LITMIR.BIZ

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glanced across the dance floor, his gaze colliding with the hot brunette’s. The air rushed from his lungs in that next instant, and for a split second he forgot to breathe.

      A crazy reaction. But then that’s what happened when a twenty-six-year-old, red-blooded male in his prime went without sex for four months and six days and two hours and twenty-nine minutes.

      Lust.

      That’s all it was.

      And nerves.

      Tomorrow was big. The first official day of training for the semifinal round that would, hopefully, lead him straight to the finals. The press would be there. The rodeo officials. The fans. All watching and speculating. It made sense he’d be a little nervous. Not scared, mind you. More like anxious. Excited.

      He sure as hell wasn’t getting all worked up because of the way her eyes sparkled and her lips curved into a smile.

      A smile, for Christ’s sake.

      “Maybe you’re right,” he heard himself say. “Maybe I should just get to it.”

      “The sooner you start, the sooner it ends.” Eli nodded. “Then you can get focused again and forget all about those long legs and that tiny little waist and those really big—”

      “Enough,” he cut in. “I get the point.”

      “Then stop talking and start walking.”

      “Yes, boss.” He left the old man grinning after him and headed across the dance floor.

      Copyright © 2014 by Kimberly Groff

      Daring to Trust the Boss

      Susan Meier

       “You are a brave, funny woman, Miss Prentiss.”

      She caught his gaze. “Olivia.”

      “Excuse me?”

      “I like it when you call me Olivia.”

      He took a step closer. “Really?”

      She shrugged, trying to make light of her request. “Everybody calls me Vivi. Sometimes it makes me feel six again. Being called Olivia makes me feel like an adult.”

      “Or a woman.”

      The way he said woman sent heat rushing through her. Once again, he’d seen right through her ploy and might even realize she was attracted to him—

      Oh, who was she kidding? He knew she was attracted to him.

      She stepped back. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

      He caught her hand and tugged her to him. “I would.”

      He kissed her so quickly that her knees nearly buckled and her brain reeled. She could have panicked. Could have told him to go slow because she hadn’t done this in a while, or even stop because this was wrong. But nobody, no kiss, had ever made her feel the warm, wonderful, scary sensations saturating her entire being right now. Not just her body, but her soul.

      SUSAN MEIER spent most of her twenties thinking she was a job-hopper—until she began to write and realised everything that had come before was only research! One of eleven children, with twenty-four nieces and nephews and three kids of her own, Susan has had plenty of real-life experience watching romance blossom in unexpected ways. She lives in western Pennsylvania with her wonderful husband, Mike, three children and two over-fed, well-cuddled cats, Sophie and Fluffy. You can visit Susan’s website at www.susanmeier.com.

      Contents

       CHAPTER ONE

       CHAPTER TWO

       CHAPTER THREE

       CHAPTER FOUR

       CHAPTER FIVE

       CHAPTER SIX

       CHAPTER SEVEN

       CHAPTER EIGHT

       CHAPTER NINE

       CHAPTER TEN

       CHAPTER ELEVEN

       CHAPTER TWELVE

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN

       CHAPTER FOURTEEN

       CHAPTER FIFTEEN

       EPILOGUE

       EXCERPT

      CHAPTER ONE

      “I’M OLIVIA PRENTISS, here for my first day in Accounting.”

      The gray-haired Human Resources director glanced up with a smile. “Good morning, Olivia. Welcome to Inferno.” She happily flipped through the files in a box on her desk, but when she found the one with “Olivia Prentiss” written on the tab, she winced. “I’m afraid there’s been a change of plans.”

      Vivi’s stomach dropped to the floor. “I’m not hired?”

      “No. No. Nothing like that. You’ve been reassigned temporarily.”

      “I don’t understand.”

      “Tucker Engle’s assistant was in an accident last week.”

      “Oh. I’m sorry.” She knew Tucker Engle was the CEO and chairman of the board of Inferno. Before she’d interviewed for this job, she’d researched the company and his name had popped up. But the company’s annual statements had said little about the reclusive billionaire. When she’d searched the internet, she’d only found an interview with the Wall Street Journal and a Facebook rant by a former employee who had called him the Grim Reaper because the only time he came out of his ivory tower was to fire someone. Still, none of that information gave her any clue what his assistant’s accident had to do with her.

      “As the newest employee in the company, it falls to you to stand in for Betsy.”

      Her already-fallen stomach soured. She had to work directly with a guy called the Grim Reaper by his staff?

      She gulped. “An accountant stands in for a personal assistant?”

      “You won’t be a personal assistant.”

      Following the sound of the deep male voice, Vivi swung around. A tall, dark-haired man leaned against the door frame. Her gaze crawled from his shiny black loafers up his black trousers and suit jacket, past his white shirt and sky-blue tie to a pair of emerald-green eyes.

      Wow.

      “Or

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