Open and Closed: An Age Gap Workplace Romance

By Nan Comargue

FROM POPULAR ROMANCE AUTHOR NAN COMARGUE

Book one in the Working It Out series

When Rowan' s boyfriend suggests they open up their relationship, an affair with her assistant is the last thing she expects.

Rowan has had a string of handsome young assistants, but she' s always stuck to more age-appropriate lovers— until her live-in boyfriend Stewart suggests they open up their relationship.

After three years together, she doesn' t feel she has a choice but to say yes and hope he gets the whole idea out of his system. She certainly doesn' t want to sleep with another man. That is, until she spends an evening bonding over personal histories with her handsome younger assistant Micah, and they end up having amazing sex.

Now Micah wants more, Stewart is jealous and Rowan isn' t sure what to do. She wants a relationship, but she' s convinced the younger man just wants sex. Maybe Micah can prove her wrong.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
• Release date: Apr 23, 2024
• ISBN: 9781802508840

Nan Comargue

Nan Comargue is a romance and erotic romance writer who has been reading romance novels all her life. She prefers sexy confident heroes who win over slightly introverted heroines (read: nerdish types) but she writes about everything from angel-warriors to cowboy ménage. Nan blogs about her writing journey and other interesting topics (zombies!) here but lately she tweets more than she blogs (and sometimes more than she writes). Nan is Canadian, eh?

Book preview

Totally Bound Publishing books by Nan Comargue

Single Books

Captive Angel

The Gamble

Snow Fire

Rock Star

Darker Nights

Brother’s Keeper

Hot for the Professor

The Girlfriend Experience

Six Weeks

Anthologies

At Your Service: A Lady for Two

Boots, Chaps and Cowboy Hats: Three to Feud

Seasonal Collections

Wanton Witches: Sudden Storm

Working It Out

OPEN AND CLOSED

NAN COMARGUE

Open and Closed

ISBN # 978-1-80250-884-0

©Copyright Nan Comargue 2024

Cover Art by Kelly Martin ©Copyright April 2024

Interior text design by Claire Siemaszkiewicz

Totally Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

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The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2024 by Totally Bound Publishing, United Kingdom.

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Totally Bound Publishing is an imprint of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

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Book one in the Working It Out series

When Rowan’s boyfriend suggests they open up their relationship, an affair with her assistant is the last thing she expects.

Rowan has had a string of handsome young assistants, but she’s always stuck to more age-appropriate lovers—until her live-in boyfriend Stewart suggests they open up their relationship.

After three years together, she doesn’t feel she has a choice but to say yes and hope he gets the whole idea out of his system. She certainly doesn’t want to sleep with another man. That is, until she spends an evening bonding over personal histories with her handsome younger assistant Micah, and they end up having amazing sex.

Now Micah wants more, Stewart is jealous and Rowan isn’t sure what to do. She wants a relationship, but she’s convinced the younger man just wants sex. Maybe Micah can prove her wrong.

Trademark Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Excel: Microsoft Corporation

Facebook: Meta Platforms

Instagram: Instagram LLC

TikTok: ByteDance

Star Wars: 20th Century Fox

Chapter One

Then, Rowan said, he asked to open our relationship.

The statement was greeted by stunned silence…but only for a moment.

What? Kasey yelled. How could he? What a douchebag!

Rowan took another sip of wine. It was her third glass. The first two she’d drunk before she started the story, while the other women were all sharing their own tales from the past few weeks. She’d known that her own situation would bring the conversation to a halt, which was why she’d waited to tell them.

He has some balls on him, Carole said, shaking her head to show that, for once, she did not consider this a positive. Some major in-your-face balls.

Even Lauren, the lawyer in their group who usually reserved her judgments, was red-faced. And she didn’t even drink.

What did you say, Ro? Lauren asked once the other two women had quieted down to a discontented murmur.

Rowan blinked hard then took another swallow from her glass. Her three friends waited patiently while she stalled.

I cried.

They all spoke at once, each according to her temperament, filling Rowan’s apartment with their indignation.

Oh, Ro!

Darling—

That bastard.

I couldn’t help it, Rowan said, feeling defensive, although no one had said anything to make her feel that way. It was such a shock. I mean, I knew that he was working later and sort of…drifting away. He barely seemed to listen to anything I said when he finally did come home.

Lauren nodded sagely. Classic signs of adultery.

Rowan frowned. We’re not even married, so it wouldn’t even be an ‘open marriage’. Still, it has to be better than cheating, right?

Her friends exchanged glances.

You’ve already told him yes? Kasey asked, her words lilting up into a squeak.

I told him I would think about it.

"Think about what? Carole’s voice rose to fill the combined living-dining room. Asking for an open relationship probably means he’s already cheating. He’s got one foot out of the door already. He just wants to make it easier on himself by forcing you to hold the door open the rest of the way."

Rowan dropped her gaze only to find that the contents of her wineglass were now suspiciously blurry.

He’s not cheating, she said. He assured me he wasn’t. But there is this woman at his work…

Oh, Ro! Lauren said again, as if Rowan was the saddest excuse for a human being she’d ever met.

Rowan looked up. Isn’t it better this way? she demanded. At least now I’ll know where he is instead of wondering and suspecting. It’s making me crazy, the stories I come up with in my head. I can’t do it anymore. I have to say yes.

No, you don’t, Carole insisted. You can tell him to take his emotional blackmail and get lost.

And what am I going to do with myself? Rowan asked. Sit here and mildew? I’m almost forty. I’m older than all the rest of you. I’ve invested more than a year in Stewart.

And maybe it’s time to sell that investment, said Carole. Cut your losses. Take the tax credit. However you want to say it. Find someone else.

Rowan’s fingers tightened around the glass stem. Do you think it’s easy at my age?

It isn’t easy at any age, Lauren said, but that doesn’t mean you give up on yourself.

I’m not giving up on myself!

She just wasn’t giving up