Avoiding Mr. Right (15 page)

Staring deep into his eyes, I utter the three words I haven’t said to a man since
my father died. “I love you.”

His eyes widen and I swear I see a glint of moisture in them. “I love you, too.” His
arms crush me to his chest in a fierce hug. “And if I have my way, I’ll be saying
that to you every day for the rest of our lives.”

My own vision blurs as I press my lips to his, feeling the happiest I’ve ever been
in my entire existence.

~~*~~

About the Author: C.J. Ellisson is the USA Today Bestselling author of the New York
Times Bestselling book, Vanilla on Top, the bestselling V V Inn series, and several
erotica shorts. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband, two children, two
dogs, and a fluffy black cat who makes her sneeze. Unlike most full-time authors,
she's also battling severe chronic illness. C.J. works daily to put her Lupus into
remission and continues to fight numerous bacterial infections while her immune system
slowly attacks her body. She turned to writing when she could no longer work outside
the home and claims the escape of penning contemporary fantasy, erotica, and erotic
romance has helped save her sanity.

Avoiding Mr. Right
is the second book in the
Wild Side
series and there are currently four novels planned, with more to be added if there
is enough reader interest.

Please, stop by the author’s website (
http://www.cjellisson.com
) and sign up for her email distribution to find out when the next book will be available.
C.J. is also available via Skype for interviews and book club question & answer sessions.

Do you miss signed books? C.J. offers free, full-color signed 4x6 postcards of all
her novels to readers who’ve left honest reviews on any retailer or book reviewing
website. To obtain yours, please email your review URLs to
[email protected]
with your mailing address. International readers welcome.

My readers greatly influence my career and the choices I make in business. I listen
to them and weigh their opinions when deciding on the next project to tackle, cover
to select, or reader convention to attend. I’m grateful they reach out to me on Facebook
and have become my friends. Some authors may prefer to be reclusive, but I’m not one
of them. Thank you for being part of this incredible journey with me.

A big thanks goes to my editor, Tina Winograd. We met years ago on writing.com and
I can honestly say you’re the best thing that’s happened to my work in a long time.
Thank you for standing by me no matter what and for being a friend.

I’ve met quite a few incredible authors this past year. Whether through social networking,
in person, or via email, they have buoyed up my confidence and helped me to see what
an amazing community of peers I have. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and for supporting
me. I get a secret thrill whenever I hear a fellow writer has enjoyed my work. Our
time is so limited (and our TBR piles so tall) I’m honored they would spend their
precious resource on something I created.

As always, thank you, Peter. The past few months have brought a lot of change in our
lives and you never cease to amaze me with your unwavering support and belief in my
career.

~~*~~

Read on for an exciting excerpt from the book mentioned in chapter seven,
Suddenly Beautiful
, by Boone Brux!

Product Description:

Being the son of Aphrodite isn’t a walk in the clouds. Rebelling against his demi-god
status, billionaire make-up mogul Toraos Stephanos fights to separate his personal
life and the immortal world by swearing off demi-god girlfriends forever. Too bad
his newest employee can't take the hint.

Though Nikki secretly pines for her smoking hot boss, no way will she jeopardize her
job and independence professing her love to a guy so clearly out of her league. Too
bad that leaves her with only imagining him naked and thinking evil thoughts about
the new girl.

After a single bottle of Ambrosia and one night of passion... Nikki finally thinks
she has a chance with the man of her dreams. But the next morning, Tor pretends like
nothing happened, leaving Nikki with an emerging drive for combat—after all, turns
out she is the daughter of Ares and she's about to make her mama proud.

All is fair in love and war... and Nikki's not about to let anyone forget it.

Holy Mary, mother of God, the man was half-naked.

Flawless, tan skin stretched across a perfect muscular back. Her boss, Tor, oozed
more sex appeal than any man had the right to possess—especially around her. After
six years of working at Kythera Costmetics, she still lusted for him as much as she
had the day she started. Were her thighs actually sweating?

