Calendar Girl Read online




  Calendar Girl

  For Addison Fairchild, success is a guarantee. Groomed since childhood to run a division of Fairchild Enterprises, she takes her birthright seriously. Maybe a little too seriously if you ask her friends. But work is so much easier than the rest of her life. Her employees hate her, her best friend is worried about her, and her last date was hide-in-the-restroom awkward. If all that wasn't bad enough, she's stuck with a new cheerful-happy-annoyingly-morning-person assistant just when the head of FE is about to choose a successor—a job Addison wants so badly, she can taste it.

  For Katie Cooper, money has never been important. That is, until her father gets dementia and needs full time care. As the bills start to pile up, Katie takes a second job as a temporary personal assistant. Two minutes and one spilled cup of coffee later, she's sure she's not ready for Addison Fairchild—her hard head, her know-it-all attitude, or her gorgeous face.

  Forced to work together, Addison and Kate discover that opposites really do attract.

  Praise for Georgia Beers

  Blend

  “You know a book is good, first when you don’t want to put it down. Second, you know it’s damn good when you’re reading it and thinking, I’m totally going to read this one again. Great read and is absolutely a 5-star romance.”—Front Porch Romance Book Reviews

  “Georgia Beers hits all the right notes with this romance set in a wine bar…A low angst read, it still delivers a story rich in heart-rending moments before the characters get their happy ever after. A well-crafted novel, Blend is a marvelous way to spend an evening curled up with a large glass of your favorite vintage.”—Writing While Distracted

  “The leads are very likeable and the supporting characters are also well developed. A really enjoyable novel, and one that leaves the reader longing for a glass of wine!”—Melina Bickard, Librarian, Waterloo Library (UK)

  Right Here, Right Now

  “The angst was written well, but not overpoweringly so, just enough for you to have the heart sinking moment of ‘will they make it,’ and then you realize they have to because they are made for each other.”—Les Reveur

  Right Here, Right Now “is full of humor (yep, I laughed out loud), romance, and kick-ass characters!”—Illustrious Illusions

  “[A] successful and entertaining queer romance novel. The main characters are appealing, and the situations they deal with are realistic and well-managed. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good queer romance novel, and particularly one grounded in real world situations.”—Books at the End of the Alphabet

  “Right Here Right Now is a slow-burning sweet romance between two very different women. Lacey is an accountant who lives her life to a plan, is predictable and does not like change. Enter Alicia, a marketing and design executive who is the complete opposite. Nevertheless they click…The connection is sexy, emotional and very hot.”—Kitty Kat’s Book Review Blog

  Lambda Literary Award Winner Fresh Tracks

  “Georgia Beers pens romances with sparks.”—Just About Write

  “[T]he focus switches each chapter to a different character, allowing for a measured pace and deep, sincere exploration of each protagonist’s thoughts. Beers gives a welcome expansion to the romance genre with her clear, sympathetic writing.”—Curve magazine

  Lambda Literary Award Finalist Finding Home

  “Georgia Beers has proven in her popular novels such as Too Close to Touch and Fresh Tracks that she has a special way of building romance with suspense that puts the reader on the edge of their seat. Finding Home, though more character driven than suspense, will equally keep the reader engaged at each page turn with its sweet romance.”—Lambda Literary Review

  What Matters Most

  “There’s so much more going on, from the way they flirt to how they each learn who the other really is, the way their feelings come about to how the conflict is resolved and where the relationship is at by the end of the book. All the right romantic elements are there, packaged in a way that kept me interested, surprised, and often smiling.”—The Lesbian Review

  A Little Bit of Spice

  “As always with Ms Beers’s novels, this is well written and edited, well paced and flowing. Definitely one for the reread pile…in fact, one of my favourites from this author.”—The Lesbian Reading Room

  Mine

  “From the eye-catching cover, appropriately named title, to the last word, Georgia Beers’s Mine is captivating, thought-provoking, and satisfying. Like a deep red, smooth-tasting, and expensive merlot, Mine goes down easy even though Beers explores tough topics.”—Story Circle Book Reviews

  “Beers does a fine job of capturing the essence of grief in an authentic way. Mine is touching, life-affirming, and sweet.”—Lesbian News Book Review

  Too Close to Touch

  “This is such a well-written book. The pacing is perfect, the romance is great, the character work strong, and damn, but is the sex writing ever fantastic.”—The Lesbian Review

  “In her third novel, Georgia Beers delivers an immensely satisfying story. Beers knows how to generate sexual tension so taut it could be cut with a knife…Beers weaves a tale of yearning, love, lust, and conflict resolution. She has constructed a believable plot, with strong characters in a charming setting.”—Just About Write

  Calendar Girl

  Brought to you by

  eBooks from Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com

  eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  Please respect the rights of the author and do not file share.

