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I have come to associate the writing of Mary Hughes with being fun, exciting and a little naughty. Edie and the CEO was no exception.
Description:
Edie Rowan is passionate about workers’ rights, wanting her Sixties protester grandparents to be proud of her. But championing the little guy gets her in trouble with sexy CEO Everett Kirk. Kirk is Mr. Ultra-Executive with his expensive hand-tailored suits and his eyes the steel blue of a finely tempered sword—but for the intriguing contradictions of his neat ponytail and square workman’s hands.
Edie’s latest disaster, a teambuilding exercise gone facepalm wrong, leads to a knockdown drag-out with rival manager Bethany “The B”—or add the “Itch”—Blondelle. The incident is the last straw for Kirk. He sends Edie to management camp and to her shock, announces he will drive her there himself. She wonders why he would want eighteen hours of enforced intimacy with her, even as she’s dazzled by his sparkling white smile and killer dimple.
Everett walks away from the confrontation with a headache. For years he has protected Edie from the fallout of her righteous crusading, but this may be the last time. A corporate backstabber is trying to eject Everett from his job. Even so, he’s looking forward to spending time on the drive with Edie, attracted to her sunny red curls, fiery personality and fine dark eyes.
Then a snowstorm forces them to seek shelter in an empty mountain cabin. Edie thinks she will take the lead in wilderness survival but Kirk proves more durable than his Italian loafers and silk sweater would suggest. The extended stay rubs them together in all sorts of ways, kindling emotional and physical flames. But when their corporate shells burn away, what secrets will be revealed?
I have come to associate the writing of Mary Hughes with being fun, exciting and a little naughty. Edie and the CEO was no exception. A little mystery, a little fun and a whole lot of love.
Edith Elizabeth Rowan is a fun-loving, quirky IT Specialist working at HHE. She was raised by 
liberal, hippie parents and believes that the worker has every right as the bosses. She stands up for her team, pushes everyone’s buttons and usually gets herself into trouble. Then there is Bethany, Sleep With The Boss Much, Blondelle making more trouble for her with Mr. Kirk.
Edward Everett Kirk, President of HHE. An even-tempered, hot-bodied, blue-eyed monster (or so Edie thinks). His solution to Edie’s problems in the workplace are to send her to a management seminar in California. But, of course, he’ll drive her there since he’s going to a conference there too. See, what Edie doesn’t know is that he has always been her “champion”, unruffling managements feathers for her, saving her job more than once and secretly attracted to her. Getting to know her better on their trip from Colorado to California is a bonus. But, they really didn’t plan on that snowstorm, now did they?
Trapped in a cabin for days, Edie and Everett finally get to know one another. The bickering continues but, as layers of the other are peeled away, they realize how much alike they really are and finally admit to their feelings. But, trouble is brewing back at HHE. Someone is trying to set up both of them for a fall. They need to get back and get things under control. Edie finally finds a way out of their snowy hide-away and they go back to face the music of utter betrayal. But, by who – that they weren’t able to figure out.
I had so much fun reading “Edie and the CEO”. It’s the classic “let’s disagree so that we hide our real feelings for one another” story. But, Edie and Everett bring it to another level. They bickered about everything from what car to take on the trip to how to fill the napkin holders. The writing was light and fun and enveloped every feeling that both Edie and Everett could have.
If you enjoy light, fun romances, please take the time to read “Edie and the CEO”. I promise you will fall in love with the characters, be surprised as to who the corporate shark is and why and cheer for both Edie and Bethany in the end. Yes, an HEA for all!
EDIE AND THE CEO Excerpt:
Copyright © 2013 Mary Hughes All rights reserved — a Crimson Romance publication
Edie wants to make her 60s protester grandparents proud. But championing the little guy gets her in trouble with sexy CEO Everett Kirk. Someone’s trying to force Everett out of his job, and Edie’s latest escapade hasn’t helped. A snowstorm and an empty cabin makes them confront their attraction.
Chapter One
Smack in the middle of the workday, because her brain was fried, Edith Ellen Rowan made her computer chirp Old MacDonald. Naturally that got her into trouble with The Bitch.
At first, Edie didn’t even register the problem. Four sunny bars bee-booped before it hit her—her computer was playing a children’s nursery song in an office full of conservative, nitpicky ears. Houghton Howell Enterprises was staid like an insurance company’s gray suit (fun was something you had on the golf course, or once a year at the Christmas party, but never ever on the job).
“Suck it to shell.” Edie hit the escape key. As ee-eye-ohhh died, she braced against the proverbial fan scattering the proverbial manure in the form of Bethany Blondelle, known to most of the company as The ‘B’ if they were feeling kindly, adding the ‘itch’ if they were not.
Shoulders hunched and breath held, Edie waited. She’d only been trying to motivate her people. Managing a team of programmers at HHE, a firm that sold innovative (read: expensive) solutions in accounting for large companies (read: deep pockets) wasn’t easy. Her team members were getting as fried as she, and so she’d proposed the music-writing contest.
Nothing happened. Edie gradually relaxed.
The Star Spangled Banner burst lustily from Jack’s cubicle next door. Edie groaned.
“What the HELL is that NOISE?” Bethany had her vocal caps lock on again. This would be bad. “Who’s making all that racket? Edie? Edie!”
Edie face-palmed. The contest was supposed to be a bit of fun, not cause for Armageddon. She’d have preferred to ignore The B, but “Bethany” and “proactive” were so synonymous they were hyperlinked on Wikipedia.
Sure enough, a long leg popped through the opening of Edie’s cubicle, followed by the lady herself in eye-bleeding red. Bethany’s fashion sense was from the DoMeHard channel. Her snappy skirts were hemmed just below her panty line. Today’s suit also featured a plunging sweetheart neckline, a chunky citrine necklace getting suffocated in her Wonder-enhanced cleavage. Her long, sleek hair was dyed crayon yellow #6.
