Saturday Snippet

Today's topic is bad boys at night. Since I don't write paranormals, I'm taking this to mean bad boys in general. Yeah, I have those. One very bad boy is Justin from A Proper Seduction. He's trying so hard to be good but the underlying pulse of naughty is hard for him to shake off.

"I was surprised to see your name on my schedule this morning." Justin Scott eased into his oversized desk chair, careful not to tip over backwards. Having his ass hit the floor in front of Lauren MacDonald…well, that was just not going to happen.

"Surprised good or surprised bad?" She shut his office door with a click and walked across the carpet to stand in front of his desk. Each step pushed her pencil-thin skirt higher above her knees, flashing inches of toned leg.

He fought the urge to loosen his tie and his belt. "Let's say intrigued."

Now there was an understatement. Between the swish of her hips and the way her snug sweater hugged her high breasts, his lower half started twitching. Some things never changed. It had been a year since they'd been together and her light floral scent and the way she tucked her hair behind her ear still made him smile. The way her dark blue eyes could look so sexy and sad at the same time still fascinated him. And his determination to get her back between the sheets, this time without her idiot of a husband hovering on the mattress nearby, still thumped as hard as ever.

Lauren dragged her index finger across the edge of the desk. "I need to talk with you."



"Obviously."

She swallowed hard enough for him to see her throat move. Her discomfort struck Justin as odd. Hell, he'd seen her naked, trailed his tongue over her, pushed into her long and hard and…

Yeah, five more seconds of the x-rated movie playing in his head and they'd never make it through this conversation without getting horizontal. He had a lunch meeting in an hour and a stack of government contracts to review. He needed his mind in the game, his zipper up and Lauren out of his office.

Only one way to do that. "Just tell me why you're here." He fought hard to keep the edge of frustration out of his voice. Two minutes ago he was thinking about work. Now, every thought in his brain revolved around the color of her panties. He guessed they were some shade of blue.

She folded her hands in front of her and glanced up, her gaze bouncing around the office before settling back on him. "I have a proposition for you."

A job. She needed a damn job. It was no secret Gavin had made the end of their marriage as nasty as its duration. Justin had watched it all play out in the news headlines from the safety of his corner office. She asked for money to start over and Gavin responded by producing a draconian pre-nup that reeked of lawyer misconduct. She filed for divorce based on adultery and Gavin turned around and accused her of sleeping with half of his business associates. He played the wounded victim and cast Lauren in the role of whore.

The very public pounding on her integrity only stopped when Justin stepped in and threatened behind-the-scenes to testify on her behalf. Lauren didn't know the details. Didn't need to, but Justin made sure his former friend backed off and walked away, after writing Lauren a check.

But protecting her didn't mean Justin could stand the thought of seeing her around his office every day. He'd have to keep his dick on ice to survive that. He'd tried to save her twice. He was done. This time he'd preserve his sanity and leave her alone.

"Look, Lauren, I'm not hiring. It wouldn't work out anyway, but I can give you a few dollars to get you through."

Her hand shot up and waved him off. "This isn't about money."

In Justin's experience, almost everything was about money. Sex, marriage, work— it all boiled down to cash, knowing when to spend it and how much to put on the table. He had taken a fledgling company and turned it into a thriving multi-million dollar business by manufacturing the desalination plant used on aircraft carriers. He found the military's need and filled it by turning saltwater into drinking water. And now he was pushing to take that product into the domestic market, a plan that put him at odds with Gavin, his former corporate attorney. Different business interests and different views on Lauren ended the men's friendship, and Justin didn't grieve for the loss at all.

"Tell me what you want," Justin said.

She stopped drawing doodles with her finger and stared him down. "You."

Did she… "Excuse me?"

"For three nights."

____________

Remember to check out the other authors' snippets:

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Mandy M Roth

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Myla Jackson

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Delilah Devlin

Lauren Dane

Leah Braemel

Shiloh Walker

TJ Michaels

Zoë Archer