My guest today is Draven St. James! She's sharing her latest release from Loose Id "Covert Delivery" part of the holiday spring themed Eoster Basket's series.
Covert Delivery
by
Draven St. James
Release Date: March 25th
Author Bio
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.
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 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.
“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. Burgett 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.
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.
Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/draven.stjames
Blog: http://dravenstjames.wordpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DravenStJames
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/dravenstjames/
Email: Dravenstjames@gmail.com
Loose Id: http://www.loose-id.com/eostre-s-baskets-covert-delivery.html
ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-covertdelivery-1461858-149.html
.jpg)
