting to see what came next but her heart fell into her stomach when he asked, “Do you have a ride?”

  “I left my car in underground parking.”

  “Very well.” He gave a curt nod. “Have a safe drive home, Ms. Andrews.”

  Swallowing against the tightness in her throat, and hating that things were ending this way, she made her way to her car. Blurry eyed, she drove the short trip home, and once inside her condo, she collapsed on her bed, exhaustion and heartache pulling at her as she fell into a fitful sleep.

  Before she realized it, her alarm went off, and after hitting the snooze button, she climbed from her bed in need of coffee. As she walked to her closet to pull on her robe, she wondered what she’d wear to work, suddenly hating her entire wardrobe, hating that she had to make the choice each and every morning. Moving numbly and trying not to think of Quinn, she walked to the kitchen in desperate need of coffee, but the knock on her door startled her.

  She hurried to it, hoping to find Quinn on the other side, but terrified that she wouldn’t. She pulled it open and found a courier standing there, a beautifully wrapped gift box in his hand.

  “Please sign here,” he said, looking rather bored.

  Pulse leaping, she scribbled her name down, and rushed to her kitchen table, shaking the light box as she went. She tore off paper, then removed the lid, setting aside the note as the beautiful dress inside gained her full attention.

  Quinn…

  She pulled the silk from the box and held it to her, the material so soft and luxurious against her body. The dress was professional enough for work—which touched her deeply, because it showed how much he truly cared for her and the image she needed to maintain as a lawyer––yet it was still sexy and sophisticated and would showcase her curves in a classy, stylish way.

  She searched the box, pulling out the tissue paper until she came upon a push-up bra, but no panties to be found. A moan of excitement bubbled in her throat and her pussy quivered in erotic delight as she thought about going to work sans panties, with no one it the world knowing but her and Quinn.

  As she thought about all the things he did to her, for her, during their whirlwind weekend, she ripped open the note. As she read it, her heart leapt with joy, knowing she was the luckiest woman in the world to have such an attentive and wonderful Dom like Quinn caring for her.

  Emotions rose in her and heat settled deep between her legs but there was nothing she could do to contain her squeal of delight rising from her throat when she read the note a second time.

  “You are to wear this to work, and nothing else. I will be by to see you at some point during the day, and if I discover that you’ve strayed from my instructions…you will be punished.”

  Books by Cathryn

  www.cathrynfox.com

  And be sure to sign up for her newsletter:

  http://bit.ly/1kpQOzf

  About the Author

  Cathryn is a wife, mom, sister, daughter, and friend. She loves dogs, sunny weather, anything chocolate (she never says no to a brownie) pizza and red wine. She has two teenagers who keep her busy with their never ending activities, and a husband who is convinced he can turn her into a mixed martial arts fan. Cathryn can never find balance in her life, is always trying to find time to go to the gym, can never keep up with emails, Facebook or Twitter and tries to write page-turning books that her readers will love.

  A maritime native and former financial officer, Cathryn has lived all over Canada but has finally settled down in her childhood hometown with her family.

  Connect with Cathryn:

  Twitter: @writercatfox

  Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1cFJtEL

  Blog: http://cathrynfox.com/blog/

  Cathryn also writes New Adult under the name Cat Kalen. www.catkalen.com.

  Against Company Policy

  Mandy Harbin

  Copyright © March 2014, Mandy Harbin

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design by JTLW Design © March 2014

  Penning Princess Publishing

  P.O. Box 13188 Maumelle, AR 72113

  www.penningprincess.com

  ISBN: 978-1-941467-00-8

  This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  The publisher and author(s) acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned in this book.

  No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and e-mail, without prior written permission from Penning Princess Publishing or Mandy Harbin.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Chapter One

  “Get your ass in gear, girl, we’re gonna be late!” Sasha yelled as Cassie was trying to pour a cup of coffee before rushing to the meeting that was suddenly called.

  Why was Richard throwing everybody into a tizzy first thing on a Monday morning? Cassie overslept, didn’t get her jog in and now was being hustled into a staff meeting. Oh she’d be getting her
java first. Richard could kiss it.

  “I’m coming,” Cassie grumbled, stirring in the creamer as she grabbed her laptop. “What’s this about anyway?”

