After getting hurt in college by a gorgeous man, Nicole Magette vowed never to risk losing her heart again. Now she lives a structured and satisfying life. Her work is easy, her friends are her family, and the only consistent men in her life are her two cats, Winchester and Huntington Peabody the Third. She doesn't date, and she hooks up only with losers—men she has absolutely no risk of falling for. But if she finds herself in danger, she has her old fail-safe in place—the Code Red.Excerpt:
In college, she and her four best friends came up with the system as a way to keep away the good-looking bastards that might worm their way past their carefully constructed walls. Seven years later, three of her friends have succumbed to their last Code Reds and are happily married. Now it’s just Nicole and her closest friend, Jen, who are still on their own, and Nic is just fine with that.
That is, until Joshua Daniels is transferred to Nicole’s office from New York and assigned to work with her on a special project. He's everything she's avoided and everything she claims she doesn't want, so why can’t she get him out of her mind? He's persistent, dangerously handsome, and sexy as sin. In other words, he’s her worst nightmare. She turns to her friends to help her resist Josh’s considerable charms and the inescapable draw she feels every time she gets near him. Can the Code Red save her this time, or will Josh send her perfectly balanced life into chaos?
“What are you looking at?” I asked Hunt, who’d hopped onto the vanity and was studying me with his greenish-gold eyes.
“It’s the skirt, isn’t it?” I tugged at the black skirt and frowned when it kept riding up past my knee. This was why I didn’t wear skirts and dresses. You didn’t have to worry you might have a Sharon Stone moment and unintentionally flash the new Suit from New York. And since I didn’t live my life like the movies, which was a damn shame, it was probably for the best that I kept the goods covered.
“I’m trying too hard, aren’t I? He’s just some guy. He isn’t the boss.”
Hunt stuck a leg straight out and began cleaning himself. “Nice. I’m going to take that as approval of my outfit. There’s nothing wrong with dressing to impress.” I finished putting on my makeup and smoothed out my olive blouse that matched my eyes. Now, hair up? No. That was too much effort. I needed to offset the skirt and shoes. Not that I was wearing heels. I wasn’t a lunatic. But dress flats were still better than my usual sandals or black sneakers. I ran my fingers through my long, brownish-blond hair and exited the bathroom where I was immediately accosted by Winchester, who wound through my legs, purring like there was no tomorrow. When I bent to scratch his head, he amped it up a notch. “I know, breakfast time. How could I forget?”
I went into the kitchen and refilled his dish. He’d have no qualms about taking me down if I ever thought about leaving without feeding him.
“You’re such a pig,” I said as he knocked me out of the way. Hunt appeared from out of nowhere, his black tail swishing. He shot me a look before knocking one treat out of the bowl and eating it.
“I guess I’ll be going now.” They studiously ignored me as I got my bag and slipped on my black flats at the door. Typical men. They had what they wanted, and I was no longer of interest to them.
About the Author:
Amy Noelle is a thirty-something single woman with two cats, Lily and Logan. Though she contends that she is not a crazy cat lady, she freely admits to being a crazy football fan. You can find her glued to the couch every fall weekend, cheering on her Seminoles and Buccaneers.
After attending Florida State University for two years, she transferred to Northern Illinois University and graduated in 1997 with degrees in Journalism and Political Science.
She was born in the Azores Islands, Portugal, and lived as a military brat from the west coast to the east coast of the United States, though she's found her permanent home in Tampa, Florida, for the last decade. Besides football and writing, her other loves are television, movies, the beach, thunderstorms, and her family and friends.
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