Release Day!
Out today from Ellora's Cave!
A short fun story about the kind of trouble you can get into at a conference far from home!
The blurb:
A software conference with a lot of techie geeks sounds boring, but Kenzie’s excited about this one. She’s going to see Noah Chambers again! After meeting once, she hasn’t been able to get his sexy smile out of her head. Noah’s looking forward to seeing Kenzie again too. He knows it should be strictly business, but dammit, she’s hot and he’s kind of hoping four days in a hotel with her might lead to more than tech talk.
Reader Advisory: This book contains a scorching ménage scene with light male/male touching.
Here's a short excerpt from Conference Call:
“I drove you crazy, didn’t I? With the presentation."
His smile widened. “Not at all.”
Remembering all the phone calls and e-mails she’d pestered him with, she suppressed a groan. “I did.”
“I like your work ethic,” he said. “You worked very hard on the presentation and you kept me on track. I’m not a detail person and you are.”
“Some might say anal.”
His lips twitched. “Whatever. Thank you for keeping me on track.” Their eyes connected. And held.
“Kenzie?”
Hearing her name behind her, she turned. Her eyes flew open wide and a smile tugged at her lips. “Shaun!” Shaun came toward her with open arms.
“Hi, gorgeous,” he said, and pulled her in for a big hug and a kiss. He felt so good, big and warm, and she inhaled the scent of his aftershave, that woodsy spicy scent she still remembered. When he released her she was breathless and laughing. She pushed her bangs out of her eyes.
“It’s so good to see you!” She smiled up at him. She and Shaun had met two years ago at a conference not unlike this one, in Miami. He lived in New York, but they still e-mailed each other and when Kenzie had spent a week in New York on vacation with a friend, she and Shaun had gotten together for one night.
He still held her hand, smiling down at her. “You too.” His light brown hair still hung in a curly mop over his forehead and his hazel eyes crinkled at the corners attractively. “Hey, you cut your hair.”
She touched her hair again. “Yeah, a while ago.”
“It looks nice.” His eyes were warm with approval. “You’re still as gorgeous as ever.”
Kenzie suddenly remembered Noah standing there. She turned to him to introduce the two men and was taken aback by the black frown on Noah’s face.
“Uh...Shaun, this is Noah Chambers. Noah and I are doing a presentation together on Thursday. Noah, Shaun Elliott. Shaun works for Global Strategies in New York.”
The two men shook hands, eyeing each other. Noah’s eyes flashed and his mouth tightened, while Shaun studied him coolly.
Kenzie’s eyes darted back and forth between them. Oh dear lord. They were both gorgeous guys. She and Shaun had spent a very hot few days together in Miami, and had remained friends since. There was still a snap of attraction there, and for a few seconds she’d actually forgotten Noah.
But she’d been fantasizing about Noah for months. And he didn’t look very happy at the interruption. She bit her lip.
“You’re here for the conference too?” she asked Shaun.
“You bet.”
“Um. We were just getting a drink.”
Shaun stepped up to the bar beside her. “White wine?”
She smiled. He remembered. “Yes, that would be nice.”
Shaun turned to Noah. “Noah?”
“I’ll get it.” His words were clipped. He moved to Kenzie’s other side and ordered a beer from another bartender. Shaun waved Kenzie aside when she reached for her purse.
“My treat.” He picked up his beer with a smile.
“Thanks.” To her left, Noah made what almost sounded like a low growling noise. Kenzie glanced sideways at him.
“So Noah,” she said brightly as they stepped away from the bar, drinks in hand. “How many people from Merritt are coming?”
“About ten,” Noah replied shortly, still glowering. “Six from the Chicago office, three from Seattle. It’s a bit of a perk for our high performers.”
She gave a saucy smile. “Guess I’m not one of those high performers. I had to work my ass off on a presentation to get to come to this conference.”
Shaun and Noah both smiled, Noah somewhat reluctantly.
“And a very nice ass it is,” Shaun whispered in her ear, leaning closer to her.
“You are a high performer.” Noah’s scowl deepened. Had he heard what Shaun said? “That’s why I asked you to do the presentation with me.”
“Thank you.” Heat swept over her from both men’s compliments and their intense gazes. She smiled, her lips trembling. Tension rose in her and she swallowed.
“What’s your presentation about?” Shaun asked, and Kenzie dragged her eyes away from Noah back to Shaun.
“It’s...um...” God, her mind had gone empty.
“The importance of interpersonal skills in the technical world,” Noah said. “Kenzie’s been working on a project with our leadership team to develop soft skills—communication, negotiation, persuasion, problem solving, teamwork skills—that kind of thing. That’s why I asked her to do this presentation with me.”
Shaun nodded. “Interesting,” he said. “I’ve been working on a similar project. Kenzie, what resources are you using? Did you hire an outside consultant?”
Kenzie and Shaun started talking about their projects, and Noah listened, his mouth a straight line, eyes narrowed.
“Noah has great people skills too,” Kenzie said. Ah, hell, talk about a lame-ass attempt to include him in the conversation. Heat swept over her body.
He smiled tightly. Silence throbbed as the two men glared at each other. Oh dear lord. This was awkward.
Luckily, at that moment Scott, Jeff and some others from Seattle joined them. Noah introduced everyone and the conversation turned to shop talk about agile methodologies. Kenzie watched in growing amusement as Noah and Shaun each tried to outdo the other with their technical knowledge.
She rolled her eyes. Dear God, men could be such idiots. What was their problem? Noah seemed really pissed that Shaun was there. Of course, Shaun hadn’t exactly been subtle in his flirting with her. Was it possible Noah was...jealous?