When Staci Takes Charge (Leave Your Shoes On 2)

“We both are,” he said. “And I’ve told you how impressed I am that you started Staci Kay Shoes. I want you to continue to succeed, sweetheart. I’ll do whatever I can to help you along the way.”

“Everything you do helps me. I love you.” She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight.

Her employees clapped enthusiastically.

Staci pulled away and said, “I guess we’re just destined for public displays of affection.”

“Wait until our wedding.”

“I can’t wait until our wedding.” It was still six months away. “I can’t wait to be Mrs. Dr. Evan Hart.”

He brushed strands of hair from her face. “In spirit, you already are.”

Then he kissed her. And Staci couldn’t have been happier.

Please see the next page for an excerpt from What Lola Wants

Chapter One

Who does a girl have to blow around here to get a drink?” Lola Vonn asked with a crooked brow as she scanned the crowded lounge for a server. A busser had dropped off two glasses of ice water fifteen minutes earlier, but no one had come by to take an order.

Across the high-top table, her coworker Maxi Shayne said, “A little louder, please. I don’t think the nuns at St. Mary’s heard you.”

Lola flashed a smile. “Too uncouth?”

“So very unlike you,” Maxi teased, a sparkle in her eyes.

“And you’re Miss PC?”

“At least I employ a certain level of tact.”

“All right. I repent. I’m only joking about the blow job.” Lola searched the neon-lit room again, her gaze landing on the sexy bartender mixing dirty martinis. He had spiky blond hair, a scruffy chin, and bulging biceps. “Or…maybe not. Hell-o there, Hot Stuff.”

“Noticed him when we walked in,” Maxi commented. “Edgy-looking men do the most sinful things in bed.”

“I wouldn’t mind him taking the edge off me.”

“I saw him first.”

Lola dragged her gaze from Hot Stuff. “Doesn’t it seem like we’re the only women not getting laid in this town? I mean, I can’t pass a watercooler in the office without hearing about Samantha’s wild weekend romps, Jill’s lovefest with her fiancé, and Stephanie’s latest ‘Oh, my God, she makes me come again and again’ girlfriend. I’m happy for them, don’t get me wrong. But I feel the cobwebs coming on.”

Along with a serious bout of loneliness.

“Depressing, I know,” Maxi said on a sigh. “I don’t get it. I’m not exactly an ‘ug.’ And you’ve got that whole modern-day Marilyn Monroe thing going on.”

“You are gorgeous,” Lola assured her dark-haired, sapphire-eyed friend. They were direct opposites in appearance. Maxi sported a sassy long-bob, which she accentuated with beachy curls, while Lola wore her blond hair in a fluffy blowout style that tumbled over her shoulders and midway down her back.

Maxi’s eyes were a deeper blue, whereas Lola’s were as bright and clear as a summer sky. Maxi was tan, with a lithe runner’s body; Lola had a creamy complexion and curves. They complemented each other nicely, and certainly garnered their fair share of attention. But something was amiss.

Lola said, “My problem is, I just don’t spark with anyone. I’ve given up counting the days, weeks—oh, hell—the many months since my dry spell hit.”

“We definitely need men. And wine.”

“Wine is not going to cut it tonight.”

Maxi’s brows dipped. “We came to the trendiest bar in Baltimore Harbor to drink water? Not this girl.”

Lola smiled again. “We’re celebrating with champagne.”