Nikki snapped her gaping mouth closed and squeezed her lids shut. The dirty little
desires she normally kept tucked away tumbled through her mind. Once again, she screwed
her contrived disinterest in place and opened her eyes.

“Wednesday is great.” Tor turned and flashed his impressive eight pack as he waved
her inside with the shirt he held in his hand. “I can’t foresee any problems.”

For the love of God, man, cover up.

Tor smiled and pointed to the phone, adding a thumbs-up. She lifted her brows and
smiled, returning the gesture. Only one thing could make him this happy so early in
the morning: landing Creed Killion as the new creative director for the Goddess line
of cosmetics.

Tor propped one hand on his hip and stared at the floor, listening to Creed on the
other end of the phone. Nikki let her eyes wander over his naked chest, his tapering
waist, and the dark patch of hair that dipped into uncharted territory. She really
needed to get a life instead of pining away for her boss. He’d never given her any
indication that he thought of her in
that way,
but still, she couldn’t seem to shake this intense attraction. At twenty-seven, she
should be able to compartmentalize her feelings for him, but no matter how hard she
tried, her pesky crush kept rearing its ugly head.

“Fantastic! I’ll have my assistant call you with the details. Thanks, Creed.”

He hung up the phone with a shout of success, pulling Nikki from her depressing thoughts,
and she forced excitement into her question. “Creed Killion?”

His kissable mouth spread into a pearly smile as he snapped a steel gray T-shirt against
his desk. “We got him.”

“I knew he wouldn’t say no to your offer.” She set her stack of files on his desk,
and
when he slid the shirt over his head, she tried not to stare. In reality, she wasn’t
sure why she struggled so hard to hide her interest. The man never thought about anything
other than work. She could probably dry hump his leg and he’d tell her to file something
while she was down there.

The fabric slithered along his torso and stretched tight against his pecs. A hand
jabbed the hem of the shirt into the waist of his form-fitting charcoal pants, giving
the material a bit of extra attention in the front.

Lucky hand.
Her mouth went dry.

He ran his fingers through his thick black hair, which obligingly fell into perfect
order.

“Uh...” She fumbled to keep her train of thought. “
Entrepreneurial 100
wants to do a photo spread of you for this year’s ‘most eligible bachelor’ edition.”

Tor scrunched up his face. “No.”

“You know, it might do Kythera Cosmetics good if they see the face behind the product.”

Personally, she rather agreed with Tor’s view of staying out of the limelight. He
was exceedingly private. Even she didn’t know much more about him than the rest of
the world did. Being the daughter of a public figure herself, she knew firsthand what
vultures the paparazzi could be, circling for the tiniest shred of dirt. Thankfully
her mother was too wrapped up in her own life to meddle in Nikki’s and she’d never
met her father—or even knew who he was for that matter.

“Tell them no.” As he smoothed his hands down the front of his shirt, the material
pulled across his chest, defining each sculpted muscle.

Those things belonged in a museum.

“All right.” She bent over the files and flipped open the portfolio a little more
vigorously than she’d intended, and the leather cover slapped the desk. She slid the
papers across to him. Tor’s generosity was legendary and one of the many reasons she’d
fallen so hard for him. “The papers for your charitable foundation are ready.”

“The day keeps getting better and better.”

His smile was genuine. Though he appeared all-business to most, she’d seen that persona
fade while talking to the inner-city kids his foundation was meant to benefit.

“It’s a great cause.” She reached across the desk and pointed to the line at the
bottom of the page. “I need your signa—”

A loud rap sounded at the door. “Morning.”

Nikki bit back her curse, grinding her teeth together before turning to face her least
favorite person in the world. All six feet of Demetria Mirrors glided into the office.
Five feet seven inches were woman; the other five inches were deadly stilettos. Clad
in a form-hugging bright-red suit, she looked more like a supermodel than an attorney.

