ALSO BY LIZ BOWER
Obsession - A romantic suspense novel
There's a fine line between love and madness… Obsession
Jo Waters finally has her life back on track. Since her boyfriend cheated on her romantic entanglements aren't on her priority list. That doesn't mean she can't look. Right? Especially when it comes to her sexy new colleague Dan.
But when Dan becomes the scapegoat for something he isn't responsible for, she ends up in a whole lot of trouble trying to defend him. When confronted by her boss about her uncharacteristic behaviour, Jo panics, and lies. Unfortunately, it's a lie that sets off an unstoppable chain of events including the need to find a man she can pass off as her boyfriend. And it is the most unlikely of men who her best friend offers as a solution—her brother, Marco. Which would be fine except Marco is annoying and far too full of himself, and has been the bane of her life since high school.
But when her life gets thrown off track again it turns out that Marco is the least of her problems. Someone is making violent threats towards those close to her. And to make matters worse Jo's boss thinks she is the obvious suspect.
As the threats become increasingly more disturbing and widespread, just how far will Jo have to go to protect the one she loves?
Keep reading for an excerpt.
CHAPTER ONE
There comes a time in every girl's life when she has to take a stand for what she believes in, for the man in her life. I truly believed that, so I couldn't sit there any longer listening to the lies spewing from Amy's mouth.
Amy gave women a bad name, fluttering her eyelashes and flashing her cleavage to get what she wanted. Just like she was doing to our boss, Alex, right then.
“No,” I said. I stood so quickly my chair toppled over, ensuring I had everyone's attention. Thrusting a finger in Amy's direction, I carried on. “Just … no. Dan's only been here for a week, so you can't blame him for why the release date might be missed. You'll be blaming Toby next just because they started on the same day.”
I grabbed the spreadsheets off the desk and thrust them in Alex's face. “Every single outstanding issue with this version of software is one that she is supposed to be testing. But she's been too busy flirting and flashing her cleavage at Dan this week to actually do any work. Instead, she's been strutting around the office in that belt she wears as an excuse for a skirt—”
“Enough,” Alex shouted.
I shrank back from where he was standing next to me. That was the first time I'd heard Alex shout or lose his air of control.
He grabbed the spreadsheets from my hand. “I'll go through these and we will discuss”—he twirled a finger in the air—“this when everyone has calmed down.”
I turned to pick up my chair and sank into it. Before I could say anything else to make the situation worse, I pulled my lip beneath my top teeth. I leaned over the desk and let my fringe, along with the longer strands of hair that had fallen loose from my ponytail, fall forward over my face. The only sound in the room was the shuffle of papers before Alex spoke again.
“I don't think there's any point continuing with this meeting, so let's call it a day. I'd like an update from each of you on what you have outstanding and what you need to complete that before the deadline. After today, I think it might be best if you do that by email.”
Alex stalked off behind me and left the meeting room. I quickly gathered together the rest of my files and made my escape, back to the relative safety of my desk. Dumping the files into the tray, I sank into my chair and dropped my head to the desk, the fake wooden veneer cold against my forehead. What was I thinking? I banged my head softly against the desk.
It might be the right thing to do, to take a stand for what I believed in, but the middle of a meeting probably wasn't the best time to make that stand. Especially not over a man who wasn't even mine to defend. Wishing that he was mine had nothing to do with my actions. Absolutely nothing.
My computer dinged with an alert. I lifted my head and jabbed a finger against the mouse to wake the screen.
A meeting request. From Alex.
I didn't need to be Einstein to figure out what the meeting would be about.
I moved the mouse over the accept button. Did I have any other option? It said request, but I was pretty sure that declining would be unacceptable. I clicked and the request disappeared.
Along with my dreams of a promotion.
My gaze flicked to the corner of the screen. Quarter to five. I closed my email and shut down the computer. If I left fifteen minutes early, it was unlikely to make things any worse for me.
As I waited for my computer to shut down, I stood and saw Amy heading my way. My heartbeat picked up; that meeting was more than enough confrontation for one day, but I didn't think that would stop Amy.
She looked me over as she came to a stop much too close for my liking, and I leaned back from her. Her mouth twisted into a sneer as though I smelled like something unpleasant she had trodden in.
“Yeah, you should leave. If you ever talk shit about me like that in front of Alex again, I swear I will make your life hell. You think you can swan around here like you're my boss?”
She let out a snort as her gaze dropped to my chest.
“Let's face it, you're only jealous. If you actually had cleavage to flash, you wouldn't be hiding it under that excuse for a shirt even my gran wouldn't be seen dead in.”
My face flushed because she was right. About me not having cleavage, anyway. Even if I had, I still wouldn't flash it around the way she did.
Amy was everything I would never be. Long blonde hair with the perfected shampoo advertisement flick of it over her shoulder, legs that went on for miles and boobs men drooled over. She leaned in towards me.
“You walk around the office with your mousy brown hair scraped back in your uptight ponytail, thinking you're better than everyone else. Trying to suck everyone in with those baby blue eyes as though you're so bloody innocent. But if you think for one minute that you stand any chance with Dan, then you're seriously mistaken. If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way.”
