Legally
Charming
Ever
After #1
By Lauren Smith
Genre: Contemporary Romance/New Adult
Release Date:
March 13, 2017
Synopsis
THE RIGHT DRESS
CAN CATCH THE EYE OF PRINCE CHARMING…
Felicity Hart
has one goal: Completing her masters in art. Falling in love isn’t part of the
plan. She reluctantly agrees to attend a Halloween party with her best friend.
After sneaking away from the party and falling asleep in an unoccupied room,
she wakes to the sexiest pair of eyes she’s ever seen. Eyes that belong to the
one man who could turn her well organized world upside down. When he flashes
that wicked, panty-melting smile at her the vow to not fall in love seems
impossible…
EVERY PRINCE IS
LOOKING FOR HIS SLEEPING BEAUTY TO KISS…
Jared Redmond
used to be the ultimate bad boy. But now his legal career is taking off and the
partners of his firm are trusting him with high-dollar real estate
transactions. Jared’s king-size bed is empty. But when he arrives home on
Halloween to find a princess sleeping in his bed – his all work and no play
attitude goes out the window. There’s nothing he wants more than to explore the
hidden desires of this mysterious beauty and show her just how much of a bad boy
he really is by fulfilling her every fantasy.
WHEN MIDNIGHT
STRIKES AND COACHES TURN TO PUMPKINS…
Underneath the glitter of this fairy tale romance, Felicity and Jared might
have found true love. But the mounting pressure of their real lives takes hold
again and Jared and Felicity are pulled further and further apart. Can they
find their fairy tale ending or will they be left with the dying embers of what
could have been?
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Excerpt
Jared Redmond stumbled from the
taxicab, his brown leather briefcase smacking his back as he struggled to stay
on his feet. He swallowed a growl of frustration. This was the last time he let
the senior partners of his firm keep him out late to celebrate. He’d only had
one drink, since he was dead tired from the last few months of overtime at the
office. Having to smile, laugh, and socialize all night with the partners left
him edgy and desperate to get home and crawl into bed.
God forbid he just do his job and
do it well enough to earn respect. No, he had to spend hours at one of the most
expensive restaurants with them, watching them pat each other on the back when
he’d done all the heavy lifting in their multi-million-dollar transaction.
Big fucking mistake.
Now he was completely drained,
and his body was determined to go to sleep on him right there on the street.
His vision was fine, but his motor skills seemed to have abandoned him. He
reached the glass doors of his apartment building lobby, leaning a little too
heavily against the glass. Fishing around in his pocket for his keycard, he
muttered a string of curses when his hand came up empty. He glanced up and
rapped his knuckles. Thank God, the guard recognized him and buzzed him inside.
“Mr. Redmond.” The security guard
nodded, a knowing smile on the older man’s lips.
“Hey, Randy,” he greeted, wincing
at the slur of his words.
A few more steps and he reached
the elevator. After much effort focusing on the series of floor buttons on the
panel, he pressed the button to the fifteenth floor and it lit up. He leaned
his head back on the mirrored walls, resting. Jesus, it was like he was drunk,
but he knew it was sheer exhaustion.
It had been a hell of a day.
After two months of negotiations, sleepless nights, long hours, and no chance
of reviving his obsolete social life, he’d closed the massive real estate deal,
and closed it earlier than he’d anticipated. Everyone demanded they go out and
celebrate. He just wanted to crash and sleep off all of the stress pent up
inside him.
He was going to walk into his
bedroom and face-plant on his bed and not move all weekend from that spot.
Tanner would be out with his
girlfriend, Layla, celebrating. It was Halloween, wasn’t it? A little grin
tugged at his lips. The apartment would be empty and quiet. The perfect benefit
of arriving home early. He’d told Tanner he wouldn’t be back until Sunday, and
it was only Friday now. He expected his little brother and girlfriend would be
out partying the night away, giving him total silence and a soft bed to crash
on without any disturbances.
