After Hours

After Hours

Marie Rochelle

Published by Phaze Books

By Marie Rochelle

Alpha Male Incorporated: Under Your Protection

Alpha Male Incorporated: Access Granted

A Taste of Love: Richard

Closer to You: Lee

My Deepest Love: Zack

More Than Friends: Brad

Caught

Caught 2: Ajana’s Return

Desire

All the Fixin’

Crossing the Railroad

A Rancher’s Promise

The Men of CCD: Slow Seduction

The Men of CCD: Loving True

The Men of CCD: Help Wanted

Lucky Charms

Hunks: Too Hot to Touch

Hunks: Opposite Attraction

Hunks: Pulled Over

Me & Mrs. Jones

Taken by Storm

Tempting Turner

Roped Into You

So Much Better

Bikers & Bars: Dante’s Way

Sinful

Tough to Love

Unexpected Lover

After Hours

This is an explicit and erotic novel

intended for the enjoyment

of adult readers. Please keep

out of the hands of children.

www.Phaze.com

After Hours

Copyright © 2014 by Marie Rochelle

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Edited by Adrienne Jones

Cover Art © 2014 by Fiona Jayde

First Edition January 2014

Ebook ISBN-13:
978-1-60659-769-9

Trade Paperback ISBN-13:
978-1-60659-770-5

Published by:

Phaze Books

An imprint of Celeritas Unlimited LLC

6457 Glenway Ave., #109

Cincinnati, OH 45211

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, Celeritas Unlimited LLC, 6457 Glenway Avenue, #109, Cincinnati, Ohio 45211, [email protected].

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Legal File Usage – Your Rights

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The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this or any copyrighted work is illegal. Authors are paid on a per-purchase basis. Any use of this file beyond the rights stated above constitutes theft of the author’s earnings. File sharing is an international crime, prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice Division of Cyber Crimes, in partnership with Interpol. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by seizure of computers, up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 per reported instance. Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights and livelihood is appreciated.

Production by Phaze Books

Phaze Books is a division of Celeritas Unlimited LLC

Dedication:

To Ms. Jean,

Thank you for giving me my first slice

of yellow cake with chocolate icing.

Marie

Chapter One

He slowly slipped the sleek dress off her smooth brown shoulders. It slid down her warm silky body, flowing down into a satiny pool of black material around her feet. His gaze slowly inched its way over her skin, loving how the firecracker red bra and matching panties stood out against her body.

****

The flashing cursor on the screen blinked back almost like it was challenging her to type another word.

“Why do I have to get writer’s block now? Africa is screaming for the next twenty pages and I can’t get past this one damn paragraph?” Jametria Collins complained as she pushed herself away from her desk. After battling the hero the past two weeks, she finally decided to get into his wants and needs, so why was he not talking to her anymore?

“I’m never going to make my deadline if I don’t clear my head and focus on making my characters more engaging.” She sighed, getting up from the chair.

Leaving the room, Jametria made her way down the hallway towards the kitchen in the back of her new house. She’d moved here six months ago and truthfully she couldn’t be happier. With its fenced in backyard, flower garden and hammock, it was the perfect spot for a writer like herself to relax and unwind anytime her heart desired.

Inside the kitchen, she grabbed a banana out of the bowl on the table, peeled it back and then took a bite. She’d rather be eating a huge slice of the carrot chocolate cake that she had in the refrigerator, but she was fighting off her sweet tooth.

Resting her backside against the counter top, Jametria replayed the conversation she’d had with her agent, Africa Abbott, inside her head. Africa kept pushing her to get out more and not spend so much time in front of the computer. Yet, she completely disagreed. Why did she need to go out and have fun when her imagination was perfect? She could go anyplace she wanted without any consequences.

Africa drew attention anytime she waltzed into a room. She was the life of the party and people loved that about her best friend. Yet, Jametria was on the opposite end of the scale. She loved being alone with her thoughts and feelings, she believed that is what gave her the ability to write such captivating books for her fans.

She had been writing romance novels for the past five years. Amazingly, the last three out of her four books ended up landing on the top twenty New York Bestsellers list. However, she doubted her new book ‘
Lost Love’
would. The two main characters were driving her up the wall and back down the other side. She was literally about to delete the entire story from the computer and start over from the beginning.

Why couldn’t she connect with these characters as she’d done in the past?

