Book picks similar to
The Refusal by Eve M. Riley


contemporary-romance
romance
slow-burn
workplace-romance

A Billion Times No


Kenzie Reed - 2019
    Instead, I’m trapped in personal assistant hell. His hobbies include barking orders, torpedoing my advertising campaigns, and reducing the office staff to tears.On a good day, he acts like I’m invisible. On a bad day, I remind myself arsenic is not an acceptable sweetener for coffee. And prison orange would be murder on my complexion.Imagine my surprise when Chase follows me home to Bitter End, North Carolina, where I’m about to endure my ex-fiancé’s wedding.The moment he chases off my date and offers to pose as my boyfriend, I know he's got a hidden agenda—especially when he plays the part a little too convincingly. Unfortunately, I have to play along to find out what he’s really up to.To satisfy the town gossip squad, I’ll have to let him kiss me. Who knew Satan’s lips were so soft and inviting? And if we’re really playing the part, we’ll have to go to Lover’s Lane – testing my willpower beyond its limits.The more time we spend together outside the office, though, the more I see a different side of him. He’s still bossy and demanding, but is it wrong that I find it kind of, well … hot?This wedding is bound to be hell, so I might as well spend it in the arms of a sexy devil.

A Deal with the Devil


Elizabeth O'Roark - 2021
    He’s the last person I want to work for, except he has a face I can’t look away from, and the longer we’re together, the harder he is to hate. Because under that smug exterior is a heart he doesn’t want to show—one that was badly broken a decade earlier.A part of me wants to fix it for him before I leave…but can I do it without breaking my own in the process?

Blame it on the Champagne


Fiona Cole - 2020
    Who cares if it's nothing this good girl would normally do - with a man who turns out to be my horrible boss? Who cares that I’m promised to someone else?I blame the alcohol for agreeing to marry him. As long as my new husband keeps his mouth shut, I can survive five years of our little arrangement. It's too late for anything else.But our impromptu wedding leads to so much more than I bargained for. His dirty promises warm me. His kisses make me lightheaded. His respect slips past my best defenses. The hate turns to friendship and makes me dream of more. He’s like the most dangerous kind of champagne. That’s why I blame him for making me fall in love with him.But when I find out our marriage was nothing more than revenge, what’s to blame for my broken heart?

Love, Sincerely, Yours


Sara Ney - 2018
    Three margaritas, two shots, and one beer—because it was free.I think it’s important to be open and honest with your co-workers, don’t you?So here I am, being honest. Drunk but honest. Or just drunk with lust? You decide.I like you so much it’s clouding my judgment and making me do things I never would sober. Like write this letter.I have a hopeless, foolish, schoolgirl crush on you when you are the last person on earth I should be falling for. Did you know people around the office call you a sadist? An egomaniac. An insensitive, arrogant prick. Your bark is worse then your bite, and you don’t scare me. The fact is, I’d love that bite of yours to nip at my bare skin while we’re both wearing nothing but sheets.For once I want you to look at me as more than one of your employees. And as long as we're being honest, that navy blue suit you wear? With the crisp white shirt? It really makes me want to loosen your tie and show you who’s boss. Love,Sincerely,Yours.

Inappropriate


Vi Keeland - 2020
    Nine damn years I’d worked my butt off for one of the largest companies in America, and I was fired with a form letter when I returned home from a week in Aruba. All because of a video taken when I was on vacation with my friends—a private video made on my private time. Or so I thought…Pissed off, I cracked open a bottle of wine and wrote my own letter to the gazillionaire CEO telling him what I thought of his company and its practices.I didn’t think he’d actually respond.I certainly never thought I’d suddenly become pen pals with the rich jerk. Eventually, he realized I’d been wronged and made sure I got my job back.Only…it wasn’t the only thing Grant Lexington wanted to do for me. But there was no way I was getting involved with my boss’s boss’s boss. Even if he was ridiculously gorgeous, confident, and charming.It would be completely wrong, inappropriate even.Sort of like the video that got me into trouble to begin with.Two wrongs don’t make a right.But sometimes it’s twice as fun.