The second the elevator doors
slid open with a soft hiss, he heard the music and the erratic noises of a
party. Laughter, voices, all coming from their apartment.
Fucking hell.
“Tanner,” he growled, fists
clenched.
So the partying tonight was in,
not out.
Jared contemplated turning around
and finding a hotel, or worse, calling Shana. No, bad idea. They’d dated on and
off during law school and after, but they’d never been exclusive. Currently he
and Shana were off. Definitely
off.
Lousy timing for Tanner to throw
a damn party.
That was the main problem with
letting his twenty-four-year-old brother live with him. He’d thought it would
be nice to spend some time with his little brother, but with his work schedule
he barely saw Tanner. The one night they might have hung out, he was too tired
to care. He was not in the mood to dodge drunken graduate students all night
and try to drown out all the racket they were making. Luck wasn’t with him
tonight. Fuck, he was turning into a crotchety old man if he was going to let a
party piss him off.
The door to their place was
unlocked, and when he swung the door open, a wave of fresh sound engulfed him.
His eardrums throbbed, and he winced at the explosion of the music that drilled
into his skull like nails. Scantily-dressed girls bounced about to the pounding
rhythm of the music along with guys who were watching with giddy-schoolboy
expressions. Some of them cheered and smiled, drunkenly overjoyed that a new
person had shown up to the party. Several familiar faces, Tanner’s friends,
waved at him or nodded as he walked past them.
“Jared! I thought you weren’t
coming home till tomorrow?” A zombie stripper stepped in front of him, hands on
her hips. Through the gory makeup he thought he recognized her.
“Layla?”
Tanner’s girlfriend was dressed
as a zombie stripper. Only Layla could manage to pull off that look.
“Layla, what the hell is going
on?” he demanded, gesturing to the insanity. A girl in a sexy Lara Croft costume was singing a bad karaoke
cover of “Somebody’s Watching Me.” Holy fuck. He was going to need some
noise-cancelling headphones to survive this shit. For a brief second he
considered tossing everyone out on their damn asses, but this place was half
Tanner’s and he’d told Tanner he wouldn’t be here tonight. Brother code
demanded he suffer through this bullshit.
Layla didn’t look chagrined in
the least. “It’s Halloween. Oh, and Felicity’s birthday, obviously.”
“Who is Felicity?” He’d never met
anyone named Felicity. Not that it was surprising, because he was never around
when his brother was hanging out with Layla and their friends. He didn’t really
remember what it was like to be that carefree. Law school and work had a way of
consuming a person’s good memories.
“Scratch that, I don’t care. Is
this thing”—he waved a hand around—“ending anytime soon?” He shifted his
briefcase strap over his shoulder. His suit was starting to suffocate him, and
as much as he liked the particular steel-gray tie he wore at the moment, he was
desperate enough to cut it right off his neck if he couldn’t get to his room
fast enough.
“Uh…” She licked her lips. “Don’t
know. But you said you weren’t coming back until Sunday.”
“Well, here I am and tired as
fuck. So I’m going to bed. Try to keep it down,” he growled.
“Uh, Jared.” She dodged around
him, trying to prevent him from getting past her.
“What did you do?” He arched a
brow, sensing by the way her eyes widened and she shifted in her stilettos that
something was wrong.
“I might have given your bed
away.” Layla bit her lip, yet she was brave enough to still meet his eyes.
“What do you mean you gave my bed
away?”
She attempted to smile. “You were supposed to be gone until Monday, and Felicity
needed a place to stay tonight. It’s late, and I didn’t want her to go home
alone. She lives in a sketchy part of town—so I told her she could crash in
your bed since you weren’t going to be here.” She glared at him, accusing him
of something he wasn’t entirely sure was his fault. “So she’s in your room
tonight.” She ended with a finality that did not entirely make sense to his
tired brain.
“Let me get this straight. Some
girl is in my bed…right now?”
