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"If you like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum I think you will really like Amber Fox - I know I do." ~ Martha's Bookshelf
Feisty insurance investigator Amber Fox is finally marrying her boss, Brad Beckett, in seven days. All she has to do before the wedding is get a manicure, a bikini wax, and buy some sexy honeymoon undies. Easy peasy...
Until glamour model Aleesha starts receiving threatening letters, and Brad's suddenly hired as her bodyguard. Unfortunately, Aleesha's definition of guarding her body is different to Amber's. Especially since Aleesha is Brad's ex and has her sights set on getting him back.
And when Brad's arrested, facing life imprisonment, it looks like the only thing on Amber's honeymoon itinerary will be conjugal prison visits. Can Amber solve the case and clear Brad's name? Is Brad as innocent as he claims? Or is this the end for Amber and Brad?
Other Amber Fox books:
#1 Fashion, Lies, and Murder
#2 Money, Lies, and Murder
#3 Voodoo, Lies, and Murder
Excerpt:
Life was good.
For once, I was having no men dramas—I mention “dramas”, plural, because for a
long time there’d been two men in my life. Now I’d finally made a decision
about them, and I was back with Brad. For good this time. OK, it’s a long story;
here’s the short version. Brad was my ex-fiancé, who became my boss, then my
fiancé again. Romeo had been my boyfriend in between the Brad saga and was a
lovely guy. It’s just that Brad had stopped at nothing to get me back and to be
honest, he was my soul mate. See, simple! Or not. Which was why I’d been having
said men dramas. But not anymore. I wasn’t stressed about men now and was
ecstatically happy with Brad. In fact, we were flying off to Vegas in seven
days to get married. Yay! Plus, in my job as an insurance investigator for
Hi-Tec Insurance, owned by Brad, no one had tried to kill me lately, which
seemed to happen a lot. Somehow, I always seemed to become embroiled in cases
where the bad guys wanted to shut me up. I mean, I admit I have a big mouth and
I’m not afraid to use it, but the whole kill Amber thing was getting a tad
repetitious. And, as an extra bonus, I’d just picked up some rather large
slices of mocha choca cake for breakfast. Scrumalicious. Coffee, chocolate, and cake, three of my favourite things
all rolled into one. So, actually, life wasn’t just good, it was pretty much
perfect.
I wandered through
the front doors of the plush Hi-Tec Insurance office with a happy smile,
humming to myself as I walked past the empty reception and salivating at the
prospect of the cake. All I had to do this week before we got married was tie
up some loose ends on the case files I’d been working, buy some sexy undies for
the wedding night, have a bikini wax, and get a manicure. Easy peasy. I was
thinking pink glitter (for the manicure, not the bikini wax), or maybe
something like Hot Vixen, just because I loved the name on the bottle. I could
picture myself being a Hot Vixen on our honeymoon. Elvis and the Chapel of Love
took care of the rest of the nuptials, so it was going to be a lovely, relaxing
week for once and nothing could possibly go wrong before the big day.
I was loaded with
four slices of cake to share with Tia, the receptionist, and some bizarre,
soggy-looking tofu concoctions for Brad and Hacker, who were both into the
health food thing.
I entered the
office I shared with Hacker. Tia sat next to him. They both stared at me with a
worried expression.
‘What? Have I got
lipstick on my teeth or something?’ I ran a finger around my mouth. ‘Or is it
my hair?’ My curly waves had a mind of their own and often bordered on a scary
Krusty the Clown look, although I’d had a trim for the wedding after a nasty
incident of hair singeing, so it couldn’t look that bad. Plus I’d poured
practically a whole bottle of argan oil conditioning serum over it.
Hacker and Tia
gave each other a sheepish glance before letting out a nervous laugh.