“Morning, Demi.” Tor nodded, picked up the file, and began reading the document she'd
asked him to sign.

“I heard your excitement from the outer office,” Demetria said.

“Skulking outside the door, eavesdropping again?” Nikki muttered.

Demetria had only been working at the office for about three months, but it felt more
like three years. The woman had an uncanny habit of always looking beautiful, her
sultry poise constantly amped up to its highest setting. She made no pretense about
her interest in Tor, which always raised Nikki’s hackles.

“What has you in such a good mood this morning?” Demetria sauntered across the room,
her gaze sweeping over Nikki like a chilly morning breeze.

The feeling was mutual.

“Just got word that Creed Killion accepted the job as creative director for Goddess,”
he replied.

“Oh Tor, that’s fantastic.” Demetria made a beeline for him, her coppery locks springing
about her shoulders with each catwalk step she took. She circumvented the desk and
moved in close to squeeze his arm. Not surprisingly, that required her to shove her
ample bosom against his arm. “I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist working for Kythera
Cosmetics.”

He smiled and pointed his pen at Nikki. “It was Nikki’s idea to hire him.”

“But you’re the reason he accepted. He’d be a fool not to want to work here.”

When Tor stepped away from Demetria to sit on the chocolate suede couch, Nikki had
to bite the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from smiling. This was an evasive
maneuver she’d seen him employ hundreds of time over the last six years. He worked
in a world of beautiful women and looked like a god. His ability to elude advances
without offending was truly masterful.

Demetria was not so easily put off. As Kythera’s new senior corporate counselor, she
had a personality to match: a shark in heels. It galled Nikki how quickly she’d wormed
her way into Tor’s affairs, making her legally indispensable. Demetria tried to squeeze
Nikki out of her and Tor’s working equation. But that was not going to happen. Nikki
had busted her butt to be the best at her job as executive assistant to the CEO and
everything Tor needed. Yeah, she had no life outside of the office, but that wouldn’t
last forever. Nikki had plans of her own, to travel the world anonymously, unlike
when her mother had dragged her around the globe with her entourage. No amount of
meddling from this floozy with a degree was going to change that.

Demetria’s gaze tracked to Nikki. “Did you do something different with your hair?”

Nikki absently patted her dishwater-blond strands. Like every day, she’d pulled it
back into a tight bun. Complicated hairdos took too much time, and that was something
she had little of. “No. This is how I wear it every day.”

“Yeah.” Demetria crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s the problem. I’ll give you
the number to my hairdresser.”

“She looks fine.” Tor glanced up from the file. “Did you need something, Demi?”

With a graceful turn, the attorney eased one toned butt cheek onto the edge of his
desk. How the woman could move in her skintight pencil skirt was a mystery. “I wanted
to remind you about our meeting at ten o’clock. It should only take about twenty minutes.”

He returned his attention to the papers. “Right, ten.”

Her voice lowered an octave, taking on a sexy hum. “My office.”

Nikki rolled her eyes. Was this woman ever
not
in heat?

“Yep, your office, ten o’clock.” He waved the papers toward Nikki again. “Don’t worry,
Nikki won’t let me forget.”

“Absolutely.” Nikki gave the bitch a bright smile. “I keep him on track.”

Demetria eased off the desk. If both women were barefoot, Nikki would stand several
inches taller, but the heels the attorney constantly wore had her peering down her
nose at others—all the better to intimidate the weaker employees.

Not one to be so easily dismissed, she continued, “Perhaps you should have Nikki set
up a dinner meeting for Creed. Something intimate where you can discuss expectations
and such.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” He glanced up. “Wednesday?”

“No problem.” Nikki typed a reminder into the office management app in her phone.
“Seven o’clock?”

“Works for me,” Demetria said.

Nikki glanced up. “Oh, you’re coming?”

A delicately sculpted brow arched with perfect execution. “Of course I’ll be there.
I’m Kythera’s lead attorney.”

