Working On Love (The Griffin Brothers Book 6)

BOOK: Working On Love (The Griffin Brothers Book 6)
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Working
On Love

Book
#6 of The Griffin Brothers

by
Crystal Perkins

Copyright © 2014 by Crystal
Perkins

Cover Design by Helen Williams

http://www.allbookedout.com/

Ebook
formatting by
Jesse
Gordon

All
trademarks are owned by their respective companies and are denoted by
the use of proper capitalization of the company and/or brand.

All
rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved
above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or
introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or
by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright
owner and the above publisher of this book. This contemporary erotic
romance is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands,
media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the
trademarked status and trademark owners of various products
referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without
permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not
authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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Table
of Contents

About
Working On Love

Other
Books by Crystal Perkins

Chapter
1

Chapter
2

Chapter
3

Chapter
4

Chapter
5

Chapter
6

Chapter
7

Chapter
8

Chapter
9

Chapter
10

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

About
the Author

About Working On Love

The
boy she loved has now
become the man she despises...

Fashion designer
Quinn Daniels has been in love with tattoo artist Zane Wilson for
over half her life. When they were younger he only had eyes for one
girl, and it wasn’t her. But for the last seven years he’s been
hers, and it’s been perfect. Two months ago that all changed. His
girl from the past showed up, and he left with her. Now he’s back,
and wants another chance, but trusting him almost destroyed her once.
She’s not ready to make the same mistake again.

His
heart’s been broken, and only one
woman can put it back together
again...

Zane Wilson loves
Quinn Daniels more than life itself. Yeah he was a stupid teenager,
and thought he was in love with the wrong girl, but that all changed
seven years ago. He let Quinn go once so she could pursue her dreams,
and again when he thought he was doing the right thing. But he’s
done making mistakes, and letting his past interfere with the present
and future he wants with her. Now he just needs to convince her that
she’s the only woman he’s ever truly loved, and that he’s never
going to leave her again.

A
secret heartache could break them up
for good—or make them
stronger than ever...

Just when it looks
like they may have a second chance at love, the other woman comes to
town again, and this time she’s not alone. Zane’s going to need
help this time, because it’s not just Quinn he’s fighting for.
Can she help him heal while still protecting herself?

Other Books by Crystal Perkins

Gaming For Love
(The Griffin Brothers #1)

Building
Our Love
(The Griffin Brothers #2)

Creating A Love
(The Griffin Brothers #3)

Learning
To Love
(The Griffin Brothers #4)

Designing
The Love
(The Griffin Brothers #5)

Chapter 1

Alex

I’m excited as I walk
into the Corrigan & Co. Las Vegas building for my first day of
work. I’ll be working with Jane Corrigan in the foundation part of
the company. Well, actually, I guess I’ll be directly reporting to
Reina, who is her second-in-command. I’ve seen the foundation on
the news quite often, helping women around the world. I want to be
part of something like that, even if I might need help myself.

I’m supposed to be in
summer school right now taking extra voice lessons, but I just
couldn’t do it. I loved to sing in high school and thought it was
what I wanted to do as a career, until that love was taken from me;
stolen from me by the man I pretended to love. I say pretended
because only one boy has ever truly held my heart. He didn’t want
it then, and now, as a man, he’d want it even less. But it’s his.

I thought Nick would be
a good substitute. He’s definitely hot and was very nice when I met
him at The Smith Center, where I was watching a performance. It
wasn’t until after we slept together, and he told me I wasn’t
adventurous enough, that things took a bad turn. Never mind that I’d
been a virgin when we got together. He thought I was going to be like
that girl in
that
book. He even built himself a “special” room. I still haven’t
been in that room, but I have let him tie me up and spank me a
little. I mean, I was going to keep having sex with him anyway—it’s
not like I’ll be virgin again if I don’t. The sex isn’t a big
deal— I’m just not interested in doing the things he wants.

Unfortunately, I may
not have much of a choice. The bastard secretly videotaped our first
time. He threatened to release it when I told him I was leaving him.
I have no doubt that he’s continued to videotape us, but I’m
powerless to stop it. My uncles were all a little wild, but my family
would seriously freak if I had a sex tape released. They all think
I’m so sweet and innocent. I’m not. I mean, I’m not wild, but
I’m almost nineteen, not a little girl.

On top of pressuring me
for crazy sex, Nick also likes to tell me how much I suck at singing.
I thought our shared love of music is what attracted him to me, but I
was wrong. So wrong. He belittles me every chance he gets. Not just
about singing, either. I’m confident enough in myself to not let it
get me down, but it’s draining to listen to it over and over again.

I’m hoping that
working here, with this group of strong women who help others, will
give me an idea of how to extricate myself from this mess. I’ve
been doing okay so far, but I have a feeling things are going to
escalate in a bad way. His emotional abuse has been ramping up, and I
know I’m not going to be able to keep holding out on him when it
comes to his kinkier fantasies. Something’s coming, and I think it
may happen around my birthday next month.

