The Rule Book
Rule Breakers #1
Jennifer Blackwood
Publication Date: May 9, 2016
Genre: Adult, New Adult, Contemporary Romance, Entangled Embrace
Starr Media Second-Assistant Survival Guide
1. Don’t call your hot boss the antichrist to his face.
2. Don’t stare at hot boss’s, um, package or his full sleeve of tattoos. (No. Really. Stop!)
3. Don’t get on the malicious first assistant’s bad side.
4. Don’t forget to memorize the 300-page employee manual.
5. If you value your cashmere, steer clear of boss’s dog.
6. Boss’s dimples are lust-inducing. Do. Not. Give. In.
7. “The elevator ate your clothes” is not a valid excuse for showing up to important meetings half dressed.
8. Don’t break seven of the rules within the first week of employment if you, ya know, are in dire need of money to support your sick mom.
9. Whatever you do, don’t fall for the boss. See rule eight about sick mom.
10. Never forget the rules.
1. Don’t call your hot boss the antichrist to his face.
2. Don’t stare at hot boss’s, um, package or his full sleeve of tattoos. (No. Really. Stop!)
3. Don’t get on the malicious first assistant’s bad side.
4. Don’t forget to memorize the 300-page employee manual.
5. If you value your cashmere, steer clear of boss’s dog.
6. Boss’s dimples are lust-inducing. Do. Not. Give. In.
7. “The elevator ate your clothes” is not a valid excuse for showing up to important meetings half dressed.
8. Don’t break seven of the rules within the first week of employment if you, ya know, are in dire need of money to support your sick mom.
9. Whatever you do, don’t fall for the boss. See rule eight about sick mom.
10. Never forget the rules.
EXCERPT
From:
Brogan Starr
To:
Lainey Taylor
Subject:
Meeting tomorrow
Lainey,
Jackson
will be out of the building tomorrow. Can you schedule a phone conference with
Patrick Duvall tomorrow at 8pm. Tell him we’ll be discussing his client’s
growth in media following.
-B
Brogan
Starr,
CEO Starr Media Antichrist
My heart tapped tiny staccato
beats against my ribcage. He’d emailed me—okay, because Jackson was off
tomorrow, but still!—to handle someone as important as Patrick Duvall, and he’d
snuck in a joke about being the devil. I quickly clicked the reply button and
pondered how to respond. The appropriate reply would be a short On it, boss,
but when in the past few weeks had I been appropriate around Brogan Starr?
No sense in starting now.
From:
Lainey Taylor
To:
Brogan Starr
Subject:
Re: Meeting tomorrow
I
will call him first thing in the morning. Hope you get to leave the office
soon.
Lainey
Taylor
Second
Assistant to Anti-Antichrist
Person
Suffering from Chronic Foot in Mouth Syndrome
Yes, this email was fishing—and
slightly unprofessional. Except he totally started it. I couldn’t help
wondering, though, where he was right now. In his office? Back in his barren
apartment with Bruce slobbering on his leg? I didn’t even want to delve into
the reasons why he might be thinking of me at such a late hour—because Ah! Brogan
Starr was thinking about me after ten!
Good thing he couldn’t see that I
had the mentality of a middle schooler when it came to my interest in
him...which would surely go away sometime soon. Right as soon as I gave up dark
chocolate and free samples from Sephora.
A reply came back almost
immediately.
From:
Brogan Starr
To:
Lainey Taylor
Subject:
Re: Meeting tomorrow
Who
says I’m at the office? For someone who claims to know my whereabouts at all
times, you’re doing a poor job.
Brogan
Starr,
CEO Starr Media Employer of uninformed 2nd assistants
This definitely counted as
flirting, right? I wasn’t just imagining it. What did it say about me that I
wanted to flirt back? That you’re a normal, red-blooded American girl with a
Kindle overloaded (never!) with office romances. I stretched my neck and
gave myself a moment to come up with another reply. This was not flirting, this
was Brogan being nice, as always, in his witty, typical way.
From:
Lainey Taylor
To:
Brogan Starr
Subject:
Re: Meeting tomorrow
I’ll
try to hone my schedule-stalking skills by next month’s meeting.
Lainey
Taylor
Non-stalker
Second Assistant
From:
Brogan Starr
To:
Lainey Taylor
Subject:
Re: Meeting tomorrow
Good.
You’ll know where to find me. Good night, Lainey.
Brogan
Starr,
CEO Starr Media
ABOUT JENNIFER BLACKWOOD
Jennifer Blackwood is an English teacher and contemporary romance author. She lives in Oregon with her husband, son, and poorly behaved black lab puppy. When not chasing after her toddler, you can find her binging on episodes of Gilmore Girls and Supernatural, and locking herself in her office to write.
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