Julieâs Hawaiian Vacay Itinerary!
You and your âwork husbandâ have just won an all-expenses-paid vacation in Oahu. Now the fun begins...
1 Get leiâd. (With flowers, obvi.)
2 Settle into your gorgeous ocean-side cabin. Contemplate living in Hawaii forever.
3 Become overwhelmed with hideous unexplained jealousy when your bestie decides to make sexy moves on your work husband, Alan.
4 Dismiss jealousy. After all, youâre not interested in Alan âthatâ way...are you?
5 Avoid joyous dancing when bestieâs ex arrives and sweeps her off her feetâleaving Alan completely and totally available.
6 Now youâre alone with Alan. Alone. In paradise. Take a deep breath, have a mai taiâor twoâand (gulp!) make your move. Be classy.
7 âAccidentallyâ let Alan peek under your grass skirt.
8 Take off grass skirt.
9 Do Incredibly Naughty and Sexy Things everywhere.
10 And do not think about what happens when you and your work husband go back to reality....
Dear Reader,
You know when they draw the name for the really big door prize, the one you canât believe somebody actually donated? We all finger our little ticket stubs, pretending not to care, because we know we wonât win. Itâs too much, too lucky, too outrageous.
But somebody wins. And this is the story of two such somebodies, whose amazing luck seems to follow them from the Silicon Valley all the way to the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii.
Julie and Alan are âwork spousesâ and good friends, but the unexpected dream vacation they find themselves on is charmed in all sorts of ways. The tropical setting. The exotic wildlife. The fruity drinks with umbrellas and tiny plastic swords. And thatâs all before they even get to the wild night of dancing by the light of the tiki torches.
Theyâve done this once before...accidentally falling on each otherâs faces. This time, it goes way beyond faces. And this time, they canât blame it on champagne and mistletoe. They have to face the morning after, and decide what to do about all the mornings after that. And they only have four days to figure it out.
I hope you enjoy their delicious dilemma!
I love to hear from readers. You can find me online at www.delphinedryden.com, or on Twitter @deldryden.
Aloha!
Delphine Dryden
About the Author
Delphine Dryden majored in English at the University of Texas at Austin, and probably should have gone ahead for that MFA and PhD to become an English professor like she planned. Instead, she took a detour through law school, practiced law for a woefully brief time, and wound up working in special education for the next fifteen or so years (first as a teacher, then as an educational diagnostician). Somewhere in there, she also obtained a masterâs in educational psychology/special education.
Delphine writes contemporary erotic romance for Carina Press, and mainstream steampunk romance for Berkley. She has also published with Elloraâs Cave and Cleis Press. Her writing has earned an Award of Excellence and Reviewersâ Choice Award from RT Book Reviews, an EPIC Award and a Colorado Romance Writersâ Award of Excellence.
A few years ago, Delphine gave up the day job to write full-time. Now she balances that with parenting two kids and two dogs, and occasionally designing web sites or making trailer videos. She and her family are all Texas natives, and reside in unapologetic suburban bliss near Houston.
Chapter One
âBut I never win anything!â
Julie kept saying it long after she should have stopped, probably annoying her coworkers no end. It wasnât true, of course. Sheâd won stuffâeverybody won stuff. Little things, like a spelling bee, or a round of rock, paper, scissors. Once, she won an office pool on when the receptionistâs baby would be born (three in the afternoon, on a lovely Tuesday in May).
This was different. The little stuff barely counted as wins next to something this spectacular.
She leaned over, raising her voice over the steadily increasing after-work crowd noise in the bar, and asked Alan Cortese to pinch her.
He shook his head. âIâm pretty sure pinching you would be harassment.â
âNot if itâs on the arm. Besides, weâre not in the office right now. Ouch!â His fingers left significant heat behind on her shoulder. âI take it back. Itâs harassment if you do it that hard.â
âYouâre awake, okay?â He used his cheesy emcee voice, rolling his prize certificate up and using it as a microphone. His dark eyebrows waggled over bright brown eyes alight with mischief. âJulie Perfetto, youâve just won a vacation for two to a fabulous tropical resort in beautiful Hawaii! What are you going to do now?â
âNever complain about a company motivational event again.â