ORDER A COPY: Weekends Required: A Danvers Novel (#1)
Publisher: Penguin Publishing (formerly self-pub)
Re-release Date: July 21, 2012
EBook: 189 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Claire Walters has worked for Jason Danvers as his assistant at Danvers International for three years, and he has never thought of her as a woman until the day she jumps out of a cake at his friend’s bachelor party.
Claire is forced to work a second job at a party planning company to support her ailing mother. She is horrified when Jason not only finds out, but has a front-row seat to the action. With Danvers in the process of merging with another company, Claire is forced to travel with Jason as well as work weekends. Suddenly all the fantasies she has entertained for years about her boss seem to be coming true. Her outspoken best friend Suzy thinks that just getting laid will solve everything. The problem is, Claire sees much more in Jason than just sex.
Jason is determined to know how the beautiful, sexy woman in the cake could also be his Plain Jane assistant who tries her best to blend into the background from 8-5 every day. Now not only does Jason see her as a woman, he fully intends to give her the fairy-tale ending that she deserves!
Claire Walters loves her job for Danvers International, and she can’t imagine a better boss than Jason Danvers. She has been there for three years now and has made great friends.
Unfortunately for Claire, her mother’s rising medical bills and the costs of the upkeep of her mother’s house has forced Claire to get a weekend job. She couldn’t ask for an easier job than her friend Julie’s catering company. All she has to do is jump out of a cake, kiss the groom to be and then help serve the rest of the party. Easy money and it doesn’t conflict with her job at Danvers.
That is until she is asked to work one weekend with Jason at his friend’s house to meet a deadline. When Jason and his friend leave for a party, Claire is free to run and fulfill her obligation to Julie. It’s going well until she jump out of the cake and recognizes Jason and see that his friend is the bachelor of tonight’s party. Jason can’t help but notice that the pretty girl jumping out of the cake looks too much like his assistant, Claire.
Now that Jason finally sees that there is more to his assistant than her quiet demeanor and her bland dress, he won’t stop until he gets to know her a lot better.
THOUGHTS:
This was a great story and a great beginning to a new series, including some interesting characters.
My only problems storywise would not only be Claire’s awesome Clark Kent/Superman disguise–all she had to do was pull her hair in pony tail and were appropriate office wear, and Jason can’t see what an attractive woman has been working for him for the last three years.
Also when Jason finds out about her situation and offers assistance, Claire is offended that he’s trying to buy his way into her bed and it takes her friend Suzy to inform Claire that Jason is often generous with is employees who are experiencing financial trouble. These people work closely together for the last three years all alone in a separate office, but she seems to be the only one in the company who had no idea how generous her boss is to his employees who are in trouble, and Jason who is aware of the many problems that any of his employees are having is not aware of the family problems of his own assistant? That seemed a little far fetched.
Other than a few issues making me go “Really??”, it was an enjoyable story and a quick read.
Received an ARC from abovethetreeline.com, courtesy of the publisher.
Favorite Scene:
Claire leaned against the restroom stall shaking. How could this have possibly happened and why didn’t she make a connection that this could be Harold’s party? Julie had said the name was Winthrop, and she’d never given it another thought. She hoped against hope that she was wrong and Jason hadn’t recognized her. She began undressing and vowed to stay in the kitchen the rest of the evening, no matter what.
Dear God, she would lose her job with Jason over this. He would never understand why it was necessary to work this job, as well as for Danvers. Panic started to set in and she was shaking so hard her finger were fumbling trying to unsnap the garters. At just that moment, she heard the door open.
“Julie, give me a few minutes. I’m having hard time with these darn snaps.” Not thinking anything of the silence, she continued on. “God Julie you will never believe what just happened, my boss and his friends were at this party. I thought you said the bachelors name was Winthrop? I need to stay in the kitchen for the rest of the evening and steer clear of Jason.” As those words were uttered, she was suddenly aware that Julie hadn’t made a single reply. She looked up and was looking in to the blue eyes that had haunted her all day.
Time seemed to freeze as she slowly became aware that she was standing in the ladies’ restroom practically naked with her boss leisurely lowering his gaze to the corset that barely contained her breast. She could feel her nipples standing up and saluting. His gaze lowered to the skimpy matching panties and, heaven help her, she could feel her body continue to betray her as heat pooled between her thighs. She squeezed her legs together to try to control the fire that seemed to be spreading through her body like an inferno. She finally gathered her wits enough to sputter. “What’re you doing in here? This is the ladies’ restroom.”
“I thought I would visit with the stripper for the evening, how much for a private lap dance for my friends and myself?”
“Wha…What?” She stammered. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re the stripper who jumped out of the cake, correct?”
“No. No, I’m not a stripper. I just jump out of the cake with clothes on. I don’t strip!”
“Clothes, ugh? I’m not sure that qualified as clothing.” Jason replied with sarcasm dripping from his voice.
It finally dawned on her that she was still standing in a restroom with her boss, almost naked. She averted her eyes from his and tried to cover herself with her hands. “Could you please leave? I need to dress and this is the ladies’ restroom.” She made the mistake of looking up into Jason’s eyes and could feel herself melt. Heat blazed there and with a muttered oath, Jason gripped her arms and dragged her against his hard body.
She went rigid at the sudden contact and tried to pull back as she felt Jason’s palms start gliding lightly up her arms leaving a trail of fire as they settled on either side of her face, His thumb gently rubbing her bottom lip. By this point, she had given up any thought of getting free and was mesmerized by the smoldering look in his eyes. As if almost against his will he leaned forward and gently laid his lips against hers.