Control Freak


Brianna Hale - 2019
    I need it in every aspect of my life. Some would say that makes me an asshole. A freak. But as long as everything’s exactly how I want it, I’m completely flexible. I’m kidding. Okay, I’m not kidding. Lacey needs someone in her life who’s bigger and scarier than her demons, and she wants that man to be me. Her boss. The Viking in a suit.I hope she understands what she’s getting into. This daddy isn’t going to pat her on the head and tell her she’s a good girl for nothing. Especially not when she’s spinning out of control. Author's note: this book includes depictions of eating disorder recovery.

Prime Minister


Ainsley Booth - 2016
    She’s also an intern in my office. The office of the Prime Minister of Canada.* That’s me. The PM. She calls me that because when she calls me Sir, I get hard and she gets flustered, and as long as she’s my intern, I can’t twist my hands in her strawberry-blonde hair and show her what else I’d like her to do with that pretty pink mouth.** Ellie: How much I like the PM varies on a daily basis. He’s intense, controlling, and a perfectionist in every way—and he demands the same of his staff. How much I want him never wavers. There’s something about him that tugs at me deep inside, and makes me wish that just once he’d cross the line in a late night work session. I’d take that secret to the grave if it meant I got a taste of the barely restrained beast inside him.*** . . . FOOTNOTES: * This is a fictional erotic romance. No prime ministers or interns were harmed in the making of this book. ** Except it’s a BDSM romance, so they were hurt a little. *** Spoiler alert: she gets more than a taste. And she likes it.

Office Grump


Nicole Snow - 2020
    I'm his lowly assistant. Some rules are carved in stone.That's my mantra until we're sharing a sunset too beautiful for life.Alone with wandering lips, whispered secrets, and disaster in the making.The plan was simple: punch the clock, get paid, and keep hating my boss.What's the blueprint when the office grump brings me to my knees?Full-length enemies-to-lovers romance with the banter, intrigue, and slow-burn love worthy of a Happily Ever After. The bossman from Hades meets the hellion he totally can't stand—until he can't live without her.

Tempt Me


Nina West - 2015
    Owner of the luxury hotel chain, and an undeniably beautiful but cold, hard man who is quick with demands, slow with apologies.And is my new boss.Worse? I think he’s toying with me. He enjoys watching me squirm beneath his penetrating gaze. He relishes in messing with my mind. He seems to know that my body betrays me when he’s near.And I’m beginning to think it’s only a matter of time before my job description expands to include tasks I can never talk about.Tempt Me is the first book in The Wolf Hotel series. Henry and Abbi's story continues with Break Me, Teach Me, and Surrender To Me.

His Banana


Penelope Bloom - 2018
    Seriously. The guy is like a potassium addict. Of course, I touched it. If you want to get technical, I actually put it in my mouth. I chewed it up, too... I even swallowed.I know. Bad, bad, girl.Then I saw him, and believe it or not, choking on a guy's banana does not make the best first impression. I should backtrack a little here. Before I ever touched a billionaire’s banana, I got my first real assignment as a business reporter. This wasn’t the same old bottom-of-the-barrel assignment I always got. I wasn’t going to interview a garbage man about his favorite routes or write a piece on how picking up dog poop from people’s yards is the next big thing. Nope. None of the above, thank you very much.This was my big break. My chance to prove I wasn’t a bumbling, clumsy, accident-prone walking disaster. I was infiltrating Galleon Enterprises to follow up on suspicions of corruption. Cue the James Bond music.I could do this. All I had to do was land the position as an intern and nail my interview with Bruce Chamberson.Forget the fact that he looked like somebody carved him out of liquid female desire, then sprinkled on some "makes men question their sexuality" for good measure. I needed to make this work. No accidents. No disasters. No clumsiness. All I needed to do was hold it together for less than an hour.Fast forward to the conference room before the interview, and that's where you would find me with a banana in my hand. A banana that literally had his name on it in big, black sharpie. It was a few seconds later when he walked in and caught me yellow-handed. A few seconds after that was when he hired me. Yeah. I know. It didn't seem like a good sign to me, either.

