Sugar & Spice
by Kristen Beairsto
Self-Published
Contemporary Romance
Heat Level: Steamy
Length: 122 pages
Available at:
Blurb:
Sugar and spice makes everything nice, but mixing
business and pleasure can come with a price . . .
Francis Stevens – Frankie to her friends – has declared
herself permanently single after a couple of monumentally disastrous
relationships. And she doesn’t mind at all. Between
the international expansion of the lingerie catalog company she runs with her
friends, labor strikes, and her regular work load, she has little time for love
or a relationship.
But Royce Weston has other ideas. After
his family accuses him of becoming a workaholic, a chance encounter with
Frankie at a night club has his mind on things other than business. As
luck would have it, Royce winds up the executive assigned to work with Frankie
and her lingerie company when she partners with his family’s investment firm to
fund her expansion.
Despite
Frankie’s outward appearance of confidence and swagger, insecurities rear up
and cause her to over compensate and drive harder for what she wants. Doubts
weigh her down and with Royce watching her every move, she fights to keep her
businesswoman’s façade firmly in place. But while Frankie tries her best to
keep her mind on business, she can’t ignore the way Royce’s touch makes her
feel or the fact that he makes it clear he’s interested in more than just a
business relationship. When all of her defense mechanisms fail
to keep him at arm’s length, Frankie finds herself wondering: is it possible to
mix business and pleasure?
Excerpt:
“Any chance you’d leave the
catalog to come have dinner with me?”
Frankie froze. Was he asking her out? She shook her head, reminding herself it
didn’t matter.
Frankie dropped her pencil and
sat back in her chair to stretch for a moment, “Sorry, I can’t. I need to get this done as soon as
possible. Wisconsin really set me back.” She tried to stomp down her regret.
“That’s what I thought you’d
say.”
Whipping around, Frankie stared
disbelieving at the sight of Royce standing in the doorway leading to her
office. Looking much the same the night
he showed up at her apartment with dark hair mussed, suit jacket slung over his
arm, tie undone hanging around his neck, and his briefcase in his hand along
with a brown paper bag. In his free
hand, he held his BlackBerry to his ear.
The corner of his mouth curving
upward, he took the phone from his ear and turned it off without taking his
eyes off her.
“How did you get in?” Frankie
finally asked when she found her voice again.
Arching a brow, Royce pointed to
the cell phone she still held to her ear.
Turning her head, Frankie looked
blankly at the phone as though she didn’t know how it got there. With an embarrassed blush rushing up her cheeks,
she rolled her eyes at herself and turned the phone off.
Royce strolled into the room,
“You forget, Weston, Inc. owns this building, which means I have access to a
key,” he set his briefcase and the bag of food on the table beside her layouts,
“but we can’t talk because we have to dance.”
Totally bewildered, Frankie just
stared at him, “Huh?”
Coming around behind her chair,
Royce pulled it out from under the table, “My mother was born and raised in
Vegas. If there’s one thing she taught
me, other than never talk to strangers and always brush my teeth …” he informed
her as he pulled Frankie to her feet, her shock at his sudden appearance and
his announcement made it easy.
Taking her hand in his, he moved
her other hand to his shoulder and his free hand took up a firm position at the
small of her back. He pulled her so
close she felt the heat of his body envelop her, “You never let a beautiful
woman sit while she listened to Ol’ Blue Eyes.
Frank’s songs were made for dancing.”
As Fly With Me began, Frankie had the vague sensation of her feet
moving in step as Royce led her in time with the melody.
“I should warn you, I’ve broken
toes before,” she tried for a light tone.
She found herself having a hard time breathing. Had the room been this warm all night?
With the same lopsided grin, “I
think I’ll take my chances,” he informed her right before moving her into an
unexpected turn.
Almost losing her balance, Royce
caught her just before she lost her footing, causing her to laugh as she fell
back in step with him. She couldn’t help
but enjoy herself. When he moved for
another turn, she stood ready for him, laughing smugly, ridiculously proud of
herself.
“Not bad,” he gave an approving
nod.
“Maybe for an empty office, but
not exactly ballroom material,” she joked.
The song ended and flowed into Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered so
quickly, Frankie didn’t even notice when Royce slowed their movements
considerably.
Smiling at him, Frankie relished
the feel of his arms firmly around her for a moment, “You’re very good at
this.”
Royce grinned, “It’s one of the
main attractions on my resume. My mother
thinks it's romantic to be able to dance this way, while my father only knows
how to dance this way. When they started
dragging me to their friends’ parties, I didn’t have a choice but to learn.”
“Well, you’re still very
good. And I agree with your mother, it
is romantic,” she chuckled.
When they actually stopped
moving, Frankie didn’t know. But she
soon realized they stood still, his fierce sapphire gaze locked with hers. She ordered herself to break the contact to
look anywhere else but into his eyes, but she couldn’t.
He leaned slightly downward
towards her, “Maybe Mom was right,” he whispered, his head descending the rest
of the way.
About the Author:
In between her to-be-read pile and trying to bring the
characters in her head alive, Kristen spends as much time as she can with
family and friends. Much to her husband’s dismay, she
enjoys collecting purses, shoes, and jewelry. During
those rare times she’s not working at her day job, rushing her daughters
somewhere, watching movies with her husband, and trying to meet a deadline, she
can usually be found energetically cheering for one of her favorite New York
As with just about every other writer on the planet,
Kristen grew up an avid reader. She started with young adult before she
technically hit the age range and moved on to sci-fi classics by Isaac Asimov
and Ray Bradbury. At fifteen, her best friend gave her a
book she just had to read! The
book was Honest Illusions by Nora Roberts. Always
a sucker for a happy ending, she was a goner and fell in love with the romance
genre. Having started writing novel length
stories at the age of eleven, Kristen’s stories all took a romantic turn from
that point on.
Visit Kristen online at:
Email -
kristen.beairsto@yahoo.com
Website
- http://www.KristenBeairsto.com
Twitter
- https://twitter.com/#!/AuthorKBeairsto
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