Jorja's new release is the latest, great story from...
The Department Store. this one is First Floor: Cosmetics.
The cosmetics department is now open! First Floor: Cosmetics
is available for early download at Totally Bound.
Blurb
Take one younger man, add some
illicit outdoor sex, and Maggie Fenton is inclined to forget she’s the oldest
cosmetics girl at Kelsey’s Department Store.
From the outside, it looks as though Maggie Fenton has it all. The
glamorous head of the cosmetics department lives a life of luxury, but money
definitely hasn’t bought her happiness. In reality, she’s married to a serial
cheat who has made her life a misery for over a decade. With her husband
chasing younger women, and her teenage co-workers’ catty comments ringing in
her ears, Maggie’s resigned herself to being on the scrap heap. Until Jonah
Hamilton puts temptation in her way and reminds her she’s still a red-blooded
woman.
Commitment is a four letter word as far as Jonah is concerned. He has no
intention of settling down when he has the whole world at his feet. The only
reason he takes a summer job at Kelsey’s is to fund his travels. Well, that,
and the sexy older woman he can’t help flirting with over the makeup counter.
Maggie soon becomes a good friend and someone who shows him how good love can
be.
The chemistry between them is undeniable but is a fling enough to
satisfy their desires, or is it simply the start of something bigger?
Excerpt
Jonah blinked as Maggie disappeared out of
the door faster than an alcoholic to a free bar. Her husband had really done a
number on her for her to have such low confidence. Her self-esteem was so
fragile, one joke had shattered it to smithereens. He couldn’t let her leave
like that, thinking such despicable thoughts about herself. And him.
He left the rest of his pint to give
chase. He didn’t know why it mattered so much that someone he hardly knew was
upset, but he didn’t want to part with her on bad terms.
I’m such a dick.
He dodged through the crowd, cursing
himself. Any other sober, conscious of other people’s feelings dumbass would’ve
realized she needed that reassurance her husband couldn’t give her. Instead,
he’d laughed, convinced that the funny, warm, gorgeous woman with him would
realize how daft she was being. Perhaps he’d been too cautious about letting
his true thoughts about her be known.
All he’d done was to confirm her
suspicions that she was nothing more than a has-been, when, in his experience,
she was the most grounded, deeper than a fish pond, natural goddess he’d met in
a long time.
He barged the heavy wooden doors open to
see the smokers gathered outside in the last of the evening sun. With no sign
of Maggie, he knew he’d blown it. Away from the cloud of smoke clogging his
lungs, he scanned up and down Great Victoria Street. Among the student crowd,
the young professionals and the theater-goers, he spotted her hot-footing it
away, dabbing her eyes with a tissue.
Shit!
He sprinted after her, not really caring
who he knocked out of his path, but apologizing anyway. “Excuse me. Sorry.
Move!”
Her steps slowed as she approached the
traffic lights, giving him time to cover the distance between them. Before she
could put her foot out onto the road, he grabbed her elbow and yanked her back.
“What the hell?” She stiffened, probably
ready to batter her assailant with the handbag she was gripping like a deadly
weapon. Only when she saw his face did she stop resisting.
With grim determination, he pulled her
back the way she had come, not saying a word.
“Jonah? What’s going on? I need to go
home.” The tone of her voice varied from loud, outright panic to quiet
resignation. It only succeeded in driving him on in his quest.
When they reached the pub again, he dodged
down the alleyway at the side. They didn’t need an audience. He pushed Maggie
up against the wall, careful not to hurt her, but with enough force to stop her
running again. He caged her between his body and the brick building. As she
worried her bottom lip with her teeth, Jonah leaned down to catch it and draw
it back out. She was soft and pliant, and her gentle scent intoxicated him
further.
With a point to prove, he kissed her hard,
plunging his tongue into her mouth to taste her sweetness and claim it for
himself. Ordinarily, such an audacious move might’ve deserved a slap or a knee
to the balls. Either would’ve been worth it. Instead, she went limp beneath
him, submitting immediately.
Whoa!
He stepped back. “That is how you make me
feel. How you should be kissed.”
Christ, the way she had responded to it
made it a double sin that someone didn’t do that to her frequently.
Maggie stared back at him, her brow
furrowed and her kiss-swollen lips parted and waiting. Beer or no beer, a
certain part of his anatomy sat up to say hello.
Both he and Maggie stared silently at one
another. Deep down Jonah knew he should be the one to walk away this time. He’d
made his point. She was attractive and he fancied her. She could file that away
for future reference the next time her husband went MIA. Jonah lingered on her
moist lips a while longer.
“Do it again,” he could have sworn she
said.
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