Edie looked down at her own lacy teal tee, navy pants and wool blazer and wondered if she was underdressed.
Nah.
“What is the meaning of this racket?” Bethany leaned on Edie’s desk, looming over her. Invading personal space—“A” in the ABCs of corporate dominance.
“Project Pleiades. We had a month to deadline—until your good buddy Junior chopped that to a week.”
“Respect, Edie. Mr. Howell, not ‘Junior.’”
“I’ll respect Mr. Pharaoh Howell when he respects the workers. That deadline is a nightmare. My team has been working twelve-hour days and more. I’ve tried to push back, but you know Junior. Only the Evil Overlord can buck him.”
“Stop it.” Bethany tossed her head, a fleeting remnant of the girl Edie once knew. “The issue is not our executives. The issue is that…racket.” She waved her hand toward Jack’s cubicle, where the anthem was on its final verse.
“Handling Stress 101, Bethany. Work on something else.”
“Playing music on company time?” Bethany glared down her high-bridged nose.
“Stupidity 101. You should listen to me if you want to go anywhere in this company.” She pointed to her cleavage, fingertip disappearing to the first knuckle. “After all, my team’s twice the size of yours.”
“Bigger isn’t better. It’s all about how you use it.” Edie grinned. “How about you run your team and I’ll run mine?”
“You don’t run your team.” Bethany sneered. “They run you.”
“It’s called empowerment.” Edie took pride in her outspoken team. She wanted her grandparents, hard-core sixties protesters, to be proud of her. They’d raised her from a little girl when her parents had died, and she loved them to pieces. “It’s a proven management style.”
Jack’s computer shifted to A Hundred Bottles of Beer.
“Management?” One corner of Bethany’s perfect lips curled. “The only management I
see is mis-management.”
“Ba-dum-bum.” Edie was suddenly tired of the whole conversation.
And, as Jack’s computer continued to tweet bottles down, doubt gnawed at her. It was quite a racket.
“Other people are trying to work.” Bethany went for the kill. “Keep your hooligans under control or I’m going to have to tell Mr. Kirk.”
Edie suppressed a moan. Of all the straight-laced overbearing big shots at HHE, Edward Everett Kirk, president and CEO, was the biggest, straight-laciest. Like laced corsets…naughty corsets in Kirk’s competent hands—
“The way you two fight, it’s only a matter of time before he gets fed up and fires you.” Mme La B’itch drew a red-enameled nail across her slim throat.
Edie winced. “It’s called ‘corporate unfriending’ now. And I couldn’t help the janitor incident. Or the thing with the Super Soaker. Look, I’ll talk to my people. Just cut us some slack, okay? We’ve been working ridiculous hours.”
“Edie, you idiot. Has it ever occurred to you that your ridiculous hours are because of you?”
Them’s fightin’ words. Edie raised narrowed eyes. “I beg your pardon?”
Bethany leaned knuckles on the desk. “Only one kind of project manager confuses effort with efficiency: a bad one.”
“Enough.” Edie jumped to her feet, nearly head-butting Bethany. “Outside. Now.”
“And freeze my butt off? Hardly.” Bethany’s nose was inches from Edie’s. “You have absolutely no decorum, do you? That shouldn’t surprise me, considering the hippies who raised you.”
Edie lost it. “My grandparents were heroes! They fought for what they believed in, rallied at protest marches—”
“Pretty stories. Your grandpa was a long-haired unwashed bum. Your grandma wasn’t much better than a free love hooker.”
Edie snarled. “Now you listen here, you b—”
“If Mr. Kirk were here—”
“Mr. Kirk,” a deep voice rang with power, “is here. And I want to know what, precisely, is going on.”
February 4
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Melinda Dozier
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February 11
What’s On The Bookshelf
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February 12
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Literary R & R
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13 comments
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Michel Reinhard
February 6, 2013 at 1:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I love Mary Hughes books. She writes books that are fun to read and super sexy! I can’t wait to read this new release!
Alyssa @ Hesperia Loves Books
February 6, 2013 at 2:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Great review! I’ve never read a Mary Hughes book, but that will change after reading your review
Mary Hughes
February 6, 2013 at 4:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hi Alyssa! Thanks for your kind words
My heartfelt appreciation to Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews for hosting my blog stop and giveaway today!
Special thanks to Kitty Angel for a review that simply sings
Trix
February 6, 2013 at 4:14 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I have BITING NIXIE ready to go on my Kindle, but they all look fun!
Tess H.
February 6, 2013 at 4:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Thanks for your 5-star review! I’m definitely adding this to my TBR list!
tess_halim(at)hotmail(dot)com
Kathleen O
February 6, 2013 at 7:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
WOW a 5Star review.. It is going on my tbr list for sure…
Diane Sallans
February 6, 2013 at 8:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I haven’t read Mary’s stories yet, but this looks like a lot of fun!
Lori Meehan
February 6, 2013 at 8:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’ve not read Mary’s books before. This ounces good.
Timitra
February 6, 2013 at 9:37 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Thanks for the great review…adding to my wishlist!
Monica V.
February 7, 2013 at 12:14 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I would love to read this book!
Mary Hughes
February 7, 2013 at 9:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hi to Michel, Trix, Tess, Kathleen, Diane, Lori, Timitra and Monica! Your many kind comments overwhelm me!
Make sure to enter the Rafflecopter
Michel–Edie is sensual instead of explicit, but has lots of romantic tension. Also Beauty Bites, the next Biting Love book, comes out in August and there’s plenty hot in there
Natasha
February 9, 2013 at 1:03 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
Sounds really good!!
Mary Hughes
February 9, 2013 at 4:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hi Natasha, and thanks!