Layla swallowed, her eyes darting
away before coming back to him. “Um…yeah?”
“No,” he stated and stalked
toward his room, Layla at his heels. Whoever this
Felicity person was, she was in his bed, and since it was his bed, whatever
Layla and this girl had seemed to think otherwise, he’d have her out of it.
Reaching his bedroom door, he
crashed it open and strode in, prepared for all the hell and fury that came
with drunk, twenty-something females—and instead, as his eyes adjusted, he
found a princess in his bed.
Layla clattered behind on her
too-tall stilettos. “Jared, wait—”
He pushed the door open, and a
yellow beam of light from the hallway cut across the dark room, revealing a
figure lying across his bed.
A princess. There was a princess
in his bed.
The burgundy-and-gold gown was
draped over his comforter with pearls glowing like tiny moons on the bodice of
her gown.
What the fuck?
“Please don’t wake her,” Layla
begged.
Wake her? Jared shook his head. What nonsense. He wasn’t a
romantic. Even though she was certainly a fantasy. All luscious curves and
mystery. Her dark auburn hair cascading over the pillow looked soft. His hands
ached to reach out and fist in the strands. She looked like the kind of woman a
young man dreamed about and ruined his sheets over, the kind of woman he’d
stopped dreaming about a long time ago because he was convinced they didn’t
exist.
He didn’t turn to look at Layla
as he spoke. “Who is that?”
“Felicity Hart. Birthday girl
and, more importantly, my best friend.” The threat was heavily implied. Don’t
screw with Layla or her friends. Her loyalty in that respect was one of the
things he admired most about his brother’s girlfriend.
Layla’s fingers curled around his
biceps and squeezed, getting his attention.
“I told her she could sleep in
your room since you weren’t supposed to be here. It’s the only place available
for her to sleep.”
“I’m not giving up my bed. I worked seventy hours this week.
I’m going to sleep.” He got one step inside his room before Layla practically
tackled him, climbing up his back like a spider monkey.
“You. Will. Not. Wake. Her. Up,”
Layla growled, nails digging into his arms. “She has a really important
research paper due tomorrow, and she needs to sleep.”
“She can stay, but I’m sharing my
bed with her. End of discussion. Go back to your party.” With a little shove,
he made sure Layla couldn’t get back in before he shut the door in her face.
When he turned back around, he
studied the girl in his bed. Without the hallway light he could barely make out
her features. Just a silhouette, really, of a princess. Arousal slammed into
him. He felt like an idiot. He never dated anyone who was still in school. They
were too young. A year ago he’d tried to date a girl who was twenty-four, but
she’d gotten pissed every time he’d had to work late. She didn’t get the
pressures of his job. None of the girls younger than him seemed to understand
that. Layla was all right, but she was still a kid. He needed someone mature
who was at the same point in her life as him, an adult.
The hot little princess was the
last thing he needed to be thinking about.
Don’t think about her or how much
fun it would be to wake her up and kiss her. Just be a gentleman and go to bed.
His inner voice was a goddamn
control freak, but he was thankful someone was still responsible.
Turning away, he started to strip
out of his work clothes. He kicked his shoes off and then slipped a pair of
pajama bottoms on. He didn’t bother with a shirt. He always got a little hot at
night anyway. As he moved deeper into the room, he caught his foot on a chair.
It screeched as it slid across the wood, and he winced, catching himself
against the back of it. He glanced at the bed, but the girl hadn’t woken. A few
quick steps and then he hit the bed, landing on his stomach and bouncing a
little. The princess next to him didn’t stir. He shifted a couple of inches and
slid one arm beneath his pillow to puff it up as he laid his head down. The
toll of the night’s celebrations dragged him to the edge of the abyss of sleep.
He was so close…
A little gasp and a
half-strangled whimper pulled him to the surface again. “Whah?” He groaned and
rolled onto his side facing the girl.
