Romance Addict Book Blog: BLOG TOUR & EXCERPT

Janet Maple’s stellar career ended with a layoff and her boyfriend of five years told her that he wants to be just friends. When she lands a job at one of New York’s premier boutique investment firms, Janet begins to hope that her luck is finally turning for the better. Not only is she happy with her new paycheck, but things also seem to be looking up on the personal front, as the company’s handsome attorney expresses keen interest in Janet. However, her euphoria is short-lived, as Janet soon discovers alarming facts about her new employer’s business tactics. When her boss dismisses her suspicions as groundless, Janet finds herself confiding to a cute IT engineer, Dean Snider. The closer she gets to Dean, the more Janet is tempted to break her rule of not dating co-workers, but what she doesn’t realize is that everything she knows about Dean, including his occupation and even his name, is a lie.

Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York’s premier boutique broker dealers comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?

A knock on her office door made Janet jump up in her seat. She looked at her watch. It was eleven o’clock on the dot.

“Hi, Tom.” Janet slowly looked up from her computer screen. She might have spent the last hour agonizing over her meeting with Tom, but he did not need to know that: to him, she was a busy lawyer in a leading securities firm. So what if her computer monitor merely had her email screen? Thankfully, even a man as suave as Tom Wyman did not possess x-ray vision.

“So nice to see you again, Janet.” Tom beamed her a smile, and Janet found herself wondering whether he bleached his teeth, which could put a Colgate commercial to shame. “So how do you find your second day at the firm?”

“Great, thank you. I’ve just been going through some paperwork.” Janet sensed Tom’s eyes alternating from her face to the neckline of her blouse and finally settling on her face, for which he went up a notch in her book.

“Ah, yes – the infamous non-disclosure paperwork, which I’m proud to say I drafted myself.”

Janet shot Tom a curious glance, unsure whether to raise her concerns.

“It’s nothing to be alarmed about,” Tom addressed her silent question. “For someone like yourself, the paperwork is a mere formality. We legal folks are more than aware of the importance of confidentiality, but some of the traders we’ve got working here may not be as sensitive… The biggest risk comes with disgruntled employees – whether laid off or leaving because of personal differences, unethical employees will try to take their revenge on the firm by spreading false rumors, and the purpose of the non-disclosure paperwork is to stop them from doing just that.”

“I see.” Janet nodded. “I’ll have it completed shortly.”

“So, are you ready for your first lesson in special purpose vehicles?” Tom grabbed a chair and pulled it behind Janet’s desk, settling next to her.

“We could go into a conference room,” Janet faltered. Her office suddenly seemed incredibly small with Tom being so close to her, causing her to question her outfit. Perhaps, she should have worn a blouse with a higher neckline after all.

“Why bother? It’s nice and cozy here.”

Janet sensed Tom’s shiny black eyes on her, as his knee brushed against her thigh and froze like a rabbit hypnotized by a python. Her earlier plans to flirt with Tom Wyman seemed juvenile now – Janet was no match for her overpowering opponent. Tom Wyman’s masculine presence made it clear that he was not the kind of man to be toyed around with: he expected a woman to either go all in or stay out of his way. And Janet certainly was not ready to go all in. She was not even ready to have Tom’s knee brush her thigh.

Janet’s thoughts must have been plastered all over her face because a moment later Tom pushed his chair away from hers.

“Right, so here’s a quick overview of Bostoff’s entities…” Tom shifted his chair back and opened his briefcase, laying a thick manila folder on the desk.

It must have been an accident,Janet thought of Tom’s earlier touch – either that or the man was an expert actor.

Marie Astor is the author of contemporary romance novels This Tangled Thing Called Love, Lucky Charm, On the Rim of Love, romantic suspense, To Catch a Bad Guy, and a short story collection, A Dress in a Window. Marie is also the author of young adult fantasy adventure novel, Over the Mountain and Back.

If you would like to learn more about Marie’s writing, please stop by her website: www.marieastor.com or visit her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/marieastorcollection

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Website: http://www.marieastor.com/

Other books by Marie Astor:

This Tangled Thing Call Love - A contemporary romance about overcoming one’s inhibitions, learning to tango, and finding one’s true love match.

Lucky Charm - A humorous contemporary romance about love, luck and friendship.

On the Rim of Love – A contemporary romance about the unexpected power of love.

A Dress in a Window – A collection of short stories about love, coincidences, and fate.

Over the Mountain and Back – A young adult fantasy adventure novel about a boy who takes his snowboard for a ride and finds himself in a magical, hidden world he never knew existed.