“Right, but it’s not like they’ll be signing anything at a friendly meet and greet.”

“I
will
be there.” Demetria leaned across the desk. “But you feel free to stay home and scrapbook,
or whatever it is you do when not working.”

Oh, she did not just disrespect the scrapbooking.

“Scrapbooking is hugely underrated.” Nikki couldn’t actually claim to be a scrapbooker.
It was more like a paper addiction, namely buying copious amounts of decorative paper
and pretty embellishments. Never in the five years of collecting scrapbooking accoutrements
had she created a single tribute to a vacation, dead grandmother, or favorite pet.
All the supplies were neatly stored in a convenient wheelie carrier in case the urge
to generate a paper masterpiece ever overcame her. “You should try it sometime. It’s
very relaxing and might help get that stick out of your—”

A rap on the door interrupted Nikki’s expletive.

“Knock, knock.” Bella Stephanos, Tor’s mother, glided into the office. “Am I intruding?”

Tor didn’t bother to glance up from the file he was reading intently—far too intently
for a document he’d gone over a hundred times already. Of course, Nikki would study
boring legal documents any day over spending another minute with Demetria. “Morning,
Mother.”

“Ms. Stephanos, you look absolutely stunning,” Demetria gushed.

Nikki rolled her eyes, but she did have to admit, the woman was truly a freak of nature.
With Tor being thirty-two, she had to be pushing fifty but looked nearly the same
age as her son. Today she wore a low-cut patterned dress in varying shades of violet
and knee-high black boots. The color of the dress seemed to darken her pale blue eyes
to lavender. Jet-black hair, so like Tor’s, framed her face in a riot of curls that
had been cut into a stylish bob. If her flawless skin was a tribute to Kythera Cosmetics,
it was easy to see why she was the beauty behind the business.

“Thank you, Demetria.” Bella’s gaze scanned the other woman as one would contemplate
whether a piece of furniture fit the space. “All red today. Very daring.” The statement
was neither a compliment nor an insult. She sidled past Demetria and leaned in to
give Nikki a kiss on her cheek. “Good morning, sweetie. I hope my son didn’t have
you working all night.”

Nikki smiled, loving the slight to Demetria. “Morning, Ms. Stephanos. No, he gave
me time off for good behavior.”

Over the years, she and Tor’s mother had developed a mutual respect. Both wanted the
best for him, and even if she didn’t say it outright, Nikki suspected Ms. Stephanos
understood how much Nikki sacrificed for her boss.

His mother fingered the small bird on Nikki’s necklace. “What a beautiful pendant.
A sparrow?”

“Yes, thank you. I saw it in an antique store in Connecticut and couldn’t resist.”

“Did you know”—Ms. Stephanos released the necklace—“that the sparrow is one of Aphrodite’s
symbols?”

Nikki did know that, but also knew Tor’s mother enjoyed sharing tidbits of information
she thought no one else knew. “Really?” She caressed the bird. “That must have been
why I was drawn to it.”

“The dolphin, rose, scalloped shell, swan, and dove are also symbols of Aphrodite,”
Demetria said, as if answering a question in a trivia contest.

All three looked at her, saying nothing. She shifted uncomfortably under their stare,
and Nikki had to suppress the urge to cough, “Kiss-ass.”

Ms. Stephanos turned to her son. “Would it be possible to get a few moments alone
with my son?”

“He has nothing until ten,” Nikki said.

Tor scowled at her. Though he’d never fully explained the tension between him and
his mother, Nikki surmised that it stemmed from control issues over the business.
Both wanted to be in charge and neither gave an inch when it came to making decisions.
Tor worked harder than any person she knew, but oftentimes his mother didn’t appreciate
it. In Nikki’s opinion, Bella Stephanos had made Tor what he was today—a gorgeous
workaholic, with no room in his life for anything but Kythera Cosmetics.