Kissing my co worker, p.8
Kissing my Co-worker, page 8
My eyes started to water. No one had ever gone to bat for me before. “Seriously? You talked to him for me?”
“I’d do anything for you. Don’t you get that by now?”
His words made me feel like we’d been a couple for decades as opposed to having just slept together for the first time mere minutes ago. There was something so refreshing about feeling that comforted, that secure.
“I can’t believe you did that. Thank you.” I pressed a kiss to his cheek, his stubble rough against my lips. “Do you think we should put a pin in this”—I waved my finger between us—“until I transfer out? I’d never forgive myself if something happened to your job.”
“Not a chance,” he said without even taking a breath.
“You’re sure?” I questioned again, refusing to be the one who put his position in jeopardy even though I wanted him to not care about it. When it came to us versus work, I wanted us to win.
“It will be fine. People have dated internally before. It ended badly because they were dumb. Plus, you can’t stop two people from falling in love with each other,” he said easily and without pausing, and my eyes grew wide as his words slammed into my heart like a sledgehammer to the chest. “I mean … you know what I mean.” He tried to cover but stumbled.
I swallowed hard, torn between telling him I loved him back and keeping my damn mouth shut. “Right. Of course. So, they can’t fire us for dating?”
“Hell, Lily, I guess, technically, they probably could. But I won’t let it happen, okay? The big man likes me.” He pressed another kiss to my lips. “I’m not letting you get away from me now that I have you. And I’m not waiting until you transfer departments. I’ve been patient long enough.” His words were delivered with force, as if me believing them meant everything to him.
I stayed quiet, soaking in the moment, the afterglow, the strength of his convictions, but he must have misread my silence.
“Do you want to be with me?” he asked.
“Oh my God, yes,” I said with a small sigh at the end.
“It will be okay. We’ll be okay. We won’t get in trouble.”
“You’re sure?”
He straightened up for a second and inhaled long and deep. “Do you want me to get permission first? I mean, tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it. If you want me to ask Richard, I’ll ask him. I don’t care, Lily. You’re worth it.”
“I’m sorry, Declan. I’m not trying to be annoying. I just don’t want us being together to be a bad thing,” I admitted, and his hands were in my hair again, running through the strands like they were the most fascinating thing in his immediate grasp.
“Us being together could never be a bad thing. Please stop worrying. I won’t let anything happen to either one of our jobs, okay? I promise you that.”
I opened my mouth to argue, or complain, or say the opposite just to say it when he pressed a finger against my lips to stop me from talking.
“I said, I promise. Now, do you want to get out of here or not?” he asked with a wink.
“Hell yes,” I agreed a little too excitedly before adding, “I wished for this, you know?”
“For what exactly?” he asked as he started to button up his shirt.
“For you.”
“When?” He stared at me, waiting for my response, as if he already knew.
“Tonight. They had shooting stars, and I wished for you. I mean, I know they weren’t real,” I started to explain, but he cut me off with a laugh. “Don’t laugh at me, Declan. I’m trying to be sweet here.”
“I’m not laughing at you,” he said before pressing a kiss to the tip of my nose. “I wished for you too. On the same fake stars.”
“You did?” Chills raced through me.
“I did. Come home with me, Lily.”
I answered with a nod before leaning up on my tiptoes, the muscles in my neck straining as my lips crushed against his and my hands wrapped around his neck to pull him down to me. We stayed like that, lost in the moment, in that kiss, our tongues dancing, before I broke it.
“What time is it?”
He reached for his phone and cocked a brow. “Eleven thirty.”
“How long will it take to get to your place?”
“Ten minutes,” he said, and I believed him even though nowhere in LA took ten freaking minutes.
“If you don’t kiss me at midnight, we’re going to have a big problem.”
“I’m going to kiss you every midnight on New Year’s Eve from tonight until I die,” he said, and my heart grew ten times bigger with his words.
I’d always sensed that this was more than a crush, something more than lust, but after tonight, it was confirmed. Declan was meant to be mine. And as we walked out of his office hand in hand, I knew I’d never be able to look at this hallway or department the same way again … especially the desk in his office.
