Hello Twelve Shades of Surrender reader,
Congratulations! You clearly have excellent taste, for you are holding in your hands one of Mills & Boonâs exclusive Twelve Shades of Surrender. Curious graduates of Fifty Shades wanted more, and we at Romance HQ rose to the challengeâ¦
Daring and seductive, with similar themes to Fifty Shades, all twelve stories promise not only scorching hot reads, but emotionally powerful romances that will stay with you long after the happy ending!
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Finally, remember there are eleven more Shades to explore!
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The Mills & Boon Spice team
âYouâre late. Again.â Katie Donato barely glanced away from her laptop as Dean Manion slipped the nonfat, sugar-free white chocolate latte onto her desk and his lean, long body into the chair next to hers.
âBut I brought lattes.â
She glanced at him then, taking in the smug grin, the artfully careless hair, the slightly loosened tie. âYou know, traffic is a good excuse for being late. Lost car keys. Forgetting you had to pick up your favorite suit from the dry cleanerâs, even. But not last-minute blow jobs from the dude at the Copy Cabana.â
Dean laughed and sipped from his own cup. âNot last-minute, not Copy Cabana.â
At this, she swiveled in her chair to study him. âDonât tell me you had a sleepover last night?â
Dean grinned in answer and drank deeply. âAhhh, sweet caffeine. Iâm going to need it.â
âIs that your subtle way of saying you were up all night fucking?â Katie lifted a brow and sipped at the drink, then tipped the cup toward him. âThis is a peace offering but it still doesnât let you off the hook. We have a meeting with Smith and Simon in half an hour and Iâve been here since eight putting this proposal together.â
âSorry.â Deanâs brows knitted and he leaned forward to rub his knees against hers, but Katie pushed him away with a laugh.
âStop. Iâm not some eighteen-year-old, just-out-of-the-closet emo-banged pretty boy. Iâm immune to your wiles.â
âBullshit.â Dean said this with the utter and absolute confidence of a man who oozes sensual appeal and knows it. He leaned back and propped his feet, shod in expensive Italian leather, on her desk.
Katie shoved them off. âItâs not bullshit. I know you too well, Dean. Youâre like a Lladró figurine. Pretty to look at but too expensive to be practical and not at all useful.â
âHey.â He frowned at this and set his cup on the desk to lean toward her again. He touched her knee. âThe fuckâs that supposed to mean?â
Katie, spreadsheet completed, hit the Print button and stood to smooth the wrinkles in her skirt. âIt means you shouldâve been here at eight this morning to do your part of this project and you werenât, because you were too busy getting your dick sucked.â
She wasnât angryânot really. Annoyed but not furious. Sheâd worked with Dean long enough to understand him, so when he sidled in late to work with a latte for her, she knew better than to be surprised. Didnât mean he was free of blame, though.
âI said Iâm sorry.â
She knew he meant it, even as she knew without even looking at him he was giving her a patented Dean sexy stare guaranteed to bring most anyone to their figurative knees. She pulled the papers from her printer and stapled them, then slipped them into the presentation folder sheâd carefully prepared. She gathered the rest of her materials while he watched in silence, but damn it, lost it all when she could no longer stifle the yawn that had been doing its best to sneak out of her.
âHa!â Dean stood, looming. âWhatâs that?â
Katie feigned innocence and swigged coffee. âWhat?â
âYou yawned.â Dean had no problems invading anyoneâs personal space if it benefited him, but he was one of the few who could get away with such a thing with Katie. Now he sidled up close, blocking her retreat by pressing a thigh against hers to keep her pinned with the desk at her back. âUp late?â
Katie bit hard on the inside of her cheek to keep from giving in to a grin. âNone of your business.â
âKatie,â Dean said in a low, sultry tone. âOf course itâs my business. Who was he? Guy from the dry cleanerâs? The gym? Donât tell me heâs that loser from college who looked you up on Connex.â
âTime for the meeting.â
It was useless, and Katie shouldâve known better. Dean put out one long arm and kept her from moving past him. âSpill it.â
She sighed. âFine. You donât know him because Iâve never mentioned him before. I met him in a coffee shop a few months ago.â
âThe Green Bean? Which guy?â
âNo. The Morningstar Mocha. And you wouldnât know him, heâs straight.â At least she thought Jimmy was straight. She hoped he was.
âA few months ago? Youâve been holding out on me?â Dean frowned. âDamn.â