I eyed them
suspiciously, my investigator-ish intuition shifting up a notch. To avoid my
gaze, Hacker, the office tech guru, suddenly found his massive bank of computer
monitors and electrical equipment very interesting. I’d yet to see a computer
system he couldn’t break into. Originally from Haiti, he’d been in the SAS with
Brad. He was six foot six and the spitting image of the rapper Snoop Dogg. He
had two plaits that stuck up in the air like antennas, a gold front tooth, and
a penchant for wearing various gangsta rapper hoodies. Today he wore one that
said “Keep Calm and Rap”. His real
name was Roderick, but I seriously doubted anyone who’d ever called him that
lived to tell the tale. Tia was American and had a heart-shaped face, blonde
ringlets, and big blue eyes. But don’t let the ditzy blonde act fool you. She was
a tough little thing. Tia liked to dress loud with a capital L. Today she wore a tie-dye maxi dress
of psychedelic colours you could see from outer space. She probably made those
people who monitored the orbiting satellites reach for their sunglasses. Tia
and Hacker had been seeing each other for a while, so maybe I’d just caught
them in the middle of a raunchy discussion about their sex life.
Under my
scrutinizing gaze, Tia let out her signature snorty giggle, which sounded like
a hyena on crack.
‘OK, what’s up
with you two?’ I asked, handing out the food.
They glanced at
each other again before saying, ‘Nothing’ in unison.
‘Hmm.’ I raised a
disbelieving eyebrow and opened up the box of cake. A pre-appreciation dribble came
on as I lifted the delicious mixture to my lips. In full drooling mode, I
noticed a woman in Brad’s office across the corridor.
My hand froze
mere millimetres from my face as I took in the scene through the glass window.
The woman sat on his desk, facing Brad and away from us. Yes, actually on his
desk. And if that wasn’t a bit too familiar for my liking, her face was up
close to his ear. She whispered something before tossing her long, highlighted
hair over her shoulder and giggling. Then she reached out, ran her fingers
along the side of his neck, and walked them down his chest. The touch was not
in an ‘I’m just a friend’ way, either. Oh, no. This little stroke was more of
an ‘I want to get you into bed’ kind of way. Through Brad’s slightly open door,
I could hear their murmured voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying.
My appetite
vanished. A hot, bubbling sensation erupted in my stomach. I think I might’ve
even let out a growl.
I put the cake
back on my desk. Now I knew what Tia and Hacker had been staring at when I came
in, and it wasn’t me. It was that…that woman behind me.
‘OK, spill,’ I
whispered to them. ‘Who’s that? And why’s she practically molesting Brad?’ I
jerked my head in the direction of Brad’s office.
‘Er…’ Tia’s eyes widened,
looking like she was panicking about giving me some potentially bad news.
‘Spit it out,’ I
said.
‘It’s Aleesha,’
Hacker said.
I frowned. The
name wasn’t ringing any clangers. ‘Aleesha who?’
He shrugged. ‘You
know, that glamour model. She just calls herself “Aleesha”.’
My eyes narrowed
as I glanced back at the woman, who now fondled Brad’s ear. My temperature shot
up a few degrees in recognition. ‘That slutty woman who’s always in the paper
for wearing skirts that could double as belts, and getting out of cabs flashing
off the fact she’s wearing no knickers?’ My mouth contracted into a thin line.
‘That’s the one.’
Tia pulled a worried face.
‘And what’s she
doing with Brad?’ I asked, although maybe I already knew the answer. By the
look of things, she’d have her man-hungry claws into him quicker than I could
say ‘trailer trash’. She’d had more husbands and fiancés than I’d had junk
food, which was saying something. Every week she was plastered over the
tabloids and celebrity magazines with a new man, or because of some drunken
exploit, or she’d decided to dish the dirt on an ex.
‘She’s a client.’
Tia nibbled on the edge of her cake.
‘What’s she got
insured with us? Her double FFs?’ I spat out.
‘She’s also
Brad’s ex-girlfriend,’ Hacker said.
My jaw flew open.
‘What? When? I didn’t know about that.’ Ew. The thought of them together was
just ick.
Thanks so much for featuring me :)
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