EPILOGUE
LILY
Declan had made love to me three more times that night. I’d never experienced anything that intense before. Sure, I’d had good sex, but this was different. Everything about Declan was different. He was strong but shared his feelings with me. I never questioned where I stood with him or how much I meant to him. Declan not only told me, but also showed me with his actions.
He was an absolute catch, and I was never letting him go.
Everyone in the P&D department had known the minute Declan and I had gotten together even though I’d thought we’d been careful about our relationship and tried to keep it on the down low. No one cared, and we never got into any kind of trouble over it—thank God. I had been sincerely worried that at least one of us would take the brunt of breaking an unspoken rule. But now that I was in another division of the company, I didn’t have to worry anymore.
I’d ended up transferring to the theme parks division six weeks later with my boss, Marlo’s, blessing, recommendation, and help. I knew Declan had talked to him about it, but he insisted that Marlo was the one who had stepped up and actually made the switch happen. I wasn’t sure I believed him, but my man usually didn’t lie. I guessed it didn’t matter how it had all gone down; all that mattered was that it finally had. I was currently a marketing assistant on the fast track to becoming a manager and eventually a supervisor.
I was happier than I’d been in a very long time, working where I felt like my talents were actually being put to good use and so in love that I could barely see straight. Dreaming about being with Declan had been one thing, but real-life Declan had proven to be so much more fulfilling.
We were a good team, supportive of one another and both equally driven in our own ways. Whenever we weren’t at the office, we were together, usually at his place. He’d even given me my own key and told me to move in whenever I was ready. I’d been ready the first night he brought me home, but I tried to maintain some sense of calm instead of telling him I’d go grab my things and be right back.
Falling into a rhythm with him had been almost effortless. I supposed that was what happened when you found your perfect match, the one you’d wished for on fake falling stars.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading the VERY FIRST BOOK in my Fun for the Holidays Series! I hope you enjoyed Declan & Lily’s story as much as I did! It was a lot of fun to write and hopefully a lot of fun to read as well!
I came up with the idea for my FUN FOR THE HOLIDAYS series to give you lighthearted and happy reads. But mostly, I just wanted you to enjoy yourself and get lost in a fictional world for a little while. I hope this story did that for you.
The next one is DUMPED FOR VALENTINE’S, and it’s available for preorder right now.
Of course, there are more to come, so make sure you sign up for my newsletter, so you don’t miss out on any of them.
NEWSLETTER
Other Books by J. Sterling
Bitter Rivals- an enemies to lovers romance
Dear Heart, I Hate You
10 Years Later- A Second Chance Romance
In Dreams – a new adult college romance
Chance Encounters- a coming of age story
The Game Series
The Perfect Game - Book One
The Game Changer - Book Two
The Sweetest Game - Book Three
The Other Game (Dean Carter) – Book Four
The Playboy Serial
Avoiding the Playboy- Episode #1
Resisting the Playboy- Episode #2
Wanting the Playboy- Episode #3
The Celebrity Series
Seeing Stars- Madison & Walker
Breaking Stars- Paige & Tatum
Losing Stars- Quinn & Ryson
The Fisher Brothers Series
No Bad Days – a New Adult, Second Chance Romance
Guy Hater – an Emotional Love Story
Adios Pantalones – a Single Mom Romance
Happy Ending
The Boys of Baseball
(the next generation of fullton state baseball players):
The Ninth Inning – Cole Anders
Behind the Plate- Chance Carter
Safe at First – Mac Davies
Fun for the Holidays
(a collection of stand-alone novels with holiday based themes)
Kissing my Co-worker
Dumped for Valentine’s
About the Author
Jenn Sterling is a Southern California native who loves writing stories from the heart. Every story she tells has pieces of her truth in it as well as her life experience. She has her bachelor’s degree in radio/TV/film and has worked in the entertainment industry the majority of her life.
Jenn loves hearing from her readers and can be found online at:
Blog & Website:
www.j-sterling.com
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www.twitter.com/AuthorJSterling
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@ AuthorJSterling
If you enjoyed this book, please consider writing a spoiler-free review on the site from which you purchased it. And thank you so much for helping me spread the word about my books and for allowing me to continue telling the stories I love to tell. I appreciate you so much. :)
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J. Sterling, Kissing my Co-worker
