Chapter 1

      Tristan Dawson. Every woman’s dream man in the looks department. Smart, sexy and oozing with charm. Too bad he was the enemy. And currently trying to charm his way into a project that was rightfully hers.

      She was going to kill him. The single thing stopping Synthia Michaels from lining up her alibi was the whole prison thing. She was way too cute for an orange jumpsuit. As she glared at her nemesis, she plotted all the possible ways she could engineer his demise.

      The jerk was flirting with the client. Okay, maybe flirting was a strong word, but he was certainly working his Tristan Dawson make-them-panties-drop smile. And with that smile, Syn felt her chances of landing this assignment slipping away.

      From the moment Tristan started working at Stellar Reach as a market analyst, they’d been at odds, butting heads over client decisions and methodology. She loathed everything he stood for. She worked her butt off with painstaking attention to detail and serious work ethic. She couldn’t deny it, his work was always done and it was difficult to find fault with the output. But his charisma and good looks gave him an unfair advantage. He’d poached some of her best clients with his effortless appeal. And God help the female clients. Syn turned her attention to Bella Bliss, Vice President of Marketing and Operations of Bliss Hotel Group, and almost felt sorry for the poor woman. Bella was a smart businesswoman, but here she was, salivating and stuttering over Tristan.

      Not that Syn could entirely blame her. He was gorgeous. Tall and leanly muscled, he had a way of walking that made women stop and stare, imagining how good he’d be in bed. Couple the sheer sex appeal with his tanned skin and chiseled jaw, and most women around the office were goners.

      On a regular day Tristan Dawson was hard to ignore, but in moments like this with him turning the full power of his allure on a client, the world was his. Syn was in no mood. She wanted this client.

      She slid a glance over Tristan’s heart-stoppingly handsome face and studied the way he smiled at Bella, as if she were the only one in the room. When he spoke, he was professional, but there was something about the way he talked and that rasp infused into his voice. It made Synthia’s pulse race. Bella’s too apparently, because the petite hotel magnate was staring at him as if he were the second coming of battery-operated boyfriends.

      Bella Bliss leaned forward, her cropped double-breasted jacket giving the whole room an excellent view of her cleavage. Their boss, Bryan James, pretended not to notice. And if Syn was being fair, she’d have to give Tristan a medal for effort. As far as she could tell, he’d kept his gaze on Bella’s eyes or at least in the general vicinity of her head.

      Synthia also did her level best to ignore the blatant come-hither signals the hotel magnate was sending Tristan’s way, but it was hard.

      This was her client, and she wasn’t about to roll over and let Tristan have it. No matter that the client was obvious about wanting him on the job. Bliss Hotel Group had been a long-standing client of Stellar Reach. It was standard practice to select the teams once the contract had been signed. It helped keep perspective fresh.

      Synthia cleared her throat. “Bella, I’m thrilled about the opportunity to work with you again. I was part of the marketing and branding team for Bliss New York a few years ago.”

      Bella dragged her intent gaze from Tristan. “Oh, you were?”

      Synthia nodded. “Yes. I was just an intern at the time, but I’m familiar with the Bliss brand.”

      Bella’s gaze blinked into sharper focus as if suddenly realizing she was here for work and not for a date. She nodded, sending her fluffy blond curls shifting around her shoulders. “I’ll have to review the work that was done on that. Since you have so much experience with the brand, you can bring Tristan here up to speed, Ms. Michaels.”

      Synthia didn’t miss the familiarity Bella used with Tristan and the formality she used with her. In Bella’s head, Tristan was already running the branding campaign.

      Suck it up, Michaels. So what if Bella Bliss was looking at Tristan as if he were an ice-cream cone in the middle of a Santa Ana summer? She wasn’t out of this yet. All she could do was her best. Lucky for her, on her worst day she could run miles around Tristan Dawson on his good day. She had this.

      Tristan leaned closer to her, and her breath caught. For the most part, Synthia could ignore him, but when he turned those electric-blue eyes on her and made her the focus of all his attention, sometimes she forgot to breathe. But she was taking that little secret to the grave.

      To make matters worse, he was silver-spooned, drove a BMW, and had the most sensual smile. Pretty much female kryptonite. And damn him, he knew it.

      Syn tried to focus her attention on what Bryan was saying. Resolute, she kept her eyes on her laptop. But refusing to look at Tristan