Bella

I had sworn off the bad boy. You know, the drop dead gorgeous guy with the sexy dark hair perfectly swept back in an effortless look that you know actually cost him two hundred dollars to achieve?

The man with the worn in jeans hanging from his trim hips. The thin material of his shirt pulling taut over the tight muscles of his shoulders as he moved. Long and lean—not from working out in the gym, but from his active lifestyle.

You know, the guy that has your panties melting just from that confident glance from the corner of his flashing eyes? That guy.

I had sworn them off. So, why I had I opened my big mouth last week and asked one for a job?

Garrett Love—can you believe that name? Weston, Garrett, and Carrie Love the proud owners of The Lonestar Cattle Company had become like a family to me and my son over the last few months. And Garrett had quickly become the star of my X-rated dreams every night since I had first laid eyes on him.

Sober for ten years and having sworn off his playboy Wall Street ways, he was a safe bet, right? The look of the bad boy but with ten years of excellent behavior under his belt.

I couldn’t help but hope there was still a little bad boy left for me, somewhere buried deep within those jeans. I liked my escapades in the bedroom to look like my riding boots at the end of the day. Filthy dirty.

Hitting the side of my head with the heel of my hand, I hoped my inappropriate thoughts would be dislodged. I was talking about how I felt about my new boss, after all.

My first day on the job and I was going to be late. Damn, damn, double damn. I tore my eyes from the clock on the wall and continued to struggle to get my riding boots pulled on. Grabbing my keys and racing out the door, I couldn’t stop myself from daydreaming about the boss man taking me over his knee for a long hard spanking for being late on my first day.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the review mirror. My cheeks blushing as red as my hair, as I threw my keys in the ignition. “Come on, Bella, be professional,” I muttered as I turned the key. There was a groan, and a moan, not from me—from Bessie’s engine. A high-pitched whine and then—nothing.

“Damn,” I rested my forehead on the steering wheel of my Wagoneer. “Not today, of all days.”

Hopping out of the car, I gave old Bessie’s thread bare tire a kick of my boot. I might be late, but there was no way I wasn’t showing up for my first day of work. Hustling down my mile-long dirt drive, I set my sites on the main road.

* * *

“Thanks again!” I called, smiling, waving and shutting the door of the semi.

Walking towards the barn, I looked over my shoulder giving, Bill, my new friend, a final wave, laughing as he honked his great horn at me. When I turned back, I bumped straight into the rock-hard chest of Garrett Love.

“What—was that?” he asked, his hard gaze boring into mine. His mouth was set firm, his jaw clenched with an intense look of displeasure.

“That was Bill.”

“And did you know, Bill, before this morning?”

“Technically, no. But I found out that he drives by my house once a month when he delivers onions,” I said, brightly.

“Bella Buchanan, did you hitchhike to The Lonestar Cattle Company this morning?” he asked, as he raised one of those dark, perfectly shaped brows at me. My insides melted at his stern tone.

“Maybe? Possibly? Yes?”

My admission was met with silence. I filled the tense air with nervous rambling. “My car wouldn’t start, it made this really weird noise and I was already late and it’s my first day and I…”

“I think we’d best have a little talk, boss to employee.”

My stomach dropped like it did the time I took Oliver to the amusement park and he made me ride the Free Fall. The ride climbs vertically to the top of the tower in seven point two seconds, then without warning, the car is released, and the riders drop sixty feet in less than two seconds. With Garrett’s livid eyes gazing down on me, that was how I felt right now.

His fingers wrapped around my elbow. His tight grip had the skin under my light jacket tingling as he led me to the office he had built onto the back of the barn.

Sitting me down in the wooden chair in front of the desk with a thump, he shut the door tightly behind us. He stood behind the desk.

He put his hands flat on the desk and leaned his weight on them, his eyes flashed as he growled, “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you, hitchhiking out there?”

I gave a nervous gulp, avoided his eyes and instead focused on the place where the rolled-up sleeves of his button-down work shirt met his toned forearms.

“Um.”

He ran his hands through his tousled hair, and paced back and forth behind the desk. “I have half a mind to put you right over my knee and spank you for doing something so absolutely reckless.”

Okay—so he didn’t say that. I imagined that part.

He asked me, “Why didn’t you just call me to pick you up, Bella?”

“Um.” My master’s degree in communication was apparently a giant waste of money.

Returning to standing behind the desk, his gaze locked on mine, daring me to take my eyes from his. When he spoke, his tone was low, dangerous almost.

“Don’t you ever do that again, Bella. I don’t care if you are on your way to work, the gym, the grocery store. You call me. You do not hitch a ride. Do. You. Understand?” He punctuated each word with a rap of his knuckles on the desk.

“Yes, sir,” I whispered.

At my utterance something in his faced changed. There was a look of recognition as he considered my face. The look was fleeting, but I had seen it, clearly.

“If I hear you so much as stuck your thumb out anywhere near the side of a road, I will take you over my knee and spank you until you are unable to sit comfortably in a saddle for a week. It that understood?”

My knees felt so weak, I thanked my lucky stars I was seated in a chair. Hiding my trembling fingers, I nodded my head.

So, it was as I had thought. Garrett was an ex-bad boy turned good with dominant tendencies and a hand that itched to spank. And he was my boss. And I was absolutely, head over heels in love with him.

* * *

Garrett

After the stunt she pulled, she needed her bottom bared and spanked until there were tears in her eyes and her trembling voice promised never to do such a thing again. And then a good hard, ‘don’t you forget who the boss is around here’ fuck.

But instead, I maintained my professional composure, after I threatened to spank her ass that is, and gave my new employee a detailed tour of the ranch. Knowing in the back of my mind that I had the contract, still warm from my printer, sitting in the middle of my desk drawer.

Authors note:

I hope you’ve enjoyed this sneak peek of Boss of her Heart, the debut novel of my new series, Dirty Texas Love. These books follow the characters you have come to love but with a much steamier storyline. Each one can be enjoyed as a standalone. I can’t wait to share the full story with you soon.

Xoxox Shanna Handel