Strange Bedfellows Part 2

Strange Bedfellows Part 2
Kasey Michaels

36 Hours Serial As a devastating summer storm hits Grand Springs, Colorado, the next thirty-six hours will change the town and its residents forever….Strange Bedfellows Part 2:Sworn enemiesCassandra Mercer and Sean Frame become more than friends when they’re trapped inside her car by a dangerous mudslide.Things have been awkward between Cassandra and her former nemesis, Sean Frame, since that steamy night in her car. The two are spending more time together – and not just arguing over school policy. Sean and his troubled son Jason are constantly sparring, and Cassandra’s feelings for both have her caught in the middle. How can she make Sean understand that with each reckless act Jason is crying out for his father’s love?The story continues in Strange Bedfellows Part 3.

36 Hours Serial

As a devastating summer storm hits Grand Springs, Colorado, the next thirty-six hours will change the town and its residents forever….

Strange Bedfellows Part 2

Sworn enemies Cassandra Mercer and Sean Frame become more than friends when they’re trapped inside her car by a dangerous mudslide.

Things have been awkward between Cassandra and her former nemesis, Sean Frame, since that steamy night in her car. The two are spending more time together—and not just arguing over school policy. Sean and his troubled son Jason are constantly sparring, and Cassandra’s feelings for both have her caught in the middle. How can she make Sean understand that with each reckless act Jason is crying out for his father’s love?

The story continues in Strange Bedfellows Part 3.

Dear Reader,

In the town of Grand Springs, Colorado, a devastating summer storm sets off a string of events that changes the lives of the residents forever….

Welcome to Mills & Boon exciting new digital serial, 36 Hours! In this thirty-six part serial share the stories of the residents of Grand Springs, Colorado, in the wake of a deadly storm.

With the power knocked out and mudslides washing over the roads, the town is plunged into darkness and the residents are forced to face their biggest fears—and find love against all odds.

Each week features a new story written by a variety of bestselling authors like Susan Mallery and Sharon Sala. The stories are published in three segments, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the first segment of every three-part book is free, so you can get caught up in the mystery and drama of Grand Springs. And you can get to know a new set of characters every week. You can read just one, but as the lives and stories of each intertwine in surprising ways, you’ll want to read them all!

Join Mills & Boon E every week as we bring you excitement, mystery, fun and romance in 36 Hours!

Happy reading!

About the Author

USA TODAY bestselling author KASEY MICHAELS is the author of more than one hundred books. She has earned four starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, and has won an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award as well as several other commendations for her contemporary and historical novels. Kasey resides with her family in Pennsylvania. Readers may contact Kasey via her website, at www.kaseymichaels.com (http://www.kaseymichaels.com), and find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorKaseyMichaels (http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKaseyMichaels).

Strange Bedfellows Part 2

Kasey Michaels

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Cassandra Mercer was prepared for a nice meal with her student, Jason, and his father, Sean Frame. What could possibly go wrong? Well, the two men are constantly fighting, Jason is secretly working for his dad’s company and Cassandra had sex with Sean during the massive storm that hit Grand Springs a few days earlier. Being stuck in the car during a mudslide and thinking she’s going to die can make people do odd things—like have sex with their enemy. But with the storm now finally over, the cleanup is just beginning, and Cassandra is hoping it’s a time for new beginnings between Sean and Jason, too. Oh, boy, is she in for a surprise!

Contents

Chapter Nine Continued (#u48683f4c-f6cf-579c-9868-c1bb4a887794)

Chapter Ten (#u81cb82dc-21d7-5d1a-b8db-ebfb6daa2238)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine Continued

Sean Frame looked at the printout as Herb Larkin explained the changes that had been made, nodding at all the right times, asking all the right questions. “So what you’re saying, Herb, is that this new configuration removes two of the steps from our former checklist, yet increases our inventory accuracy by—what was that, twenty-three percent?”

“Yes, sir,” Herb answered, bobbing his head excitedly. “That’s how Jerry figures it. The more steps you take, the more chances of human error, or something like that. And this kid—this kid—he just looked at the program for about an hour. I had him sitting near me to watch, it being his first day on the job and all, and he’s watching me, watching me, and I’m logging in stuff and logging out stuff and making all the checks, and I’m moaning and groaning over all the different screens I have to pull up, all the different checks and balances before I’m cleared to move on to the next stuff, and he says, hey, that’s dumb! Why don’t you just…well, I guess I already told you that part before, huh, Mr. Frame?”

