Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Billionaire Shawn Dunn has it all. Command of a global empire. Women who crave him. Wealth that means nothing is beyond his reach.
Yet Kara Hayward refuses to fall under his spell. She’s fire and defiance wrapped in temptation, the only woman who looks him in the eye and says no. It only makes Shawn want her more.
Getting involved would be shockingly dangerous. Kara’s sister is hiding from a ruthless assassin, and it’s safer for everyone if Shawn keeps his distance.
But the tension between them is inescapable. Every touch ignites. Every kiss sears hotter. Their desire grows into something more, something deeper . . . until the night everything burns.
Because the man hunting Kara’s sister has come to collect his revenge, and the price isn’t Shawn’s money, power, or pride.
It’s Kara.
* Keep Me Safe was previously published in 2014 as Keep by Karyn Lawrence (Nikki’s alter ego). This completely rewritten version features new content, more spice, and a point-of-view switch
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
KARA
I sat motionless as all the color drained from my employee’s face.
“We have to terminate your employment, effective immediately,” I said. “I’m sorry. It was a difficult business decision that we’ve had to make. Your position has been eliminated.”
I knew I sounded robotic and unfeeling, but the truth was I felt like shit. Not just because of my jet lag, but because of the man who sat across from me in the glass conference room. Scott Rhodes’s jaw tightened until I was sure he was going to crack his teeth.
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” he hissed. “I expected nothing less from this company.”
Scott had been working at the Manhattan branch of Incentive Systems for the better part of twenty years, and he was the second person I’d had to let go this month.
I was a top-level project manager, the youngest at the company at only thirty years old, and I wasn’t experienced at laying people off. It’d be all right with me if I didn’t get any more practice at it.
Scott’s chaotic gaze went to my boss, who sat beside me. Jim had wanted this to happen for at least six months, but I’d fought a losing battle for my employee’s job. In Jim’s defense, Scott’s work had been declining. Plus, I’d heard rumors he was coming in late and leaving early, even after I’d put him on a performance improvement plan.
I still oversaw the New York implementation team from my office at the international headquarters in Maastricht, and rather than do it over a video call, I’d chosen to fly in from the Netherlands to relieve Scott. He was owed that for all his years, even if he’d been sliding.
“Human resources will be sending over a severance package,” Jim said. He looked, for lack of a better word, bored. Like he had no idea we’d sent the world crashing down on Scott.
This was just one of the many reasons why I’d left New York. My boss was kind of a dick.
Scott’s breathing was rushed, panicked. “What . . . happens now?”
“You’ll go to your desk,” Jim said, “and collect your items. Kara won’t hover, but we do need to make sure that’s done, and you leave immediately afterward.”
For a moment, I was concerned he wasn’t going to go quietly, and I held my breath.
But it left me in a relieved sweep when he rose from his chair, his glassy-eyed expression shifting away from me. He turned and plodded toward the door, leaving the conference room like a zombie.
“You still think flying in all the way from Europe was necessary?” Jim asked when the door swung shut.
“Yes.” I ignored his pointed question. It probably hadn’t made a shred of difference, but I wasn’t cold or unfeeling—and didn’t want anyone to view me that way either. If I hadn’t flown in, I was sure my ex-husband, who worked five floors up, would use it as an excuse to lobby for my dismissal. Paul had resented my climb through the company ranks from the moment I’d started here.
“The bright side is his wife will get less in alimony.”
I was able to disguise my personal feelings, but only barely. “He’s getting divorced?”
“Amber said the wife moved out last month. I thought you knew.”
“No, I didn’t. That explains why his work was suffering.”
Jim leaned back in his chair and stretched. “Yeah, maybe, but it’s not an excuse. People get divorced and keep doing their job all the time, you know. You did.”
I tore my gaze away from him so he couldn’t see my discomfort. The ink on my settlement papers had been dry for almost two years, but the word divorce was still a slap in the face.
“It wasn’t easy.” There was an understatement.
When he didn’t move, I stood on the high heels that hurt my feet. I was already tall at five-eleven, so the shoes were completely unnecessary. I loomed over people and made them uncomfortable. Really, I made men uncomfortable, and at this point in my life, that was a good thing. These shoes were a freedom now that I was single.
My ex-husband had been an inch shorter than me when I was flat-footed.
“I’ll go check on him,” I said.
I rounded the table and was halfway to the door when a woman darted down the hallway, sprinting past the conference room.
“What was that?” Jim asked.
It gave me pause. “Amber.”
“Was she running?”
Anxiety made the air in the room go thin. The offices beyond the glass were quiet. Too quiet.
I didn’t realize I was retreating until the table against my hip let me backpedal no farther. Even before I saw Scott and the small, silver handgun clutched at his side, I somehow knew.
Cold dread curled its fingers around me as he burst through the door and raised the gun toward Jim. His hand shook like he was completely out of control, which was exactly how I felt.