“What am I going to do?” Jametria muttered. She was actually worried about her career with this book. Usually, Africa was so impressed by how she would have a completed novel after six months, but something was preventing her from connecting with her two new characters.

Jametria continued eating the banana as she left the kitchen and headed outside for a breath of fresh air. Maybe the balmy June weather would help clear her head and get her writing juices flowing. God knows, she needed something to help her.

****

A few hours later, Africa stood there looking at Jametria like she had never seen her before. “You look horrible. Have you been getting enough sleep?” Africa asked her. “I don’t need my best friend getting sick on me. You know that I can give you an extension with ‘
Lost Love
?’”

Jametria yawned then shook her head. “No, I promise you I’m getting enough sleep and that’s the problem. I swear this new book is ready to make me pull my hair out. I believe the hero is my main problem. As much as I try, I’m not able to put a face with his name, plus he’s a little ‘less alpha’ than my other males. How can I write about a hot guy and make my female readers fall in love with him if I don’t have a clue what he looks like?”

“I think I might have some good news for you.” Africa grinned, making her toffee eyes shine even more.

Anytime her best friend got keyed up about something, it always meant bad news for Jametria. “What’s this good news you have for me?” she asked. “Will it benefit you or me?”

“How could you ask me something like that?” Africa asked. “When have I ever done anything that wasn’t beneficial for you?”

“You don’t remember when you sent me to that nudist camp, so I could have better descriptions of the human body,” Jametria groaned. “I swear I almost died when that man came up to me naked as the day he was born.”

She noticed Africa was trying her best not to laugh and it pissed her off even more. “I’ve never been so thankful to be a black woman in my entire life. Lord, I know my face turned a thousand shades of red. How about the time you signed me up for stripping lessons, so I could make my heroine’s background more believable?”

“If I’m not mistaken, your description of the naked male body was beyond perfect in your last book. So, I guess in the end, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Africa gloated.

“Don’t get too cocky,” Jametria warned. “If I hadn’t wanted to stay for the entire day at the nudist’s camp, I wouldn’t have left.”

“Yet, you did and
Naked
became your third bestseller,” Africa said. “So stop your silly complaining and listen to the wonderful idea I pitched to your publisher. I know you’re going to love it.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure if I was you.” Jametria hated when Africa came up with these crazy ideas for her books. Yes, it helped the novels sell. But damn it, why did she
always
have to be the one who was the guinea pig?

“I’d suggested that you should be at the open call for your cover model search for this book. You didn’t attend the last three and since you have proven you can make money by selling books, I thought you might like a hand in selecting out this male model.”

Jametria couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you serious?” She had wanted to be a part of the open call for the past couple of years, but she could never fit it into her busy schedule. Just seeing all of those hot guys would have to make her juices flow better with this book.

“I’m not lying to you,” Africa said. “Your publisher is having the model search here in Dallas in a few days.”

“You know how much I hate it when you get all full of yourself,” Jametria complained. If Africa wasn’t such good friends with her, she wouldn’t be able to put up with her sometimes.

“I’m good and you know it.”

Jametria hated to agree but she couldn’t help it. “Fine, you did a good job this time. I have to admit, I didn’t think your surprise would be this incredible.”

“Great, so I’ll let the publisher know that you’re going be at the open call.”

“Give me the information when you get it and I’ll be there,” Jametria exclaimed, excited about this idea of seeing hot guys walking around.

Chapter Two

“You’re the perfect man for the job,” the man told him in a voice that dared him to argue. “She’ll never suspect you. I don’t see what the problem is. You have done worst things in your life.”

“I’m not going to stand there in a pair of jeans and without a shirt while some strange woman ogles my body,” Forbes Huntington snapped. “I’ve worked too hard to get here for that kind of shit. Why don’t you do it?”

“I don’t look like you and I’m too old. Shit, none of the guys in the Bureau can go undercover with this assignment,” his boss, Zane Rogets, complained.

Forbes brushed a lock of his sun-streaked dark brown hair away from his slate eyes. At thirty-eight he didn’t want to waste a month of his life going undercover for crap like this.

“What about Leo?” he suggested. “He’s not a bad-looking guy. Hell, I overheard some woman tell him the other day how much looks like Nick Lachey. So, Ms. Collins will love him. I think you should send him and not me. I don’t want to go.”

Zane strolled further into his office, closing the door behind him. “Leo is already on a plane for Canada for another assignment, so that just leaves you, buddy.” He smirked and took a seat in front of his desk.