“Yes, Herb. Yes, you did.” Sean paged through the printout a third time, still comparing it with the one that had been put on his desk Friday night—he had a printout from the loading dock placed on his desk every night—and shook his head. “It was right there, right in front of me. And I’m the one with the master’s degree in computer science. Damn.”

“Of course, we didn’t let the kid do any of the actual changes. I mean, hey, he’s a kid, right? But I took him to Jerry, and they talked it all out, and then they did the work between them. I don’t know what they did. These computers are Greek to me, you know. And now Jerry took the kid from me and put him in with him.”

“Jerry did that, did he?” Sean looked at the two printouts again, then sat back in his desk chair. “And this boy’s name would be?” he asked, somehow already sure of the answer Herb would give him.

“Jason,” Herb said, still nodding. Herb nodded a lot, as if he was always in agreement with himself. “Jason Taylor.”

Sean’s smile disappeared. “Taylor?” He sat forward once more, punching a few keys on his own computer, tapping into the personnel files. And there it was: Jason Taylor. His son. He hadn’t used his own name, but his mother’s new married name. The boss’s son, the owner’s son, and he hadn’t used his own name. Herb hadn’t indulged the kid, Jerry hadn’t been trying to score points. The kid had come up with a good idea. A damn good idea. And all on his own.

Was this the same kid who couldn’t find a clothes hamper if it were the size of a compact car and parked in the middle of his bedroom? The kid who was in trouble for throwing rocks and breaking the school gymnasium windows?

“Well, thanks, Herb,” Sean said, reaching out to shake the man’s hand. “We’ll watch this, see how it goes. There could be a few glitches that haven’t shown up after only one day. You’ll keep me informed?”

“Yes, sir,” Herb said emphatically, then added, “you know, sir, these kids today are something else. I mean, this Taylor boy shows up this morning, long hair, ripped jeans, T-shirt with some dead rock star on it, a flannel shirt six sizes too big hanging over it—looking like he can’t remember his own name, you know. And then he does something like this!” He pointed to the spreadsheets. “I don’t get it. Why do they do this?”

“Do what, Herb?” Sean asked, knowing exactly what his son had looked like before leaving the house this morning because he had watched out the window, from behind the bedroom curtains, believing the boy had deliberately dressed like a homeless orphan to embarrass his father.

“I don’t know, sir—hide? Yeah, that’s it. They hide. Like they don’t want anyone to notice them, ask anything of them, expect anything from them. You’d think their parents would grab hold of them, tie them down, cut off all that hair, give them a bath and make them wear decent clothes.”

“You’re not married, are you, Herb?” Sean asked, not angry but more amused by Herb’s idea of cleaning up a teenager’s act. “No wife, no kids?”

“No, sir,” Herb said, nodding once more. “No wife, no kids. I’ve got six older brothers, and more than two dozen nieces and nephews. I’ve seen plenty, let me tell you. And I never saw the point in all that hassle of raising a bunch of ungrateful kids, to tell you the truth.”

Sean picked up the printouts again, smiling. “Oh, I don’t know, Herb. Parenthood has its rewards. Really, it’s got its rewards.”

“If you say so, sir. Well, I’d best be punching out. It’s almost six-thirty.”

Sean pushed back his sleeve and looked at his watch. Where had the time gone? Damn it! This was what Jason was always complaining about—how his father always had time for business but never enough time for him. Not that Jason knew they were meeting at Cassandra Mercer’s tonight. Jason was there doing a research project, and well, ever since he’d been stuck in the car with her during the mudslide, Sean found himself looking for any excuse to spend more time with Cassandra. And he needed to make sure she wasn’t pregnant, after their…tryst during the worst part of the storm.

“I’ll walk out with you, Herb,” he said, picking up the suit jacket that had been draped over the back of his chair. He could call the Chinese takeout from his cell phone, pick up the order at the drive-through and be at Cassandra’s house in twenty minutes. Tops.

And then what? he asked himself as he turned to his left in the employee parking lot, heading for his newly repaired Mercedes. Yeah, Frame. Then what? You’re ordering Chinese food, not a serving of crow.

Chapter Ten

Melissa Etheridge was belting out another chorus of “Bring Me Some Water,” and Cassandra danced around the kitchen, caught up in the pulsing beat of the music. Jason had cranked the stereo to the “ouch” level, and the bass was thumping in her chest, the drumbeat in the background causing her to bob her head with the rhythm, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, the music singing in her blood.