  Sasha ran her free hand through her jet-black hair as she juggled her laptop in the other. She was a free spirit, danced to her own tune, which included chopping her hair into a spiky mess and dyeing it, though it suited her spunky persona. “No clue. But I have better things to do than sit in a meeting.”

  “You and me both,” Cassie mumbled as they entered the conference room and took their seats.

  “Glad you could join us,” Richard said as he pulled down the projection screen for what was probably a video conference. Great. So this wasn’t going to be just a staff meeting.

  “What’s this about?” Sasha asked while she and Cassie logged on to their laptops through the wireless connection in the building.

  “You know the application we built for that home security company? Well, the west coast office got a contract to build something similar for a major security company out there. Corporate doesn’t want them to reinvent the wheel.” He turned to Cassie. “Since you were lead on that project, Tucker, you’ll be working with the software development leader in that office to modify the existing application to fit the needs of their client.”

  Cassie stared at Richard, speechless. The person Richard was talking about was Ian—

  “Cope is an efficient leader and will do a fine job on this project,” Richard continued, interrupting her thoughts.

  Cassie’s company-wide IM popped up on her laptop.

  Ian Cope is hot as hell! I can’t believe you get to work with the west coast hottie.

  Apparently, Sasha couldn’t wait for the meeting to end before voicing her opinion.

  Cassie glanced over at Sasha, but she was covertly arranging her notebook, not looking at Cassie.

  “This is Mac. You got us, Richard?” Carl “Mac” Mackenzie asked as he appeared on the screen. He was VP in charge of the west coast office. Cassie didn’t care for him much, but she didn’t have to deal with him regularly either.

  “Yes, Mac. I’ll let you drive this meeting.”

  “Great, thanks. Hi, everyone. Sorry we’re just now getting online. I know all of you are busy, but I need to discuss some preliminaries before getting to the heart of the matter.”

  Mac droned on about quarterly reports while Cassie sipped her coffee and cocked an eyebrow up at Sasha, who was typing.

  Who the hell cares about financial statements? It’s not like he’s addressing corporate.

  You know how Mac is, Sasha. I’m just glad we don’t work under him, Cassie responded.

  Looks like you could be working under Ian Cope. I can think of a lot worse places to be. She threw on a smiley face at the end of her IM.

  Wasn’t that the truth? Ian Cope was the epitome of masculine yum-yum. With his unruly curly brown hair and light-brown eyes the color of expensive whiskey, he had an attitude just as smooth and intoxicating as the liquor he personified.

  Tell me about it, girlfriend. He’s a hunk and a half.

  At least Cassie didn’t have to work with him in person. She hadn’t gotten laid in over a year and didn’t know how well she’d be able to control herself around such a gorgeous man. The last boyfriend she’d had couldn’t deal with her success, but something told her Ian was a very secure man. He was successful too, but he seemed the type to not let money get in the way of what he wanted. Of course she didn’t know this for sure, and if she was smart, she would never know. She needed to keep her interaction with him strictly professional. She sat back and sipped her coffee, figuring she should focus on the meeting.

  “Cassandra Tucker.”

  Cassie’s head shot up. She coughed, trying not to spit out the brew. Oh shit. They were talking about her.

  All heads turned in her direction as she gently placed her cup on the table beside her laptop, dabbing her mouth, and prepared to fake her way through this so as not to embarrass herself further.

  Shame on you. Got caught not paying attention.

  Cassie read the IM, automatically thinking it was from Sasha. Why would she try to distract her when she should know Cassie needed her wits about her?

  It was from Ian, not Sasha.

  Double oh shit!

  “I think I can take it from here, Mac,” Ian volunteered. “As Mac was saying…” He hesitated, throwing a pointed look in Cassie’s direction. “We need a prototype built for our client by the tenth of this month. That’s next week. I’ll be working with Tucker to get it built. It’ll be our top priority until it’s completed.”

  “Is this going to cause any problems with your other projects?” Richard asked her.

  Cassie straightened in her chair, thankful for Ian’s save. “No. I’m finalizing the other large project I’m working on, which is ahead of schedule.” She cleared her throat. “Sasha Jones was lead developer on the original build of this application. We could use her team to make the necessary modifications.”

  “No dice,” Mac said suddenly. All eyes turned to him at his outburst. “Cope already has a team in place who’s met with our client. They know their needs, and it’ll just waste time bringing her team up to speed on the new requirements.”