I push those thoughts
aside as I walk into the Corrigan & Co. Foundation offices. I see
my desk. Or what will be my desk once I’m trained. Right now
there’s a beautiful woman with red hair manning it. She’s intent
on whatever’s on her tablet, so she doesn’t notice me right away.
When she does, she surprises me by jumping up and coming around the
desk to hug me.

I’m surprised to see
her plaid shirt with jeans tucked into cowboy boots. Especially since
when she speaks to me, there’s no southern accent. “Hi Alex. I
can call you Alex, right?”

I come out of my daze
at her question and look up into her smiling face. “Yeah. Sure. You
can call me that.”

“Great. I’m Tegan.
Let me tell you, the girls and I are beyond happy that you’re here.
We’ve been taking turns manning this desk, but we kind of suck at
it.”

“It’s that hard? I
didn’t think it was that hard.”

“It probably isn’t,
but we’re used to doing other things, so it’s hard for
us.

She laughs, and I join in.

“Okay, good. You
scared me a little.”

“Don’t be scared of
us. We’ve all got your back and absolutely love your grandma and
your aunts.”

“You’ve met them?”

“Yep. And now I’ve
said more than I should.”

“What? Why?”

Before she can answer,
Reina walks into the lobby. I met her when I interviewed with Jane.
She is drop-dead gorgeous, and kind of scary, if I’m being honest.
She’s about 5’8” tall with long black hair that has some brown
mixed in. Her skin is tan, but it looks as flawless as porcelain,
although she’s definitely not a fragile doll. She’s in a dress
that’s sexy, but makes her look powerful at the same time. I think
she’s in her late twenties or early thirties, but although she’s
young, you can tell she’s someone you wouldn’t want to mess with.
I also know she’s compassionate. She wouldn’t have her job if she
wasn’t.

“There you are, Alex.
I had a feeling that Tegan might have been detaining you.”

“Sorry, Rei. I was
just so excited to meet her.”

“Everyone else is,
too. Lock the door, Teeg, and meet us in the Society conference
room.”

“You got it, boss.”

Reina and I start to
walk away, but she frowns and turns before we get far. “And, Tegan?
Why is country music playing in here?”

“You know it’s my
favorite.”

“Switch it back,”
she tells her, sounding stern but smiling at the same time.

“Tegan’s nice.”

“Yes she is, Alex. We
have a group of wonderful women who work for the foundation. I’m
glad you’ll be joining us.”

“Me too. Thanks for
hiring me.”

“You’re welcome,
but in all reality, you did us a favor. We weren’t sure who we
could get for the job. Olivia was going to try and fill in part-time
until we found you.”

“Olivia?”

“Yes, Olivia,” she
tells me as she steps in front of some large doors. There are no door
handles, and I know my eyes widen as she places her palm on the wall
beside it then proceeds to have both her hand and eye scanned.
Through the wall, it’s like something out of a sci-fi movie. The
doors slide open and she motions me in.

I walk in and what I
see stops me in my tracks. There’s a huge table in the middle of
this giant room. It’s shaped like a star, and has seats around all
the points. There are also seats in a circle around the main table.
The walls have monitors on all sides, along with some desks. It’s
not the set-up that’s freaking me out. It’s who’s at the table
and chairs.

Jane is at the top tip
of the star. Reina goes to sit next to her, and a blonde is already
sitting on her other side. She’s dressed nothing like Reina—she
has on glasses, her hair is in a messy bun, and she’s got on a
baggy sweatshirt—but she’s just as gorgeous. Matt is sitting in
the chair behind them. That’s a little weird, too. He’s the
President and CEO of Corrigan, so I wouldn’t expect him to be
sitting in the second ring of chairs. He’s not the only surprise,
though.

My grandma’s at the
point to her left. She has a stunning woman on each side of her, as
well. One has light brown, almost blonde, hair and blue eyes. The
other is Latin and smoking hot. I’m not gay, but even I can
appreciate the sexiness radiating off of her. Behind them, in the
outer chairs, are my aunts who are all smiling at me. Against the
wall is my Uncle Scott. He’s smiling, too. I’m not sure what to
make of this, but I decide to finish looking around before I speak.

On the other side of
Jane is Cyndi Evans and two more women. One of them is Tegan. The
other looks like she may be part Asian, with brown hair going past
where I can see it. Where do they find all these women? Are they
models? Cyndi’s granddaughter Mara, and her wife, Leila, are
sitting behind them.

Closer to me, Mallory
Daniels sits with another two women, and Quinn is behind her. These
women are like pin-ups, one with long, white blonde hair; the other
with bright orange hair that barely brushes her shoulder. Both are
flawlessly made up, although they’re dressed very differently. The
blonde looks like she walked off the pages of a magazine, while the
redhead is in a black leather dress.

Finally, I look to the
other side and see Helen Wilson. The women with her, are of course
beautiful, but also as different as the other pairs are. The one with
reddish brown hair looks almost like royalty, while the one with
brown hair and short bangs could be a rock star. Zane is at a desk
behind her.

After I look around at
everyone, I turn back to look at Jane. She smiles at me, and then
turns to Reina, who stands. “Welcome to the Society, Alex.”

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