"Twice Tempted" - the conclusion to Lucy and Jason's story - will be available September 10th on Amazon and Smashwords for $0.99!
Please enjoy an excerpt from "Twice Tempted" and check back on the 6th of September to participate in a contest to win a free copy of my latest novella, "Twice Tempted".
Excerpt from "Twice Tempted" by Elizabeth Kelly.
Copyright 2013 Elizabeth Kelly
* * *
Chapter 1
Lucy rang the doorbell of the large and
impressive looking two-story house. She
had hemmed and hawed over going for most of the afternoon and still wasn’t sure
that she had made the right decision.
The door opened; Jerry’s wife Heather beamed at her in delight and she
was suddenly glad she came.
“Lucy!
Honey, it’s so good to see you!
I keep telling Jerry to invite you over for dinner but you know him – he
just grumbles about keeping his professional life separate and sneaks off to
his shop in the back to tinker with his cars.
Which is just silly because the man loves you like you’re one of his own
daughters you know.”
Lucy flushed a little and Heather
laughed. “It’s true. I know he acts all gruff and serious at the
office but he’s such a softie. Oh, he’d
kill me if he knew I was telling you this.”
She looked around before leaning forward and whispering
conspiratorially, “You’ve always been his favourite at the office.”
Lucy laughed. “Well don’t you tell him this but he’s always
been my favourite as well.”
Heather looked her up and down. “You look lovely tonight Lucy.”
“Thank you.” Lucy tugged at the hem of her shirt. “I wasn’t sure if this was a formal or casual
event so I threw a skirt on rather than my jeans just in case.”
“You would have looked just as lovely in
jeans my dear. Besides, it doesn’t
matter what you’re wearing – we’ve got a mixture of everything tonight.”
“It was really nice of Jerry to do
this.” Lucy said.
“I thought so too. Jerry thought it would be good to have a bit
of a shindig for everyone at the office.
You’ve all been working so hard for the last six months and the company
has been doing so well – you deserve a night of celebration.”
Lucy was still standing on the doorstep and
Heather smacked herself lightly in the head.
“Oh for heaven’s sake! Come in –
come in! I didn’t mean to leave you
standing on the doorstep like a lost little waif!”
She stepped back and Lucy followed her into
the house. “Don’t worry about your shoes
Lucy.” Heather called over her
shoulder. “The others are gathered in
the living room and the dining room – go on and start mingling and I’ll grab
you a glass of wine.”
Lucy went down the hallway and into the
living room. She scanned the room
quickly. Nearly everyone from the office
was there, and the living room and adjoining dining room were filled with
people. Alex was standing by the
fireplace talking with Maureen and Wallace, and Jerry was standing next to
Carol and gesturing wildly, his face already a bit red from the wine.
She scanned the room again, refusing to
admit to herself who it was she was looking for. When she didn’t see him her pulse, which had
been thudding loudly in her ears, quieted down. Ignoring her disappointment she headed towards
Penny who was standing next to the large bay window.
* * *
“Oh my God!
Look who just walked through the door!”
Penny couldn’t hide the glee from her voice. It was just over an hour later and Lucy had
been telling Penny about the time her brother had tried to stuff her into the
dryer when Penny had interrupted her with a soft squeal.
She looked behind her. Jason had just walked into the living
room. Immediately her face flushed and
her heartbeat quickened. She turned away
swiftly.
“Damn, he looks good.” Penny sighed.
“I wonder where he’s been for the last two weeks.”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
It was a lie of course. Two weeks ago she had been in Jason’s bed having
the best sex of her life and not caring that he was her boss. But, she thought grimly, a lot could change
in two weeks. The Monday after the
weekend she had spent with Jason, she had been on cloud nine, but that had
changed quickly. By Tuesday he was gone
from the office and no one knew why. Not
even Carol knew and she could always be counted on to know exactly where
everyone was at any given moment. Lucy
had overheard her and Maureen talking in the lunch room one day and Carol had
shrugged when Maureen had asked her about it.
“I don’t know. All I know is he had to leave to attend a
personal matter.” The woman had bitten
into her apple. “Jerry’s been taking all
his calls and I don’t even know when he’ll be back.”
For the first few days Lucy had checked her
cell phone constantly, positive that Jason would text her, but when she heard
nothing from him her worry had turned to anger.
He had been so sweet to her at the beach house that weekend, making it
sound like he wanted something more than sex. He had certainly fooled her.
Lucy sighed softly and stared into her wine
glass. From the day he started, Jason
had been cold and rude to her. She had
been positive that he hated her and she hadn’t been that fond of him.
“Liar!” Her mind screamed immediately
at her.
She had been attracted to him from the
start, and the night they had gotten trapped in the elevator together Jason had
finally admitted his rude behavior had been an attempt to hide his attraction
to her. They had given in to their
mutual attraction and had mind-blowing sex on the floor of the elevator. She had tried to stay away from him –
sleeping with the boss was about the stupidest career limiting move you could
make – but by the following weekend she had been at his beach house and in his
bed and couldn’t have been happier about it.
