Praise for Carrie Ann Ryan
“Count on Carrie Ann Ryan for emotional, sexy, character driven stories that capture your heart!” – Carly Phillips, NY Times bestselling author
“Carrie Ann Ryan’s romances are my newest addiction! The emotion in her books captures me from the very beginning. The hope and healing hold me close until the end. These love stories will simply sweep you away.” ~ NYT Bestselling Author Deveny Perry
"Carrie Ann Ryan writes the perfect balance of sweet and heat ensuring every story feeds the soul." - Audrey Carlan, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
“Carrie Ann Ryan never fails to draw readers in with passion, raw sensuality, and characters that pop off the page. Any book by Carrie Ann is an absolute treat.” – New York Times Bestselling Author J. Kenner
“Carrie Ann Ryan knows how to pull your heartstrings and make your pulse pound! Her wonderful Redwood Pack series will draw you in and keep you reading long into the night. I can’t wait to see what comes next with the new generation, the Talons. Keep them coming, Carrie Ann!” –Lara Adrian, New York Times bestselling author of CRAVE THE NIGHT
"With snarky humor, sizzling love scenes, and brilliant, imaginative worldbuilding, The Dante's Circle series reads as if Carrie Ann Ryan peeked at my personal wish list!" – NYT Bestselling Author, Larissa Ione
"Carrie Ann Ryan writes sexy shifters in a world full of passionate happily-ever-afters." – New York Times Bestselling Author Vivian Arend
“Carrie Ann’s books are sexy with characters you can’t help but love from page one. They are heat and heart blended to perfection.” New York Times Bestselling Author Jayne Rylon
Carrie Ann Ryan's books are wickedly funny and deliciously hot, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. They'll keep you up all night!” USA Today Bestselling Author Cari Quinn
"Once again, Carrie Ann Ryan knocks the Dante's Circle series out of the park. The queen of hot, sexy, enthralling paranormal romance, Carrie Ann is an author not to miss!" New York Times bestselling Author Marie Harte
To our Essential Workers
Thank you.
Thank you.
Acknowledgments
I wanted to write a story about officemates who hated each other and somehow it turned into something far more. Thank you Nana Malone for helping me figure out exactly what that meant!
Thank you Chelle for wrangling my words and my mind. I know this one wasn’t easy for many reasons, but it’s so much shinier because of you.
Thank you Jaycee for this cover. This might be my favorite cover of yours. Ever.
And thank you to Wander for this image! They are the perfect Prior and Paris!!
And as always, thank you dear readers for going on this journey with me. I hope you love the Brady Brothers and the PROMISE ME series!
Happy reading, everyone!
~Carrie Ann
From that Moment
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Carrie Ann Ryan continues her sexy new contemporary stand-alone series with an enemies-to-lovers office romance.
Paris Trissel is in a dating rut. Despite the pact she made with her friends to find someone to share her life with, she’s throwing in the towel after only a few blind dates. Add in the fact that the new hire at the job she used to love happens to be the Brady brother she can’t stand, and Paris is having a terrible year.
Prior Brady’s life seems pretty perfect from the outside. He has a wonderful, caring girlfriend, a family he’s never been closer to, and a new job he can’t wait to sink his teeth and talents into. Too bad the woman he has to work with for hours a day hates him on sight.
Once the two are forced to find the balance between chemistry and temptation, however, they’ll realize they’re stronger together than apart. Except when Paris’s past comes back with a vengeance, bringing terror, pain, and horror with it, both she and Prior will have to lean on each other.
In more ways than one.
Chapter 1
Prior
“I think you’re going to like it here, though I still don’t know why you only want to stay for six months. I don’t know, once you meet everybody, you might want to stay for a bit longer. There are some perks.” Benji elbowed me in the ribs, though it wasn’t hard enough to hurt, and then he winked. “If you know what I mean.”
I looked at the other man and kept a pleasant smile on my face. I hoped to hell I had no idea what he meant. Because if this was the start of my new job, then it was going to be a long fucking six months.
I was going to take this job today and be here for the next half a year. The branch wanted me to plug up a hole that people kept revolving through over the past year or so.
I was a software engineer and was damn good at my job. Working on a project usually took longer than six months. However, turnover on this one seemed greater than normal.
I’d always wanted to work for this department of the company, even in a temporary position. When my current branch offered to loan me out, I greedily accepted.
I loved my current job, but I adored the fact that I could work with another team for a little while. It wasn’t that unheard of when both branches were owned by the same conglomerate. The fact that I got bored easily, even with jobs I loved, meant that this was a perfect break for me. It wasn’t the first time I had done it, but it was the first time I’d felt so uneasy about the guy talking to me.
Benji had been working at this particular branch for the past six years and had moved up in the ranks quickly. I had seen his work and appreciated what it did for the company. I hadn’t spoken to him in person before, though. Now, I understood why that had probably been a good thing for both of us.
“So is my office this way?” I asked, changing the subject. I didn’t want to wonder what Benji was talking about for long. Not if I wanted to keep this job.
“Oh, yes. You’re right next door to your software quality engineer.”
“That’ll be helpful, considering she’s going to check all of my work for the next six months.”
Benji rolled his eyes. “She’ll probably give you a hard time about it, too. She loves telling us everything we do wrong.”
I frowned, grateful that no one was around to overhear.
“That’s sort of her job, isn’t it?” I asked. “I mean, I develop it, and she tests it. There’s always going to be kinks in the system that we need to figure out.”
“I think she enjoys telling men that they’re wrong. If you know what I mean.”
I hated that phrase.
I held back a sigh and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. Oh, good. It was going to be one of those places. I couldn’t wait.
“So, here’s your office,” Benji said, moving into a nicely sized room with a desk, a couple of tables against the walls, and a bright window.
I was going to love that view and natural light.
At my current place, I shared an office with someone because the rooms were about twice the size of these. And my office mate hated light. Seriously, I was pretty sure he was a vampire. That meant my beautiful window always had its blinds closed. No matter what I did, I resolved myself to the fact that I would never be able to see the outside world again from my office.