  That is bullshit! Sasha messaged to Cassie.

  Cassie gave her a sympathetic look. She was right, but from the firm set of Mac’s face, it was apparent there’d be no discussion on the matter. Cassie had to tamp down her own irritation.

  “Okay, I’ll get with Ian Cope this afternoon to get started. If he’s available.”

  “How about two?” he asked.

  “Works for me.” Cassie didn’t look at him, her mind reeling over the implications of this.

  “Good. That’s all. We’ll touch base later on the status,” Mac said and disconnected the call after a few courtesy goodbyes.

  Cassie stared at Richard because Sasha looked as if she were about to blow a gasket, and Cassie wasn’t that far behind either. “What the hell’s going on? Why is Mac acting holier than thou, not letting Sasha’s team in on this?”

  Richard raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Don’t take it out on me. I have no idea why they don’t want to use her team.” He looked at Sasha and shrugged.

  “Well, it seems to me if they didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, then they’d use the same developers who coded the application,” Sasha spat.

  Cassie shook her head and sighed, reining in her anger. “Sasha, everything is in the data library. They can pull the work that was done and use it. I have a feeling they’ve already done that.”

  Richard’s cheeks tinged red and he looked down. It was evident that was exactly what had happened.

  “Oh my God! Why didn’t you give us a heads-up?” Sasha demanded.

  “It was out of my hands.” He sounded defeated, so there really was no reason in berating him over this.

  “C’mon, Sasha. You can help me go over the coding, so at least I’m prepared for my meeting this afternoon.”

  Cassie grabbed Sasha’s arm and hauled her out of the conference room and to her cubicle.

  “This is such bullshit!” Sasha whispered as she put her laptop on her docking station and booted it back up.

  “I know. But I need you to focus. I’ve already been caught sitting down on the job.”

  “Oh please. No one knew you were distracted, chatting with me during the meeting.” Sasha waved her hand dismissively.

  “Not true. Ian sent me an IM. He wanted it known that he, at least, caught me, so now I have to make sure I do a really great job on this.”

  Sasha’s eyes got wide, then narrowed. “You tell that hunk of man to kiss your ass. I don’t care how sexy he is. Don’t let him bully you on this project.”

  “Oh I won’t, but since Weiner threw me to the wolves wrapped in raw meat, I want to make sure I’m prepared for my next encounter.”

  Sasha chuckled. “Now why in the hell does Richard Weiner call everyone by their la
st names when he was cursed with the one he got? I mean, really? Dick Weiner? I’d cut my dad’s pecker off in his sleep if he named me that!”

  Cassie laughed with Sasha, and it eased the tension of the morning. Now Cassie had to focus. She had a new project, and she damn sure was going to do a good job.

  * * * * *

  Ian Cope was finally getting what he’d wished for—a chance to work with Cassie Tucker. When Mac had told him they’d be pulling her in on this project, Ian had covered his excitement. He’d had a thing for her for the past two years, waiting for the right opportunity to work with her while dropping subtle hints to his boss whenever an opportunity presented itself. Mac had finally listened, but she didn’t seem too thrilled to be working on this project for some reason. Her disgruntled face as the conference call ended was a blow to the ol’ ego, but Ian could work with that. He just had to play this very carefully.

  “Come with me to my office, Cope,” Mac said.

  Ian nodded as he gathered his laptop and meeting book, then followed his boss.

  “What’s up?”

  “Shut the door and take a seat.”

  Ian suppressed a sigh. He had work to do, and that included figuring out how to woo his new coworker. But he followed the orders and waited for Mac to speak his mind.

  “There’s a reason why we’ve pulled the south regional office in on this project.”

  “Yeah, I know they’ve already built a similar project and I’ve already started looking at it. It’s really close to what we need for our new client.”

  “Cope, the game is changing. Corporate wants us to make a move into the security industry. If we can generalize this software and promote it to that sector, we could push our company to the forefront of our competitors and corner the market.”

  “And you want to do this with the application they’ve already built.”

  Mac chuckled. “Not exactly. See, I know you could’ve built a customizable application that’d fit our client’s needs and the bigwigs’ desire to initiate their strategy. The deal is that they also want to cut costs. We are looking at closing the south regional office.”