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Chapter One

“Crapple Dapple, are you kidding me?” Suzy looked at her best friend Claire in horror

“Crapple Dapple?”

Waving her hand in a vague way, Suzy said, “Oh yeah, I’ so much at work The new receptionist they hired for our section crosses herself every tiave Claire a few ot back to the question she’d asked “Claire, earth to Claire, co the tears froh to continue

“U to take over daily operations at Danvers for the foreseeable future and Jason prefers that he relocate here to Myrtle Beach to do that He trusts Gray, and although he will continue on as the CEO of Danvers, Gray will step up as the President of Operations”

Last year, Danvers International had est communications company in the United States Grayson Merimon, or Gray as everyone called him, was the CEO of Mericom which was based in Charleston, South Carolina Much to her chagrin, he’d been spending a lot of tier was complete Tall, dark and handsome—yes he had it all The man looked like sex on a stick and he’d made no secret of the fact that he was very interested in her Suzy however wasn’t interested in hi cheated on by her high school sweetheart, thethe rest of her life with,was so she wanted to avoid in the work place

“It’s the kid isn’t it? It hasn’t even been born yet and already it’s turning roaned

“Well, Jason does want to be able to spend more time withto do with it”

“I knew it!” Catching herself least she offend Claire, Suzy tried to get control She also tried to understand why she was suddenly terrified at the thought of seeing Gray daily She’d spent a lot of tier She was always careful to have so, gutsy person inside her wondered why that was necessary, the wo in Gray’s eyes that called to her, seemed to devour her soul every time she looked at hi she could to save herself

Suzy realized that Claire atching her, a knowing look in her eyes Quickly putting her defenses up, Suzy did what she did best, bluffed “Ugh, well no biggie I guess Just another uptight geek to grace our presence here, right? I ht since he was here annoying me last time Maybe he will actually buy hiht, heavily starched suits are so depressing He should really lay off the hair products Do you think a hurricane could rimaced as she looked at Claire Ok, maybe she should have limited those comments to no more than two She was rattled and when that happened, the words kept flowing no rateful that it was Claire though, soe her or try to peel the layers back to see what all the protests were hiding Claire didn’t have to, because she knew

Suzy had met Claire at Danvers International where they both worked years ago Claire was the personal assistant to the company president and CEO, Jason Danvers, while she handled all the special events for Danvers, for which there were many Two people couldn’t be more opposite than they were but it worked She was loud and outgoing, Claire was quiet and thoughtful Claire had long auburn hair that hung loose around her shoulders; thank God she’d given up the ponytails and buns she used to wear Suzy had long red hair that she styled to suit her mood She also dressed to suit her e role They were both blessed to be a little above average in height, and she couldn’t lie, she loved her perky plump boobs If you could take half of each, they would make the perfect person

It was so hard to believe that the person sitting in front of her noas nant with his child The fairy tale had finally co had slayed all of her dragons Suzy couldn’t think of anyone who deserved it more After a lifeti with her sister in a car accident several years ago, Claire had struggled to support her ailing mother When her mother suffered a stroke, her medication was altered and her recovery was miraculous The veryher Now she lived next door to Claire in a house designed by Jason Claire had given up the boring clothing and hair style she’d always favored and now she practically glowed She was still Jason’s assistant, until after the baby was born If Suzy were a person prone to crying, this story would certainly have her sobbing

Claire reached over and covered Suzy’s hand with her own “Suz, it’ll be fine Gray really isn’t that bad when you get to know him I’m actually quite fond of hi here to assist with the daily operations”

“Nicholas? Stuffed shirt has a brother? God please don’t tellhot too!”

Laughing, Claire said, “Well I don’t knohat you consider s and he’s quite good looking Not as good looking as Jason because no one looks that good but well above average”

Looking at Claire in horror, Suzy sputtered out “Geez, where do these guys coood, every woman here will stay in heat”

“Every woman, Suz?”

“Um, well not you obviously, I mean, except for Jason and not ood piece of eye candy, but for sure every other woman here”

Suzy knew that her friend wasn’t fooled for a e the subject Even as she asked all the right questions about Claire’s new life, her reen eyes that seeh all of her defenses and she was deathly afraid that the battle to storun

Chapter Two

Suzy stepped off the elevator at the fourteenth floor of Danvers International This floor was pri depart all the special events required her to work closely with the her office on the same floor was beneficial and saved her considerable ti between floors It would be nice to be closer to her friend Claire, but she was just an elevator ride away

Suzy cringed as she saw the new receptionist up ahead waving frantically at her Ella was someone she tried to avoid as much as possible She couldn’t possibly be more than thirty years old but had hair like a seventy-year-old church lady Ok, not that there was anything wrong with that, but co old teased-up mullet hair style If she could stand one second of extra ti her a makeover

“Ms Denton, Ms Denton, I didn’t think you’d ever co down at her watch in disapproval, Ella shook her head and stared at her as if waiting for an apology for being longer than an hour