Tapping the Billionaire


Max Monroe - 2016
    Are you ready to meet the Billionaire Bad Boys?Blind dates? Online dating profiles? Been there, done that.Georgia Cummings has zero luck with dating, and the era of the internet is not her friend. No matter how fast she runs, how many corners she turns, she can’t find her way out of this weird, alternate universe where men think d*ck pics are a replacement for small talk and getting to know a girl. One more crotch selfie and she might write men off for good… But why can’t she stop fantasizing about him?Kline Brooks is the quintessential billionaire bad boy—dark, styled, short hair, muscles for days, and a panty-dropping smile. Except—he isn’t.As his employee, he won’t touch her with a ten foot pole. But she won’t touch him either.Too bad their hormones missed the memo.Disclaimer:If you’re the type of woman who prefers crotch selfies to small talk, this book isn’t for you.If you enjoy random men you’ve never met filling up your inbox with dirty words and p*rn—for reasons focused more towards diddling your donut than laughing at the absurdity—this book isn’t for you. If you HATE laughing, this book isn’t for you.If you want your male leads to grunt, thrust like jack rabbits, and have one-track minds that prefer a nice pair of t*ts to brains every hour of every day for the rest of forever, well, then, this book still isn’t for you. But.If you enjoy a good swoon, a hearty laugh, witty banter, and some hot as f*@% f*@%ing, then consider Georgia Cummings your Girl Friday and Kline Brooks your next irresistible book boyfriend.

Reel


Kennedy Ryan - 2021
    Nor do they cheat on anyone else.*Award-Winning Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Kennedy Ryan launches a brand new series with a Hollywood tale of wild ambition, artistic obsession, and unrelenting love.One moment in the spotlight.For months I stood by, an understudy waiting in the wings, preparing for my time to shine. I never imagined he would watch in the audience that night.Canon Holt.Famous film director.Fascinating. Talented. Fine.Before I could catch my breath, everything changed. I went from backstage Broadway to center stage Hollywood.From being unknown, to my name, Neevah Saint, on everyone’s lips.Canon casts me in a star-studded Harlem Renaissance biopic, catapulting me into another stratosphere. But stars shine brightest in the dead of night.Forbidden attraction, scandal and circumstances beyond my control jeopardize my dream.Could this one shot—the role of a lifetime, the love of a lifetime—cost me everything?

Shy Girls Write it Better


May Sage - 2016
    She isn't an executive, she isn't sexy, or otherwise noticeable, but the girl is cute - in a helpless, unique sort of way.He can't pretend to say she ever crosses his mind, though... Until the day he finds the manuscript she worked on during her lunch hour.Shy girls write it better is an adult romance with explicit content. Standalone novella ending on a happily for now note.

Irresistibly Yours


Lauren Layne - 2015
      Hotshot sports editor Cole Sharpe has been freelancing for Oxford for years, so when he hears about a staff position opening up, he figures he’s got the inside track. Then his boss drops a bombshell: Cole has competition. Female competition, in the form of a fresh-faced tomboy who can hang with the dudes—and write circles around them, too. Cole usually likes his women flirty and curvy, but he takes a special interest in his skinny, sassy rival, if only to keep an eye on her. And soon, he can’t take his eyes off her.   Penelope Pope knows all too well that she comes off as just one of the guys. Since she’s learned that wanting more usually leads to disappointment, Penelope’s resigned to sitting on the sidelines when it comes to love. So why does Cole make her want to get back in the game? The man is as arrogant as he is handsome. He probably sees her as nothing more than a barrier to his dream job. But when an unexpected kiss turns into a night of irresistible passion, Penelope has to figure out whether they’re just fooling around—or starting something real.  Includes a special message from the editor, as well as an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

Fling


Jana Aston - 2016
    At least it’s not my brother’s best friend. Or my best friend’s brother. Or… never mind. It’s all pretty cliche. And worse? My boss’ best friend is his business partner. Which sort of makes him my boss too. Okay - it’s not sort of. It’s definite. Gabe Laurent is off limits. Totally off limits. Which is fine. I make do with my imagination. He’ll never know. Ever. Unless my work bestie passes me an eighties-style teen movie sex quiz during a meeting and I fill it out. And it ends up in Gabe’s hands… *** Please Note *** Wrong - Sophie's Story Right - Everly's Story Fling - Sandra's Story Trust - Chloe's Story - November 8, 2016 Each book can be read on it's own, but TRUST takes place 6 months after the first three books. Characters from those first three books appear in TRUST, living their happily ever afters.