She was thrashing and whimpering
beside him. Her hands clawed at the bodice of her dress, as though trying to
escape it.
“Damn it!” He sat up and flicked
on the lamp by his side of the bed. The wash of color in the room showed how
flushed the girl was. She still shifted and kicked, moaning as if in pain.
Jared leaned over and gently jostled her shoulder.
“Hey, kid, wake up.”
She jolted awake. Bright gray
eyes like liquid mercury flashed in shock and fear as her gaze fell on him.
“Hi,” he said.
The princess blinked, her eyes
darting around the room, then back to him, focusing on his bare chest. Her
pupils dilated.
“Did we…um…who—” She shook her
head as though to clear it. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
Jared let out a raspy chuckle.
“I’m the one who should be asking questions. But it’s been a long day and I’m
beat. I’m Jared, and you are in my bed.”
He stood and walked back to his
cherrywood dresser. His fingers curled around the brass handle, and he opened
the top drawer.
“You’re Tanner’s brother?” Her
voice was soft, husky. It rolled over him, soothing his irritation.
He selected a silk striped
button-down nightshirt and a pair of boxers from his drawer and then returned
to the bed. “Here.” He held the clothes out to her.
“What are those for?” she asked.
One elegant brow rose.
“You. You woke up clawing at your
dress. Looks like it’s too tight around your chest and it’s restricting your
breathing. Unless you have clothes of your own, you’re changing into these so
we can both get some sleep. Layla said you had some paper due tomorrow.”
When she opened her mouth, he
could see the protest in her eyes and it amused him. Feisty little thing. And damned
if he didn’t picture all the things he’d like to do to that little mouth.
“Take the clothes and change in
the bathroom. Now.” He
deepened his voice, and she hopped out of bed, snatching the clothes as she
darted into the bathroom. She froze, then slowly looked over her shoulder at
him.
“What?”
“My dress…it’s the laces in the
back. I can’t reach them.”
A sigh escaped him. “Come here.”
He crooked a finger and sat farther back on his bed. She sidled up to him,
bashfulness in her every movement.
There was something sinful and
suggestive about the way she nibbled her bottom lip. He twirled a finger,
indicating for her to spin around. She offered her back to him. The silk
ribbons on the back of her gown came undone easily enough, but he was surprised
to see the second set of laces beneath, which belonged to a corset. It was black
with embroidered red roses that set off the color of the loose tangles of her
hair. The strands teased the back of his hands as he unlaced the corset. The
creamy skin of her lower back made his mouth go dry. The princess was trying to
kill him with these temptations.
All too soon the view disappeared
as she rushed into the adjoining bathroom to change.
He fell back onto the bed,
staring up at the ceiling. His fingers tapped a rhythm on his stomach as he
waited. This was not at all how he’d predicted his night would go. He wasn’t
complaining—not exactly.
The princess emerged, gown gone.
She looked so young, standing there dwarfed in his button-down shirt and a hint
of his boxers beneath the hem at her mid-thighs. Her gorgeous hair was wild and
long, and it looked like she’d been well loved in bed. He didn’t miss the swell
of her full breasts against the thin, expensive silk. The top button was low
down her chest, exposing a wealth of creamy skin. Damn.
Lauren Smith is
an Oklahoma attorney by day, author by night for Grand Central Publishing, who
pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the light of her smart phone
flashlight app. She knew she was destined to be a romance writer when she
attempted to re-write the entire Titanic movie just to save Jack from
drowning. Connecting with readers by writing emotionally moving, realistic and
sexy romances no matter what time period is her passion. She’s won multiple
awards in several romance subgenres including: New England Reader’s Choice
Awards, Greater Detroit BookSeller’s Best Awards, Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel
Award Quarter-Finalist and a Semi-Finalist for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Award. To connect with Lauren, visit her at http://www.laurensmithbooks.com/ or
twitter at https://twitter.com/LSmithAuthor.
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