She spun on her heel, blonde strands of hair whipping across my cheek as she stalked off to her desk. I slumped against the back of my chair and dragged in a deep breath. She was right. Again. Why would Dan be interested in me? I wasn't tall and curvy like Amy. It wasn't like I even had a sparkling personality to fall back on. Most of the time, I was either at a loss for words or rambled incoherently. And while I didn't believe Amy was a master of conversation or wit, at least she had other attributes which more than made up for that.
I grabbed my handbag from the desk drawer, slung the strap over my shoulder, and then shoved my chair under the desk with a little more force than needed. My gaze flicked around the office as I slunk towards reception, hoping no one would notice me leaving. With a sigh of relief, I pulled open the door and left the office.
Not paying attention to the direction I was heading, I ended up wandering towards the high street. Too late I realised it was market day. Gartdale High Street on market day was as bad as shopping in Manchester when the Christmas markets were on. It didn't help that coachloads of tourists were shipped in for the day, lured by promises of the beautiful surrounding countryside and a bargain buy followed by a cream tea. I weaved through the throng of shoppers and veered off down a side street towards the river.
Normally I enjoyed the walk home this way, following the meandering riverside path. Enjoyed watching people feeding the ducks, the suits hurrying home from work and the joggers out in their neon running clothes. But not that day.
As the sun glinted off the river, the gleeful shriek of the little boy feeding the ducks seemed to mock me. The frustrated huff of the suit I almost walked into reminded me of Alex's earlier irritation at my outburst. And I was pretty sure the joggers were actually aiming for me at that point as I tangled limbs with one of them. I just wanted to be at home, to shut out the rest of the world until reality thrust itself back in my face the next morning.
Climbing the hill towards the outskirts of the town centre, I left the river behind me, along with the houses with their balconies overlooking the sprawling lawns and the view of the river through the trees. I made my way through the maze of terraced houses with their concrete gardens and the view of the street decorated with empty crisp packets and cigarette butts instead.
Finally, I reached the end of the street and my house. It might've looked a little tired, might've been a little too close to the unsavoury end of Gartdale, but it was still home. And it was the best Gabi, and I could afford to rent when we had moved in together five years before, after she had finished university and I had scraped together enough money from the numerous crappy office jobs I'd had after leaving college.
I hurried up the cracked steps that led to the front door as I hunted for the keys in my handbag. When I turned the key in the lock, the door swung open enough for me to be greeted by the sound of Gabi's raised voice.
“Just leave it alone, Marco.”
Great, Gabi's brother is here. I slammed the front door behind me to announce my arrival. The last thing I needed was to get in the middle of one of their arguments.
I sank into the soft brown leather sofa, propped my feet up on the wooden coffee table and rested my head against the back of the cushion as I closed my eyes. Images of Alex's face scrolled through my mind and I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, trying to force them out.
My ponytail was yanked painfully and my eyelids flew open to see Marco's face hovering over me upside down. “Don't start, Marco. I'm not in the mood,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.
“You never are any more, Jo. But it's okay. I was leaving anyway. Don't miss me too much.” He threw a wink at me over his shoulder as he walked towards the door.
“Yeah, like that could ever happen,” I shouted at his retreating back.
“You should cut him some slack,” Gabi said.
“What? You mean like he does with me?” I rubbed my fingers over my temples, letting my eyes shut again. “Like you just did?”
“That's different. He's my brother and he … has some stupid ideas sometimes.”
“Do I even want to know?” I asked, looking over at Gabi. She shook her head.
“No, probably not. What's up with you, anyway?”
I wasn't sure talking about it would resolve anything, but the constant swirl of my thoughts since leaving the office might stop. “I think I screwed up. I lost it in a meeting with my boss.”
Gabi perched on the cushion next to me. “Are we talking 'Claire from third year high school' kind of lost it?”
I grimaced at the memory. God, Amy was my new Claire. “Yeah, pretty much. Just without the hair pulling.”
“Please tell me this has nothing to do with your obsession over Dan.”
Gabi's direct gaze pinned me and I shrugged. “Amy was trying to blame him for why our deadline would be missed, but it has nothing to do with him. I couldn't just sit there and listen to Amy blatantly lie after spending her week flirting with him. Perhaps shouting and brandishing spreadsheets in Alex's face wasn't the best way to get my point across.”
“You think? Is this the same girl who spent days stressing over having to give a presentation to the boss she's just screamed at? You need to forget about Dan.”
I loved Gabi but sometimes … When she thought she was right, she had the habit of forgetting not everyone was as single-minded as her. I sat up straight and twisted to face Gabi to defend Dan. “He doesn't even know about what happened, so you can't blame him.”
“And you shouldn't be defending him.”
I rolled my eyes at that but should have known better. Gabi had been telling me what I should do ever since we met on our first day in high school. I knew she meant well and was usually right. Not that I would tell her that, of course.
Gabi blew out a long breath. “Well, not like that, anyway. So what did Alex say?”
“Nothing. He scheduled a meeting for me with him first thing tomorrow.” I slumped back against the cushion. “I've never seen Alex lose his cool like that before. Shit, Gabi, what if I lose my job?” I dropped my chin to my chest. Tears stung behind my eyelids at the thought of losing the chance at my dream job when I'd only just applied for it.
Gabi grasped hold of my hand and gently squeezed. “I'm sure you'll get off with a warning. They won't fire you over this.”
I nodded slowly, wishing I shared her optimism.