Fired by Her Fling

‘Yeah, I know, but no one will think to look for us in here.’

Her heart thumped hard against her ribcage and her whole body tingled with awareness at his close proximity.

The next second his hands had found her face and slid along her jaw, drawing her towards him, and then his mouth was on hers, hot and firm.

He dropped kisses along her jawline, sending great twists of erotic sensation through her whole body.

‘Don’t think,’ he murmured, the vibration of his words tickling and teasing the hypersensitive skin of her throat as he moved lower. ‘Just do.’

He slammed against her, forcing her back against the wall, sending what sounded like brooms crashing to the floor.

This wasn’t playful any more. It was hot and heavy and serious.

Inevitable.

It was what she wanted. What she needed.

In a shocking moment of clarity she realised that this had always been going to happen.

She’d been kidding herself the whole time.

Welcome to the wonderful world of radio. I had a lot of fun writing about my introverted DJ and her battle to keep her job—and her self-control—after she locks horns, lips and more with a hot-as-sin guy who unfortunately turns out to be her new boss!

As an introvert myself, I’m fascinated by the differences between how I function compared with how an extrovert might get through her day. For a long time I thought my natural instinct to hang back in a new situation and my need to take regular breaks at social occasions was a character flaw, but after researching the subject of introversion I was mightily relieved to find that I wasn’t alone in my quirks.

My heroine, Lula, has been struggling with her quirks for many years, worrying the whole time that her sometimes debilitating shyness outside of work has made her unlovable. It takes a hero as compassionate and patient as Tristan to help her recognise her strengths and make her realise that her idiosyncrasies are actually what make her so special.

I hope you enjoy reading their story as much as I loved writing it.

All the best

Christy x

Fired by Her Fling

Christy McKellen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

BK (Before Kids) CHRISTY McKELLEN worked as a video and radio producer in London and Nottingham. After a decade of dealing with nappies, tantrums and endless questions from toddlers she has come out the other side and moved into the wonderful world of literature. She now spends her time writing flirty, sexy romance with a kick—her dream job!

Christy loves to hear from readers. You can contact her at [email protected], through her website: www.christymckellen.com, via Facebook: www.facebook.com/christymckellenauthor or on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ChristyMcKellen

Big thanks go to my friend Rhiannon, for that lightbulb moment in the pub.

Also to my friend Sophie, for undergoing the tough job of researching London cocktail bars with me.

And of course to Tom, for helping me plot and plan in the Spanish sunshine over coffee and cake.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

DEDICATION

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

ONE

Tallulah Lazenby drained the last drop of her large glass of Sauvignon Blanc and clung onto the comforting buzz of the alcohol, until the feeling dissipated and her nerves returned.

She really shouldn’t be drinking the night before her grievance meeting with the owner of the radio station where she worked as a DJ—a job that had, until recently, made her rise with excitement every morning—but she needed something to dull the growing panic that tomorrow could be her last day of work there.

‘Lula, snap out of it. It’s going to be okay,’ her friend Emily muttered into her ear, clicking her fingers in front of her face and dragging her out of her agitated funk and into the here and now of the dimly lit Covent Garden pub, where they were celebrating a friend’s birthday.

Lula gave her a tight-lipped smile. ‘Easy for you to say; you didn’t make the catastrophic mistake of sleeping with your Station Manager and scuppering your chances at career advancement when you refused to be his regular sex-puppet.’

Emily tried to keep a straight face, but failed spectacularly. ‘I have to say, Lu, it wasn’t one of your best moves.’

She shot her friend a no kidding grimace.

‘Lord knows what possessed you to sleep with him,’ Emily added.

Lula nodded solemnly into her empty glass.

Jeremy—or Jez as he preferred to be called—was an overconfident, self-absorbed philanderer and the exact opposite of what she was looking for in a long-term partner.

‘It was after a very long, very dry patch and he caught me at a moment of weakness,’ she muttered, her face hot with the ignominy of how it had cast a dark shadow over their working relationship when she’d told him in no uncertain terms that there wasn’t going to be a repeat performance.

Jez was not the type of man you said no to.

And she’d paid the price for it.

After a few weeks of stilted and antagonistic interaction, he’d blithely informed her that he would no longer be moving her onto the Breakfast Show—even though he’d been promising to for months. And, just to rub salt in the wound, he was giving her Drivetime Show to Darla—one of the other female DJs at the station—who apparently had no qualms about regularly bumping uglies with him.