  Calendar Girl

  © 2018 By Georgia Beers. All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN 13:978-1-63555-334-5

  This Electronic Book is published by

  Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 249

  Valley Falls, NY 12185

  First Edition: November 2018

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  Credits

  Editors: Lynda Sandoval and Stacia Seaman

  Production Design: Stacia Seaman

  Cover Design by Ann McMan

  By the Author

  Turning the Page

  Thy Neighbor’s Wife

  Too Close to Touch

  Fresh Tracks

  Mine

  Finding Home

  Starting from Scratch

  96 Hours

  Slices of Life

  Snow Globe

  Olive Oil & White Bread

  Zero Visibility

  A Little Bit of Spice

  Rescued Heart

  Run to You

  Dare to Stay

  What Matters Most

  Right Here, Right Now

  Blend

  The Shape of You

  Calendar Girl

  Acknowledgments

  So much goes into a book besides the words. And while it seems like I thank the same people novel after novel, that doesn’t change the fact that I couldn’t do what I do without them.

  Thank you to Radclyffe, Sandy, and everybody at Bold Strokes Books for making this journey fun and stress-free. I appreciate that more than I can say.

  Thank you to Lynda Sandoval, my editor extraordinaire, who never fails to make me look better than I actually do. She’s become a pro at pointing out my issues while making me laugh, and she’s made editing a task I no longer dread. I’ve learned
so much from her, and I expect I’ll continue to do so for many years (books) to come.

  Thank you to my writer friends who help me each day, whether by giving an opinion on a cover or title or holding me accountable on word count or asking me to hold them accountable on word count. We are all working together, and that makes this solitary writer feel less alone each day.

  Thank you to my family and my non-writer friends who always support me…even if they’re not quite sure what I do for a living. I’m surrounded by amazing, loving people, and I know it.

  Last, but never, ever least, thank you to my readers. Your comments and emails keep me going, I hope you know that. I am eternally grateful.

  Chapter One

  “I don’t understand this.” Kyle Bannon’s expression mixed confusion with the beginnings of anger and a sprinkling of disbelief. Addison watched them swirl together and begin to color his face a deep scarlet.

  “What don’t you understand, Kyle? Our sexual harassment policy is very clear.” Addison kept her tone steady, her face neutral, when in reality, she wanted to smack him. He knew better. He knew much better, and to be frank, she hated that he’d put her in this position.

  “But it’s not sexual harassment if we’re together, right?” Jerrika Marshall’s voice was small, hesitant, as if she thought speaking might disrupt something in the atmosphere.

  “Exactly,” Kyle said, pointing at her, but clearly not on the same page as she was with regard to tone. “She’s my girlfriend. So how am I harassing her?” He was pissed; that much was clear.

  Addison felt her own ire rising, her increased heart rate making it feel like her heart suddenly took up too much space in her chest. “Do you think I want to do this, Kyle? Do you think this is fun for me?” She shook her head. “You touch her ass when you walk behind her. You flirt with her. And don’t get me started about the make-out session in the supply closet. You put us here. The two of you.”

  He stood in front of her large mahogany desk, hands on his hips, and stared her down through his wire-rimmed glasses, his dark eyes flashing behind the lenses. He had a lot to say, Addison could see it all over his face. He said none of it. Next to him, Jerrika stared at her shoes.

  “We are an arm of a very large, very well-known company. If I make an exception for you, I’ll have to make them all over the place and that will bleed into the rest of Fairchild Enterprises, which I cannot let happen. You’ve left me without a choice. Have you seen the news lately with regard to sexual harassment? One of you has to go. I’ll let you decide which.” She folded her hands on the desk and waited, schooling her features, staying completely neutral even though her stomach felt like a giant pool of acid.

  “I’ll go.” Jerrika’s voice was so quiet, Addison wasn’t sure she’d even spoken until Kyle jumped in.

  “No. I’ll go.” And then he grabbed her hand and entwined their fingers, pulled it up to his mouth, and kissed it. The gesture felt much more intimate than it was and Addison had to fight the urge to look away as if she was intruding.

  Jerrika looked up at him for the first time since they’d been called into Addison’s office. “No, you’ve been here longer than I have and the Maintenance Department needs you. You should stay. I can find another job.” Her eyes welled up and Addison got the impression that made her angry. When Jerrika turned her gaze on her, Addison knew she was right. A little crackle of fire sparked as Jerrika pulled off her clearance pass and tossed it onto Addison’s desk. “I’ll go pack up my things.”

  Kyle let go of her hand and watched her leave the room, stayed looking at the door long after she’d disappeared through it. When he looked back at Addison, she wondered if the fire had spread when he and Jerrika had held hands. The same anger glowed on his face. “You know what?” he said to Addison, as he yanked off his own pass. “I’ll pack up my things, too.” His pass joined Jerrika’s on the desk.

