Covert Delivery
by
Draven St. James
BLURB
Aspen Starr is in a
bind and not in a good way. His father is trying to use him to sweeten a
business deal and being a bought boy toy holds no appeal. Just when he thinks
he has no options left Sundae’s Custom Easter Baskets knocks at his door. Soon
he finds himself blindly following a trail right into the path of a sexy new
boss and a whole new mess of carnal complications.
Garren Thomas has rules
and one of those is to never get involved with an employee. Easy to say, harder
to enforce when Aspen is hired on. With each passing day Garren's control slips
until all he wants to do is spend his days with Aspen in his bed.
When faced with giving into his desires,
Garren sees his simple life being torn apart. Can he get Aspen out of his
system without losing his heart? Aspen isn't much better off. He is drawn to
Garren, but he can't help the fear that the secrets from his past will destroy
it all. As Aspen's begins to lose himself within the confusion of sex and love
one question plagues him: who sent the basket?
EXCERPT
Garren
pushed away from the wall and into the light of the lobby. “Looks like I missed
out on a lot.”
Aspen
ducked his head and went to his desk to dig around in a drawer. The first time
Taylor had sent him shopping for office supplies, Aspen had bought random
sheets of kids’ stickers. On the rare occasion Taylor performed child
evaluations, a little bribery to bring out good behavior never hurt. Aspen came
away with two sheets of fairy stickers.
“Not
too much. We’re working on crowns and a new kingdom.” Aspen swerved around
Garren, his eyes twinkling. “Do you want a crown?”
Garren
narrowed his eyes on Aspen. He put his hands on Aspen’s shoulders to stop him
and leaned in to whisper, “That was low. There’s no way I can refuse those
pixies. I’m going to end up with a glittery, construction-paper crown glued to
my head, aren’t I?"
Aspen
looked over his shoulder. “Don’t worry there won’t be glitter on yours. I’ll be
the queen,” he murmured with a grin. “So you’ll need to fill the role as king.”
Garren
shook his head. “You’re trouble.”
Aspen
shimmied to dislodge Garren’s hands. “You just figured that out?”
With
a resigned sigh Garren followed him.
Garren brushed his thumb over Aspen’s full lower
lip, and desire zinged through his body when Aspen’s tongue peeked out to trace
the path. Garren’s brain screamed what a huge mistake kissing Aspen would be,
but at that point he wasn’t being ruled by his head.
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Girls, I found
someone else who needs a crown,” Aspen declared, gesturing at Garren.
The tykes jumped up
and down. Garren fought the urge to reach out and hug Aspen for giving them
this moment of levity even at Garren’s expense.
Aspen held out the
stickers, and the enthusiasm magnified until the girls were dancing around
the room. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” the girls chanted in a singsong
fashion.
A softly murmured,
“Oh my,” came from behind Garren.
Garren turned to yet
again see the shimmer of tears in Mrs. Burgett’s eyes, but a smile
accompanied the moisture.
Aspen grinned back at
her. “I hope you don’t mind. The girls have been fantastic. We’ve managed to
make crowns and bracelets.”
“Even for you,
Mommy,” one of the twins piped up and ran over to Mrs. Burgett to carefully
hand her the items as though they were made of glass.
Mrs. Baker cradled
them. “Thank you, Maryann.”
“Becca and Mr. Aspen
helped,” Maryann replied.
“And we ate apples
and cheese crackers,” Becca added.
Garren looked briefly
at Aspen. He’d seen Aspen eating the same things earlier in the week.
“That was very nice
of Mr. Aspen,” Mrs. Burgett said with a hitch in her voice. “But we have to
go now, girls.”
“Oh,” the girls
replied with exaggerated pouts on both their faces.
“Say thank-you to Mr.
Aspen,” Mrs. Burgett directed.
Both girls ran over
to Aspen and threw their arms around his waist. “Sorry we didn’t get a chance
to make your crown,” Becca said.
“That’s fine,
sweetheart. I’ll be sure to make a matching one when you leave,” Aspen
assured her.
“You need to make
two,” Maryann interjected. “One for the big king behind you. That way we’ll
know you’re helping rule the kingdom even if we can’t see you.”
Garren wanted to pick
the girl up and hug her. Tell her that everything would work itself out and
she’d never be hurt again. While it was a possibility if Mrs. Burgett went
through with the charges, he wouldn’t make promises he couldn’t keep.
“Thank you, Mr.
Aspen,” Mrs. Burgett said. “You don’t know how much I appreciate you taking
care of my girls.”
“You’re welcome,”
Aspen responded.
Maryann and Becca
skipped over to their mom, and grabbed hold of her hands as they exited the
office.
Garren stared after
their retreating backs. He grimaced at the tattered clothes and worn shoes.
His jaw clenched, and he pivoted and stalked back to his office. The lump in
his throat threatened to shatter his control of his emotions. He made it
through the door, placed his hands on his desk, and breathed deeply. Mrs.
Burgett reminded him of his mother.
Aspen lightly touched
his back, and Garren jerked around to gaze at him.
“I know you’ll do all
you can,” Aspen confided.
“And you?” Garren
cracked and cupped Aspen’s face with one hand. “You gave those little girls
your lunch and made them laugh. You took away their stress and let them be
kids.”
Aspen glanced away.
“I did what anyone else would do. They deserve to have as much joy as every
other child.”
“You’re wrong. Not
everyone would do what you did. I think most would have set them in the lobby
and spent the time telling them to be quiet.” Garren had seen that reality
time and time again.
Aspen shrugged.
Garren caved and leaned
in until his lips were mere inches from Aspen’s. “You are so beautiful.”
Aspen didn’t back
away. His breath came faster, and his eyes flashed with that same glow Garren
had seen in the past.
“Garren,” Aspen
whispered with a thread of uncertainty.
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AUTHOR BIO &
CONTACT
I’m
a born and raised Oregonian. I’ve traveled extensively in search of mischief
and mayhem to fill my books. My ventures
have been quite successful in inspiring a wealth of stories both sexy and
humorous. It gives me a great excuse to
do some crazy stuff in the name of research. Of course at the end of the day,
coffee within reach, laptop at the ready is where I find my peace.
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