Iron Orchids #5
In the final standalone installment of The Iron
Orchids Series, the gang returns...
I'm Stella Lang,
the opinionated, sassy boss. But I have a secret: I'm scared.
Scared of
rejection.
Scared of
heartbreak.
Scared of taking
a chance on Tristan Christakos and getting hurt.
Because there are
bigger issues to face than my feelings.
We work
together.
We play
together.
Our families are
interwoven.
If we can’t make
it work, we will hurt more than just us.
Unfortunately,
our attraction is impossible to ignore.
Are we flirting with destiny?
Maybe.
But when we wind
up alone in Vegas.
We think we have
it all…
Until a
life-altering secret lands in our hands.
**Until is the
final installment of The Iron Orchids Series but may be read and enjoyed as a
standalone contemporary romance/rom-com!
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Excerpt
Chapter One
Stopping in
front of the large faux-wood door that read: Staff Administration, I took a
deep breath and then knocked.
“Come in.”
One step
into the room, I froze because sitting in one of the chairs was Dr. McCreamy,
otherwise known as Tristan Christakos, the most gorgeous man to ever walk the
planet, the bane of my existence, and the best one-night stand ever. Yeah, he was
a mistake that I’d happily make or should I say do again.
Fuck.
Tristan
stood when I entered, as his damn well-bred, gentlemanly self had to do, which
only made me want to jump him even more. To make matters worse, he was wearing
a devilishly wicked smirk on his lips that made all of my parts take notice.
“Stella,
have a seat.” Louise Cameron’s back was ramrod straight as she sat in her
high-back, black pleather chair. If I were to base my visit on her posture
alone, I would say I was about to be canned.
The
hospital had a no fraternization policy. Although, they had allowed married
couples to work for the same hospital in the past, this all had to be reported
to admin, and they ultimately decided whether or not to keep both employees. In
situations like this when it was between a doctor and a nurse, they usually
ended up keeping the doctor since nurses were a dime a dozen. Was that fair?
Hell no.
I could
already feel the ire in me building and was ready to fight or at least not go
down without a fight.
I moved to
the chair opposite Tristan and plopped down. Okay, I knew that I possessed
little to no grace when I did that, but whatever, I was pissed. Turning to face
him, the heat in me rose as he continued to smirk. The asshole smirked. He knew
we were busted and he was safe. I’d never imagined him being so cruel.
But fuck a
duck if the man still wasn’t gorgeous. His eyes were the color of fresh coffee,
untainted by cream. And his skin . . . well, that was different a story, it was
cream with a dash of coffee.
“Stella,”
Mrs. Cameron began, “as you are aware, the hospital is building a genetics
study center in the hopes of being able to more easily find donor matches.
Every year, it seems that there is a bigger strain on our match and donor
resources. Not only from the state of perpetual emergency that we seem to be in
but also our advance technology in ultrasound imaging. As you know, we are able
to detect some birth defects as early as the first heart beat. We feel that it
is important as a level one trauma unit and a level-three neonatal ward that we
have this resource available to us twenty-four seven. We’ve been sending doctors
to different training sessions so they are up to date with all the current
technologies and tests.”
Tristan
cleared his throat, and I turned my attention back to him. “You may not be
aware of this, Stella, but my interest has always been with trying to negate
the rise in genetic birth defects that we see in our high-risk unit. But after
the strain on our resource bank for tissue, marrow, and blood, my research was
halted. This new genetic center will help me continue my focus.”
I listened
to Tristan’s explanation, but none of this made sense. Sure, his reasoning made
sense, but where I was lost was what in the hell any of this had to do with me.
My face must have shown my confusion because Mrs. Cameron finally slid a file
folder to me.
“There is a
pediatric genetics conference in Las Vegas next week, and we’ve been on the
waiting list. Yesterday, we found out that there had been a cancellation and
that Dr. Christakos has been invited. He has been asked to bring a nurse or
assistant, and he tells me that the two of you worked well together when you
were over in the Women and Children Center.”
I nodded
because we had worked well together, and she smiled.
“He’d like
you to accompany him to the conference and act as his assistant moving forward
as we get the genetic center established.”
Slow down
there, Polyester, he what? He wanted me to work with him?
He wanted
me to go to Vegas?
Me.
Tristan. In Vegas? Fuck yeah, where did I sign? Shaking my head, I turned to
looked at the olive skin Adonis with chocolate eyes that made me want to get on
my knees and say ten hail Mary’s and praise sweet baby Jesus.
Shit. I was
staring. Smacking my lips, I cleared my throat and then tried again. “Sure,
tell me whatever you need,” I said and watched as the corners of Tristan’s lips
pulled into an almost challenging smile. I had no clue what he was challenging
me to, but he knew better than to yank my chain because, let’s face it, I
yanked harder, and of the two of us, he was the only one with something to grab
ahold of and tug.
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About Danielle Norman...
Before becoming a romance writer, Danielle was a body double
for Heidi Klum and a backup singer for Adele. Now, she spends her days trying
to play keep away from Theo James who won’t stop calling her or asking her
out.
And all of this happens before she wakes up and faces
reality where in fact she is a 50 something mom with grown kids, she's been
married longer than Theo’s been alive, and now get her kicks riding a Harley.
As far as her body, she can thank, Ben & Jerry’s for
that as well as gravity and vodka. But she says that she could never be Adele’s
backup since she never stops saying the F-word long enough to actually sing.
Danielle writes about kickass women with even better shoes
and the men that try to tame them (silly silly men).
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