  “Come on, Kyle,” Addison began. Things had gone exactly as she’d expected up until this moment. “You’ve got a good job here. You don’t really want to do this.”

  “No. I don’t.” He narrowed his eyes as he tossed her words back at her. “You’ve left me with no choice.”

  With that, he stormed out of her office, not quite slamming the door behind him, but not being gentle. Addison stared at it, at her coat gently swinging from the hook mounted on the back, while she wondered how she’d miscalculated the outcome of this so badly. She’d expected them to protest. She’d expected Jerrika to be the one to quit, based on the meekness Addison had seen so far. She had not expected Kyle to follow suit. That was going to cause extra stress for Addison, and it was as though the acid in her stomach heard the thought and agreed, churning extra horribly. Addison gripped the edge of her desk and willed herself not to throw up as a now-familiar pain squeezed her abdomen. When the willing didn’t work, she had no other option but to hurry to the ladies’ room down the hall from her office.

  Ignoring the judgmental looks from others in the open office setting was something she was used to. She could hear her mother’s voice in her head. “You’re not here to be their friend. You’re here to run this company.” Still, Kyle was popular, and it was obvious from the veiled unhappy glances that news of his departure—and Jerrika’s—was already spreading. She wouldn’t hang her head—she had nothing to be ashamed of, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t uncomfortable to know how her employees felt about her.

  As was her regular course of action, she did her best to shake it off.

  Not for the first time, she wished she had her own private bathroom attached to her office. There was one woman in the ladies’ room, but thankfully, she was washing her hands and finishing up. Addison managed to hold it together until she left before bolting into a stall and throwing up what little lunch she’d eaten.

  It was the third time this week.

  “Son of a bitch,” she said quietly as she waited it out, head in her hands, not wanting to leave the safety of the porcelain bowl until she was sure she was finished. She flushed and then sat there, noting the surprising cleanliness of the floor, the grout between the tiles. She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again, her gaze falling on tiny lettering next to the toilet tissue dispenser.

  Fairchild is such a bitch.

  “Immature, totally uncreative, and shows a stunning lack of originality,” she muttered. Realizing it was written in what looked to be Sharpie, she shook her head, making a mental note to get a maintenance guy in to scrub it off somehow. She pressed her fingers to her temples and moved them in a slow circle. She’d always been prone to headaches, but lately, she seemed to have one constantly. On very bad days, it would bloom into a migraine, which was the worst because she could lose an entire day. She fought them hard, but they rarely let up until hours had gone by.

  Four more minutes on the floor was all she allowed herself before she slowly stood, hand on the metal stall wall for balance. Her head felt a bit light and she waited out a wave of dizziness. The pain in her stomach was gone, though, and that was a good thing. With a slow intake of breath, then a slow release, she exited the stall and headed to the sink to rinse her mouth and wash her hands.

  The reflection in the mirror startled her.

  There was zero color in her face. She looked like a corpse, her skin pale and carrying a tint of gray. Dark circles underlined her eyes, announcing to the world just how little sleep she’d been getting. Her brown hair, which normally shone with gentle red highlights, hung limply, no wave to it, no happily curling ends to skim her collarbone. Just…hair. Hanging there. Lifeless. She braced herself on the counter with both hands and leaned in close to the glass, squinting at her own face.

  She didn’t look healthy.

  “Shake it off, Addie,” she whispered as she scratched the side of her neck, leaving angry red lines. “You’re fine. Just tired. Get your shit together and finish this day.”

  The pep talk bolstered her just enough to straighten her posture and get her to walk, head high,
steps typically quick, back to her office. Then she collapsed in her chair as if she’d just run a sprint. Not good. As she gave herself a moment, she gazed out the window, watched as Kyle—box under his arm—chatted with another employee while standing next to his car. Both sported the red winter jackets with the Fairchild Rentals logo embroidered on the front and khaki pants…the official uniform of the maintenance crew.

  Fairchild Rentals was Addison’s baby, one arm of the enormous Fairchild Enterprises, a commercial real estate company her mother had started nearly twenty-five years ago. There were three offshoots, each run by a Fairchild sibling. Addison was in charge of Fairchild Rentals, the company that operated and maintained five apartment complexes across the county. Her younger brother, Jared, oversaw the running of four malls in two counties. Her younger sister, Katrina, was the CEO of the Fairchild Research Hospital and Cancer Center.

  Recently, her mother had been hinting about retirement. She’d worked hard for a long time and turned a company she’d started from the ground up into something huge and well-known, with a sparkling reputation for treating its employees wonderfully and giving a boatload of money to charity each year. But she was tired. She wanted to enjoy the fruits of her labor. And she had three children, any one of whom could take over for her.