(A Novel Deception #1)
Melanie Marchande
Contemporary Romance/Erotica (light D/s)
Published in 2014
H/h - Adrian Risinger/Meghan Burns
Setting: Present time.
Read in November, 2014.
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
Now here is the thing; I generally tend to avoid anything that says billionaire romance... almost that is. This story, my first attempt at Melanie Marchande’s writing, caught my attention solely because of the blurb. The funny little blurb that mentions a secretary wanting to throw an ashtray at her arrogant, pain in the a$$ boss. So yah, I was going to find out exactly why. ;)
Meghan has been working for the Risinger Company for the past couple of years, as the secretary to the young boss, Adrian. You can say that it’s a job that requires your blood, sweat, tears and then, some more aka her personal life. She doesn’t have any at this point. Meghan hates her arrogant, filthy rich, superbly handsome boss. The man has been a total a$$ to her since the beginning, always criticizing her efforts.
Either way, Meghan’s life is not a fairytale. She already has low self-esteem, thanks to a cold and b!tchy mother and a father who likes to remain behind her shadows. I’d call her mother something more but there’s no point in wasting my time, but hell, that woman was rather vile. She has never wasted one moment to remind Meghan just how much of a disappointment she is, including her ‘fat and ugly’ self. No wonder Meghan avoids her family, unless she’s forced to attend the family get-togethers, such as the one in Christmas.
Though Meghan has a love-hate relationship with her job (that pays reasonably well) and her disgustingly attractive boss, she tends to hide her true feelings. In a perverted way, she’s attracted to him, a fact that she actually loves, rather than hate. The cause of her despair. Yah she’d like to throw a lot of things at him but he’s still as handsome as they come. Then they have these ‘fun’ banters, as if trying to bite each-other’s head off, that to me read more like foreplay, rather than true hatred. LOL And Adrian always let’s her reply to his own biting remarks. Meghan can attest to that as she hasn’t lost her job over any of those, so that must be something!
Then one day, things fall apart... almost quite literally, as, after an encounter that involves the office swimming pool (yah they even have a personal gym there *eyeroll*), Meghan comes to realize just how hot her boss is for her. Not disgusted by the ‘fat and ugly’ Meghan, who is very aware that her body is far from perfect, including those pounds she needs to shed. Yet Adrian seems to think her curves her perfect. Weeeeell, isn’t that surprising! Adrian Risginger, who can have any woman he wants, is crazy for her; Meghan, his behind-the-scene, nobody secretary!!!
The real fun begins then, when Adrian calls her one day to go on a… er, book tour. Umm, whaaaat? Turns out the recent sensation in popular erotic romance genre, an author that Meghan herself have been devouring solely because the heroine of the story is in an almost similar situation with a hot boss, is her own hot boss! And now he wants her to become ‘the face’ behind the work, since, obviously, he can’t be that person. Meghan can only blink and stare at Adrian’s face. Throwing an ashtray at his head seemed the perfect way to ease her anger, as if she needed this added crap on her days of overloaded crap, thanks to the sexy man sitting in front of her.
But a job is a job and she has to go, as commanded, but what Meghan wants, is to try to get into that head of Adrian Risinger, to know what he actually thinks of their encounter at the swimming pool. Though she had no confusion about the fact that he wants her, after they returned to the ‘reality’, he has gone back to being her bossy boss. The answer was to be revealed soon, once they’re in the tour and the conference that ‘Natalie McBride’ is supposed to be. Meghan finds herself entangled with the sexyness of Adrian Risinger, in all way possible, as finally she ends up sleeping with him. Or, he with her. Goes both ways.
But the so-called affair was so much fun (and HOT) that Meghan begins to wonder about the ‘what ifs’. Adrian, when he’s not being a jerk, is actually fun to be with. She never had any doubt about his brains, mix that with this version of warm, entertaining and considerate Adrian, and you get the perfect male specimen. He’s still filthy rich, so what’s there not to like? Meghan wants to hold on to these precious moments, where Adrian can’t get enough of her curves and never forgets to remind her just how hot and hard she makes him. Come to think of it, no matter how mean he was in the past, not one of his comments was directed towards Meghan’s body and appearance. Not ONE. A flattering thought but where will it lead to?
The answer, Meghan finds out, can’t come soon enough, right after they return from the trip. Adrian, though wants to carry on with the affair, he wants it discreet. Meghan can’t help it, or him, but she gradually becomes unhappy about the situation, seeing how her own feeling towards him has transformed in to something entirely different. Though the practical Meghan knows that a man like him would never flaunt her in his arms, the impractical side of her wants to rebel at the idea. Meghan even finds out just how long her boss has been fantasizing about her from some earlier drafts of his work. She knew she can’t go on this way when they can’t keep their hands off of each-other. Adrian though…. Well, she’s not even sure just what he wants beyond the hot sex.
And this, becomes the issue at hand. Adrian goes back to being the a$$hole, hurting Meghan in the process. I was actually mad at Adrian, not knowing why he’s being Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where she was concerned. It was very apparent he cared for her, maybe even more so, yet he does some stuff (no cheating, don’t worry, or I’ll have his balls) that made me mad. I was completely confused about his motives, as in, what the hell was he trying to achieve by pushing her away?
This time, it takes a few months for the answer to appear, when they meet again in an animal shelter where Meghan used to work and still loves to frequent as a volunteer.
His Secretary: Undone was funny. The tone and the storyline were quirky, good enough for me to read on. However, the biggest issue I personally had was with the writing. It needed a good editor IMO. The banters between Adrian and Meghan were enjoyable, with their
chemistry sizzling, enough for me to be curious about the next
installment. It does end in a HFN, with a HEA on the horizon... but I won’t be complaining if there’s another story with these two in it.
I’m a little on the fence about the rating. It could’ve been 4… almost. But for now, 3.5 stars.
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