“Yes.” My voice shook on the single syllable, and I understood very clearly the meaning of “drowning in relief.” I was positive Bennett could feel my heart pounding against him.

He bit my earlobe. “I’ll have to find new excuses to get you up to the boardroom and naked against the window.”

Steam filled my veins, thick and warm. “You don’t need excuses to take me home, though.”

Bennett kissed across my cheek and pressed a single, soft kiss to my mouth. “Chloe?”

“Yes, Bennett?”

“This flirting is all well and good, but I mean it when I tell you, I can’t have you leaving me again. It almost broke me.”

My ribs seemed to squeeze all of the air out of my lungs at the thought. “I don’t think I could. I don’t want to be away from you again either.”

“But you need to give me a chance to fix things when I screw up. You know I’m an ass sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”

Growling, he whispered, “And I tear lingerie.”

I pushed a curl off his forehead. “And hoard it. Don’t forget the creepy hoarding.”

“But I love you,” he said, looking at me with wide eyes. “And I’m on a first-name basis now with most of the sales staff at La Perla. I did a lot of in-store moping while you were gone. I also have it on good authority that I’m the best sex you’ve ever had. So, hopefully those things outweigh the bad.”

“Sold.” I pulled him down to me. “Come here.” I slid my mouth over his, nibbling his bottom lip. With my fists gripping his lapels, I turned and pressed him against the window, standing on my toes to get closer, as close as I possibly could.

“So demanding now that you’re all official.”

“Shut up and kiss me,” I laughed into his mouth.

“Yes, boss.”

Acknowledgments

Our first declaration of love has to be for Holly Root, our agent, our cheerleader, our adorable ninja, and the baddest badass out there. Remember that time we put on our big-girl pants and told you all of our secrets? You accepted our piglet side with as much enthusiasm as the rest of it. Thank you for letting us tick the All of the Above box. You are an amazing human.

The excited-fangirl kind of shoutycaps for Adam Wilson, our editor at Gallery, for immediately getting BB, for getting us, and for margin notes that had us laughing for (literally) days. Also, we’re happy to know at least one guy has read this story. We promise we’ll never use “vulva.”

To Dawn, for her unwavering friendship and her enthusiasm when we suggested making this into something new. Thank you to Rachel, for carefully beta’ing the original fanfic. Moi, you are an amazing friend, and the best head of Office R&D BB could ever ask for. And although a blanket, heartfelt thank-you to the fandom will never suffice, it’s the best we can do in this space. Rest assured, the space you can claim in our shared history is much more massive. Your love for this story, even after it’s been down for over three years, has kept it very much alive. We hope you enjoyed the reworked book as much as you did the original. May you all have your La Perlas ripped at least once.

Beautiful Bastard prereaders—Martha, Erin, Kellie, Anne, Myra, and Gretchen: reworking this into a book with you all was The Most Fun, and we loved every comment, squee, edit and ::vowel sound:: Your excitement has kept us going even when we suspected we might be insane to do this, and especially when we were sure we were. Thank you for taking time to read every word, even the dirty ones we made you read a hundred times.

But perhaps most of all, we want to acknowledge the support of our families. SisterShoes, Cutest, Ninja, Bear, Blondie, and Dr. Mister Shoes—you give us more than encouragement; you indulge us with time, and love us even at the peaks of our silliest obsessions.Thank you for being the best part of every day, and the reason we embarked on this adventure in the first place.

© Alyssa Michelle 2013

CHRISTINA and LAUREN are a writing duo who have been swooning over romance novels for as long as they can remember. Separated by the pesky state of Nevada, these co-author besties speak several times a day, agree that Ruby Pumps is the best nail polish color ever, and would, if given the choice, spend all day staring at the ocean from the San Clemente pier. The pair first met writing fanfiction in 2009, under the names tby789 (The Office) and LolaShoes (My Yes, My No) and launched their partnership with their popular collaboration, A Little Crazy. Together, they reworked the famous fanfiction The Office into the novel Beautiful Bastard. You can find them online at Beautiful-Bastard.com or at @seeCwrite and @lolashoes on Twitter.

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Lauren Billings Luhrs and Christina Hobbs Venstra

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

First Gallery Books trade paperback edition February 2013

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Designed by Fine Design

Lauren, Christina.

Beautiful bastard / Christina Lauren. -- First Gallery Books trade paperback edition.

pages cm

Summary: "An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling. Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exacting, blunt, inconsiderate--and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard. Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family's massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who'd been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative--completely infuriating--creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he's never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe's so tempting he's willing to bend the rules--or outright smash them--if it means he can have her. All over the office As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they're willing to lose in order to win each other. Originally only available online as The Office by tby789--and garnering over 2 million reads on fanfiction sites--Beautiful Bastard has been extensively updated for re-release. "-- Provided by publisher.