22 | June | 2016 | Nesie's Place

Dynamic and vivacious Margot Schultz never met an obstacle she couldn’t overcome…or knock down. Executive assistant to Olivia Chandler, Margot always seems to know the right amount of charm, wit, and panache to use when dealing with anyone from grumpy judges to cagey Department of Children’s Service employees to Olivia’s peers – some of whom are less-than-ethical.

Early in her career, Margot worked for some of the less than-ethical-crowd. While they could be gods and magicians in the courtroom, pulling out wins from seemingly unwinnable cases, outside the courtroom was another matter. Margot could remember each and every personal errand she’d had to do, each gift she’d had to buy for multiple girlfriends and mistresses, and every lie she’d told to one of her bosses’ wives.

When Margot heard through the courthouse grapevine that the executive secretary of a successful young, female child advocate attorney was retiring for health reasons and had no replacement, she grabbed her resume, took an extended lunch and went in search of Olivia Chandler. Despite her unusual approach, Margot and Olivia clicked immediately.

The two women have worked side by side for ten years. Olivia admired Margot’s work ethic. She encouraged Margot to continue her education when time allowed, and even paid for it, calling it a ‘sound investment.’ Margot would eventually advance from executive legal secretary to executive assistant and office manager.

Margot knows Olivia has no family and was a foster care kid. She doesn’t know the intimate details, but she does know Olivia’s adolescence was bad enough for Olivia to keep herself closed off to most people. Her boss seems to ‘live’ when focused and working on a case for their minor clients. The rest of the time, Olivia just seems to exist.

The divorced office manager is not one of those people who believe a woman needs a man in her life to be complete, but Bruce Bellamy has suddenly appeared in Olivia’s life, and Margot will do her part to keep him there.

Things are going to get interesting.

Margot Rose (Parker) Schultz

Age: She’s not telling – but probably mid to late 40s

Born: New York, New York

Marital Status: Divorced – has adult twin sons who are both Marines

Is two classes away from a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management

Loves to dance and can be found on a dance floor most Saturday nights

Collects souvenirs from the Roaring 20s – always says she would have made a great Flapper

Plays acoustic guitar, but rarely does as it reminds her of her musician ex-husband

Is somewhat estranged from her parents and siblings since she dropped out of college nearly 30 years ago to elope with her now ex-husband

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Book Title: On These Pages
Author: AM Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: June 21, 2016
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

book blurb

She’s a widow. He’s a reformed player. One passionate night changes them both forever.

Toni Harrison isn’t buying anything Ahmad Espen is selling. Everyone considers him the savior of the African American community but she knows him as a heartless player and plans to steer clear of him. The only problem is her sister and Ahmad’s brother are smitten with each other and despite Toni’s attempts otherwise, she constantly finds herself in Ahmad’s presence.

Ahmad understands why Toni is wary of him, but he’s a totally different man from the boy she knew in college. Now he’s determined to push past all her defenses to gain her trust. When he finally does, one passionate night with her confirms she’s the perfect woman for him.

Yet it seems there’s no fairy-tale ending for them, as Ahmad and Toni find out the hard way. Someone is out to destroy their relationship, along with Ahmad’s good name and Toni’s privacy. Once more Toni has good reason to distance herself from Ahmad, since he blames her for the whole mess. Heartbroken again, she walks away, and by the time he comes to his senses, he realizes it may well be too late to rewrite their love story to give it a happy ending.

excerpt

Toni flicked her gaze from her phone to the man standing above her with every intention of telling him the same thing she’d told the others. As soon as she looked up, her heart seized on a beat and her breath formed a lump in her throat. Toni not only stared at who was possibly the finest man she’d ever seen in her life, but also one she hadn’t seen in eleven years.

Ahmad Espen.

A vision of the last time he’d talked to her flashed across her mind and was just what she needed to close her gaping mouth and firm her back. She stared back at him, waiting for…for what exactly? For him to mention what had happened between them? For him to apologize?

He smiled down at her, flashing bright white teeth. “I’m sorry to disturb you, miss. But I saw you sitting all alone back here and thought you could use some company.”

Miss? Company?

She didn’t know if she should be mad or glad. He didn’t seem to recognize her. On one hand, she didn’t have to relive the embarrassment but on the other, he’d dismissed their last encounter, while she’d held onto it for all these years.

“I-I’m…um. I don’t need company.” Did she just stutter? She wanted to slap a hand across her forehead. She gripped her cell phone tightly to stop herself from doing just that and making a bigger fool of herself.

When she’d been a freshman in college and he’d been the sexy and worldly junior, she’d had the same reaction—stumbling, bumbling idiot. Get it together, Toni. She wasn’t a green little girl anymore.

“Well, if you don’t want me to sit with you, can I have this dance?”

If she were any other woman at the party, she would’ve gladly jumped up and taken him up on his offer. But while everyone knew Ahmad as an African-American motivational speaker who’d sprung onto the scene five years before, attracting more followers to his ‘black community self-help’ doctrine, Toni knew him as a promiscuous, rowdy fraternity boy. While Toni admired his topic, the man behind the words often left a bad taste in her mouth. Every time she saw him on television talking about his main agenda, the state of the African American community and the need to revitalize and energize the younger generation, she couldn’t help but remember how he’d treated her. “Why?”

He took a quick glance around. “You’re the only person not on the dance floor or mingling.”

She smiled up at him like she’d done to the other men. Everyone else in the room could worship at his feet. They thought he was so great, so perfect. “No, thank you. I’m watching the drinks and purses,” she said, but what she really wanted to tell him was to go to hell.

The emotion on his face quickly went from enamored to confused. “All I’m asking for is one dance.”

She’d once given him a dance and she’d let that go to her head and let him sweet talk her into his twin-sized bed. Well, there hadn’t really been that much sweet talking involved, it hadn’t been needed. She would’ve gone with him even if he’d recited the alphabet. “I’m not much of a dancer.” The lie quickly fell from her mouth.

“Sooo.” He motioned his hand through the air. “You’re at a singles mingle—dance party, I might add—and you can’t dance?”

As she shook her head, her hair bounced around her face. “No, I can’t. Not a lick.”

“So, that’s your excuse for turning down everyone who asked you to dance?”

She peered straight into his eyes. “Yes.” It was a good thing that she’d long gotten over wanting to poke his eyes out with a rusty fork because he was in arm’s reach and there was a fork, albeit not rusty, on her table.

A. M. Griffin is a wife who rarely cooks, mother of three, dog owner (and sometimes dog owned), a daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She’s a hard worker whose two favorite outlets are reading and writing. She enjoys reading everything from mystery novels to historical romances and of course fantasy romance. She is a believer in the unbelievable, open to all possibilities from mermaids in our oceans and seas, angels in the skies and intelligent life forms in distant galaxies.