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Excerpt Setup:
Every girl at Barton Enterprises wants sexy, amazing, and extremely rich Brandon Barton. Jane Riggins isn't about to act like one of the office bimbettes drooling after him, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't like to get a good hard glimpse of the man himself.
Excerpt Begins ~
"How did I let you talk me into this?" Jane struggled against Mel's firm grip on her arm and tried tugging them toward her desk. "Like I said before, I'm not one of these girls. I want to earn my own way in life."
"You needed coffee, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but-"
When five of the women hovering in the area outside Brandon's office turned to glare at her, she stopped fighting. "Oh, uh, about what I said before. I didn't mean any of you."
Hell, yes, I did.
Noticing another group of women huddled by his office door, she nodded at them to draw attention away from the foot in her mouth. "I'm talking about those women."
I am such a liar.
The women followed her direction, checked with each other, and giggled. Jane breathed a sigh of relief, thankful they'd fallen for her diversion. Finally managing to yank her arm out of Mel's death grip, she fled to the relative safety of her desk. Halfway there, however, the low buzz of talking stopped, drawing her attention to the women again. Mel turned around, too, and stared at the door.
The opened door. Well, sort of opened. Maybe the door wasn't swung open all the way, but it was definitely cracked an inch. Just wide enough to see his desk and chair if she squinted really hard. But where was Brandon?
Even while feeling stupid for joining the rest of the Gawk Squad, Jane couldn't tear her gaze away. Laura Wilkins, one of the more daring of the Squad, put two fingers against the wood and gave it a little push.
I am so going to get fired.
She couldn't imagine losing the job. Aside from the part-time jobs she'd held in high school and college, she hadn't had a real job. Working for Barton Enterprises was a great starting point for any business career. If she lost it because she was caught crushing on her boss, she'd die, then get evicted from her apartment. In that order.
In agonizing slowness, the door creaked on its hinges as it moved by centimeters. Everyone strained their necks to see into the dimly lit office and the quiet was eerily complete. In fact, Jane could hear the whir of the overhead fluorescent lights.
Would she see him? Once, when she'd stayed late to catch up on work, she had caught a glimpse of him. She'd had her head down, pouring over a report when she'd heard the elevator bell ding. Peeking around her cubicle--after all, a girl working alone needed to be careful--she'd glimpsed the back of a very tall, muscular man stepping into the elevator. He'd been talking on his phone and she'd heard his distinctive, sexually-charged laugh. A laugh she'd never forget.
If she wasn't such a coward, she would've dashed over to the elevator and pretend she was leaving for the day. But by the time she'd gotten up enough courage, he was gone.
The women jostled for position. If Mel hadn't grabbed hold of her blouse, she would've tipped over and fallen over the threshold and into his office.
"Is he in there?" whispered Sandy, a bombshell who modeled part-time.
"I don't know, but I'm going to be ready if he comes out." Laura straightened up, a determined look on her face.
"Oh, my God. I hear him. He's coming this way." The pencil-thin Vicki Taylor stepped back and put on a seductive, I-want-you-so-much smile.
The other huntresses hurriedly reapplied lipstick and adjusted tight blouses to fit even tighter. Luxurious-enough-for-a-television-commercial hair bounced as heads were tipped over and whipped upward, fluffing their hairstyles. Skirts were hiked up and chests thrust out. Even Mel pimped and prepped.
The women were ready to greet the mysterious Brandon Barton.
When the man stepped out, he stopped, gaped at the women staring at him, and dropped the file he was holding. An audible groan swept through the room.
"Well, shit, it's not him." Sandy practically snarled at him, changing her flawless face into an ugly mask.
Laura shoved past the man and took a step inside the office. After giving the room the once and then twice over, she fisted her hands on her hips and announced the bad news. "He isn't in here. That scum bucket of a guard must've lied to us."
The surprised man squatted, hustling to pick up the papers scattered over the floor. Laura rushed past him, knocking the papers he'd already gathered out of his hands and back on to the floor. Amazed at the woman's rude behavior, Jane hurried over, lowered to a matching squat, then started helping him pick them up.
"I can't believe I wasted two hours waiting and all I get to see is this guy." Shelly, who worked in the cubicle across from Jane's, glared as she stomped past, stepping in the middle of the paperwork. "I'm going to kill that stupid security guard. He swore Brandon was here. Anyone want to help me throttle the jerk?" She paused to throw the poor guy another scornful glower-peppered with a few expletives-then whirled and headed for the elevator with more than half the women following her.
Jane's gaze met his, saw the irritated glint in his blue eyes, and ducked her head. Shelly made her ashamed to be a woman. "I'm sorry. She didn't mean what she said. She and the others were waiting for, uh, you know."
His soft smile tore at her heart. She'd bet anything he'd seen this kind of behavior from the women in the office before and probably thought it was all a sad joke. She expected him to make fun of the scene like most of the male employees did, but he surprised her.
"It's okay. I understand. When you're expecting to see Body by Brandon and you get Chunky by Charlie instead, you tend to get ticked off."
End of Excerpt
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