It hadn’t taken long for the women in the
office to start drooling over him and an office bet had been started. The first one to bed their sexy new boss
would win a gift certificate to the spa.
Lucy had not been invited to join the bet and she had told no one about
sleeping with Jason. But, after discovering the bet, Jason had bought her a gift certificate to Heaven’s Gate Spa.
Two weeks without seeing him, without
hearing his deep voice or having him touch her in the way she had grown way too
accustomed to in way too short of a time, had left her feeling lonely and
blue. She had been confused by her
reaction. A weekend of sex did not make
a relationship and she had never been the type of girl to fall quickly for
someone. In fact, she hadn’t had a
serious relationship in three years and she had been perfectly content with
that.
Although Jason had mentioned he wanted it
to be more than sex between them, they weren’t actually dating yet and he was
under no obligation to share anything with her.
Still, she couldn’t shake her hurt over his two weeks of silence.
“He
probably regretted what he said.” A voice inside of her whispered. “He
probably changed his mind about having a relationship with you and used his two
weeks away from the office as the perfect way to send a message to you. You’re stupid if you think he would risk his
entire career just to spend some time between your legs. You’re good in bed girl but you’re not that
good.”
Lucy took a large gulp of wine. That was another thing – despite her poofy
hair, extra few pounds, and pale-as-a-freaking-vampire skin – she’d always had
loads of self-confidence. She’d never
doubted her ability to get or keep a man until Jason Young had come along, and
she hated that he had rattled her confidence so much.
So what if he didn’t want her? Like her mom always said - there were plenty
of other fish in the sea. And not one of
those fish was her boss. She was better
off not having anything to do with Jason Young.
“Lucy? Are you okay?” Penny was staring at her oddly and Lucy
forced herself to smile at her.
“Just fine. Why?”
“You looked weird for
a minute there.” Penny studied her
closely and Lucy widened her smile.
“I’m good.”
“Okay, well if you’ll
excuse me, I think I’ll go and say hello to Jason.”
Lucy rolled her
eyes. “Seriously Penny?”
Penny wiggled her
eyebrows at her. “Hey, I have an office
bet to win remember. Alex is already
glued to his side and Maureen and Jamie are eyeing him up from across the
room.”
Lucy moved to the
dining room as Penny practically sprinted across the living room to Jason. She stared out the patio doors into the
backyard and reminded herself repeatedly not to turn around and scan the living
room for Jason.
She smiled when a
familiar voice said, “Hello Lucy.”
She looked down at the
short website developer standing next to her.
“Hey Carlos. How are you?”
“I’m good. How are you?”
“I’m well thanks. Enjoying the party?” Lucy asked politely. Carlos was a nice guy and she had a feeling
he was interested in her as more than a co-worker, but he was definitely not
her type. Forgetting that he was four
inches shorter than her, he was loud and boisterous and commanded the attention
of the room. She had always preferred
the quiet types. She was attracted to
the type of guy who radiated a quiet confidence and didn’t need to use loud
words and grand gestures to get people’s attention.
Jason’s type. Her inner voice whispered immediately.
She groaned irritably to herself.
Would she have even one day where she wasn’t thinking about her stupidly
hot boss?
“I am. It was nice of Jerry to throw this for us.” Carlos
moved a little closer and squeezed her arm lightly.
“Have you gotten
something to eat yet?” He asked.
She shook her
head. “No, I was chatting with Penny and
haven’t hit the buffet table yet.” She
looked behind her at the dining room table that was laden with food.
He tugged on her arm
and she allowed him to lead her to the table.
“Let’s grab a bite to eat then.”
Jason looked over
Alex’s shoulder, tamping down his irritation when he watched Carlos squeeze
Lucy’s arm. He led her to the table and
they began to help themselves to the food.
Carlos said something to Lucy that made her laugh and Jason frowned. The shorter man was standing way too close to
her, his arm brushing against hers, and when he led her out of the dining room
and into the backyard he had to stop himself from following.
“Jason?” Alex brushed her hand across his chest. “Earth to Jason?”
“Sorry? What?”
He said a bit impatiently.
“I asked where you’ve
been for the last two weeks.” The blonde
woman smiled at him as Penny and Maureen stared at him expectantly.
“It was a personal
matter.” He said shortly.
“Oh of course, I’m
sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.” Alex said hastily.
He peered over her
shoulder again but Carlos and Lucy had moved away from the patio door and he
couldn’t see them any longer.
“So, what do you like
to do for fun Jason?” Penny asked
eagerly.
* * *
I hope you enjoyed this small excerpt from "Twice Tempted". Remember to check back on September 6th for your chance to win a free copy!
Elizabeth
Can't wait for this!
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