Dare She Stay

By Lynda Coker

Take-charge men are dangerous—at least that's Stormee's opinion. She's a young woman with little money, loads of responsibility, and a new job in a new city. Her first assignment as a writer for a Houston social magazine lands her in the clutches of CEO, Dirk Savage. DARE she stay...

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lynda Coker
• Release date: Nov 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201886578

Lynda Coker

~ Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame ~ Henry David Thoreau Lynda Coker lives in the rolling hills of Northeast Texas, USA. Her favorite genre to write is Contemporary Romance with a sprinkle of adventure and fantasy. "Writers are people with overactive imaginations who daydream, fabricate, and lie convincingly as they build fabulous new worlds and the characters who inhabit them." ~ Just My Opinion :)

Book preview

Stay or Go

Make My Man Texas-Sized: The Allure of the Alpha Male...

Stormee gawked at the current document title on her laptop screen. What cliff have I jumped off this time? Why hadn't she kept her big mouth shut? This interview assignment would be someone else's headache if she'd just taken a moment to ask what the project entailed before volunteering.

She swiveled her chair and gazed out the tiny window in her office cubicle. The placement of her working space next to the outer wall gave her a coveted view of the outside world. The multicolored Zinnias skirting the walkway that wound itself around her upscale office building gave reason for hope. If they could bloom and thrive despite Houston's triple-digit temperature, surely she could be as tenacious with this assignment.

The pile of unopened boxes stacked under the window aroused more frustration accompanied by a long sigh. Since starting her new job as a staff writer for the Texas-based magazine, Between The Pages, she'd had no time to breathe, much less, organize her reference books and personal gadgets. Where her extensive collection of adorable office gizmos were going to fit was a logistical problem better solved on one of her days off.

Self-reflection was a daily occurrence and one that often left her lamenting her spontaneous personality. Nothing less than a confirmed idiot added to an already over-long list of pending tasks. Wasn't putting up with her sixteen-year-old brother's hostility because she'd moved them from Chicago to Houston enough of a challenge? If not, there was always Nana. Something needed to be done with her eighty-three-year-old grandmother before the nursing home booted her out the door. And what about the extra ten pounds her bathroom scale insisted lurked somewhere on her own traitorous body?

She sucked in a lung full of air, holding it as long as possible before releasing it at a slow, measured rate. The air whistling through her teeth helped set a calmer pace for her thumping heartbeat.

If she kept her focus, was it possible to turn this annoying blunder into a career-enhancing opportunity? Hadn't she landed her dream job, the position of Investigative-Interviewer for Houston's most elite social magazine? With her press credentials, she had access to the fringes of an upper-class world of money, power, and prestige previously out of her reach.

She lifted her arms toward the ceiling and stretched three times to relieve the tension tightening her shoulders. What a shame her media ID card hadn't come with a syringe full of good judgment. With a groan, she forced her attention back to the project sheet on her computer.

Make My Man Texas-Sized: The Allure of the Alpha Male...  

Due to her tendency to react rather than reason, her job now hinged on her ability to find one of these infamous alpha males for the three-part series, Make My Man Texas-Sized.

She clicked the mouse, opened her research file, and skimmed through several pages of information. Apparently, this personality type ranked at the top of the chart for women who read happy-ever-after fiction. More surprising was the high number of real women in today's society who viewed this brand of man as the ultimate male fantasy.

The smell of cinnamon rolls teased her nose. Apparently, it was break time. She listened to the flow of chatter outside her office and wondered if any of her new co-workers dreamed about meeting a guy like this while enjoying their early morning coffee break?

Stormee shook her head and leaned back in her chair. The whole concept was pathetic. What woman in her right mind considered an overbearing know-it-all attractive? But then, trying to be creative and productive while working in a closet-sized cubicle could make any woman escape into moments of daydreaming. Maybe that was why they padded the adjoining walls? The humorous thought reaffirmed her own preference.

Absolutely no superheroes, alpha males, or marauding conquerors, just give me the beta variety who takes out the trash, she mumbled before reading the next paragraph.

Women can't resist the magnetism and sexual attraction of an alpha male persona. Their first reaction is often acute dislike. The second phase is inevitable, the fixation of taming the beast. How far will he allow her to go? How much control will he give her? Can she claim his heart? The answers to these questions and others soon become an obsessive quest.

Why do Alpha Males make fanciful heroes? Because women see them as adventurers and powerful champions. They emerge as men who are macho, mysterious, possessing a sensitive inner core that promises to melt completely for just one woman. This accounts for the invisible web of attraction that ensnares a woman before she's marginally aware. If captured, she will find the duality of her world challenging, since the innate nature of such a man can both raise a woman to ecstasy or drown her in despair.

Way to go, Stormee, she muttered in disgust. She was now the dim-witted volunteer who needed to find one of these rogues and do a full-spread article, enough material for three issues. Where did she find someone like him? One candidate did hover in her mind, but her intuition warned he should be labeled hazardous and left undisturbed, or better yet, between the pages of a book.

Miss Waters?

Stormee looked up to see Mrs. Stanton standing in the open doorway of her office. Her boss's trendy, contemporary style belied her mature age. But her interrogating gaze is what allowed her to project an intensity that demanded recognition.

How is our Texas-Sized article coming? You've been working on it for over two weeks, and I haven't seen anything come across my desk. You do realize the first deadline is five days away? Her rigid posture left no room for nonsensical excuses.

I'm running somewhat of a tight schedule, however, I'll finish the first interview in plenty of time to get the piece to you for review. Despite being a little stunned, Stormee replaced her woe-is-me frown with a