This is the first chapter of my fantasy romance, Fairyproof, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance ebooks, and Kobo.
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When Monique finds out her brother, Kieran, is planning her future with the one fairy she wants nothing to do with, she seeks refuge in the human world. Now Kieran fears she will be the next victim in a string of murdered fairies and is determined to bring her home.
Hiding should be a breeze. She can control any human with a flirtatious smile and an attraction spell. Until she meets Daniel Elliot, the only human who's immune to both.
A year ago, Daniel's fiancée disappeared with the engagement ring, an Elliot family heirloom. He's ready to move forward with his life, but his mother's obsession with retrieving the ring makes that impossible. Then Monique walks into his office to apply for a job.
Daniel and Monique can't deny their attraction, but will the reason he's Fairyproof be too much to overcome?
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Chapter One
Monique gripped the pen so tightly, her knuckles turned white and her fingers grew cold. She hated starting this new beginning the same old way — with a lie.
Name.
There’d been so many of them in the last six months. Each new start began with a new one, and every new identity came to the same abrupt end just a few weeks later. Dare she hope for a different resolution? Maybe she could find peace here.
She took a deep breath and committed the falsehood — Naomi Sanders — in ink, hoping the form got easier from there.
Gainful employment meant federal ID numbers and taxes. If the U.S. government could trace her, so could her brother, Keiran. But a job also meant cash that she needed to blend in, and the anonymity she craved.
She slid her hand through a strand of her long, red hair, letting the ringlets wrap around her finger before pushing it back over her ear.
Can I pull this off?
It might be better if she applied for another waitress or janitor job, one that didn’t require so much brain power. She’d give anything to be able to spend her days outside like she had with her most recent foray into landscaping. The world of high finance was a big change, and being indoors again would be hard, especially in an environment as organized as this one. The advantage: Keiran wouldn’t be expecting it.
Maybe he’d give up and leave her alone. Deep down, she knew that was a fantasy. After almost catching her two weeks ago, no doubt his determination to seize her was stronger than ever.
Her eyes fell back to the fake ID and social security card in her lap. New adventures always gave her a thrill, but this time her hands trembled. She’d used the latest alias and phony documentation in the last city and previous job. Using the same ones again would increase her brother’s chance of tracing her, but she didn’t have the American currency to make a deal with a human, nor the julues to pay Billy to get a new identity. Either she would have to find a bank willing to convert the few pink gemstones she still possessed or this assistant’s job was a necessity.
Keyboarding skills? Little to none.
A history in business? Nope, that wouldn’t get her the job, either.
She continued on through the list of qualifications, answering no or leaving the lines blank, realizing all she had left was her special, little bag of tricks.
