by Marian Tee
Mr. Rochester: British Bad Boy
Classics Made Smutty
Marian Tee
Contents
Blurb
ABOUT THE BOOK
Also by Marian Tee
Prologue
1. Mary Jane
Also by Marian Tee
About the Author
Blurb
I’ve never been attracted to bad boys.
They’re just too cocky and shallow for my taste, and I despise the way they act like being wickedly gorgeous and sexy makes them God’s gift to women.
Yeah right.
That may work on others but not me. I’m too smart for that.
But then I start working for Mr. Rochester, and everything changes.
I’ve never met someone more horribly rude and self-centered, and even worse is the way he’s so damn moody. Just being in his presence makes me feel dizzy. One moment he’s viciously cruel, another moment he’s exquisitely charming. One moment he seems invincible and out of my league, another moment he’s broodingly vulnerable and mysteriously tormented.
But the worst is when we’re alone – when he gazes at me like he wants to eat me, it makes me feel so shamefully wet.
I hate it. I hate HIM, Mr. Rochester, and if he thinks I’m going to let him get away with acting like my lord and master just because he’s my boss and I find him a little bit too sexy for my own good---
You don’t own me, Mr. Rochester, I hiss at him.
But the words only make him smirk, and he whispers into my ear, ‘Not yet’.
ABOUT THE BOOK
“Bastard,” I hiss.
“And I’ll keep being one,” Mr. Rochester murmurs, “because it’s exactly how you want me to be.”
The words make me want to scratch his eyes out, but I don’t. There’s this shameful cringing part of me that finds it impossible to deny the truth, and what Mr. Rochester’s saying is true.
When I start to pick my clothes up, he says, “No.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want to see you leave like that. And tomorrow when I wake you up, I still want to see you without anything covering your breasts.”
“Are you insane? Who the fuck do you think you are?”
But Mr. Rochester only shrugs. “We both know you already know the answer to that.”
“You---”
“Last but not the least, Ms. Reed.” He pauses, his gaze narrowing on me. “You are not to touch yourself or make yourself come tonight. I want that pleasure for myself. Do you understand?”
“Fuck you.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He slides to his feet gracefully and takes my hand. “Let me walk to your room.”
“No, thanks.” I yank my hand out of his hold and stalk back to the connecting door of our suites, all the while feeling his gaze on me. Oh God. I can’t believe I’m doing exactly as he says, walking out of his room with nothing but my pants---
The thought has me wrapping my arms around myself, and the feel of my bare breasts against my skin makes me shudder in a mixture of shame and desire.
Oh God.
Is this how my life is going to be from now on?
Also by Marian Tee
Want More Hot Alpha Billionaire and Biker Romances from Marian Tee?
Enjoy exclusive excerpts about my newest and upcoming releases by signing up for my newsletter.
Classics Made Smutty
Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre Adaptation)
Standalone Novels
Savage, Broken, Beautiful
A contemporary and sizzling-hot retelling of the Beauty and the Beast, this story starts when Arabella sells herself to a mysterious French billionaire who has her whisked to his remote island.
Eternal Night
This is a retelling of Hades and Persephone’s love story, but this time the God of the Underworld finds himself falling for a mortal girl.
Captivated: 4-in-1 Friends Romance Boxed Set – Enjoy four standalone romances between passionate, domineering billionaires and the women who were their friends first before becoming their lovers.
All stories have either happy-ever-after or happy-for-now endings.
His Fair Lady – Prince Julian knows the blind fortune teller Cass is everything he wants in a woman, but she can never be his bride.
Devoured — Cynical Italian billionaire Luca Valencia buys himself a wife in order to give his little girl the mother she needed and deserved. His choice: innocent Vivian Day, who he knew could ill afford to reject his proposition.
The Marriage Dare
Quintessential girl Friday Jane can’t ever say no to a dare. And so when her friends challenge her to make out with a beautiful stranger, she does it. And when said stranger dares her to marry him – she does it, too.
Greek Billionaire Romance Serials
The Art of Catching a Greek Billionaire (FREE!)
The Art of Trusting a Greek Billionaire
The Art of Loving a Greek Billionaire
The Art of Forgiving a Greek Billionaire
The Art of Wedding a Greek Billionaire
The Art of Kissing a Greek Billionaire (FREE!)
The Greek Billionaire and I (Standalone)
The Greek Billionaire and His Secretary Series
The Greek Billionaire and His Secretary (FREE)
Dear Greek Billionaire
Love, Your Greek Billionaire
Forever and Ever, My Greek Billionaire
That One Time (Standalone)
My Dutch Billionaire Trilogy
Part 1 (FREE)
Part 2
Part 3
Pollyanna and the Greek Billionaire Trilogy (Innocent and Betrayed)
Part 1 (FREE)
Part 2
Part 3
How Not to be Seduced Series / Mediterranean Affairs (According to Reading Order)
Nik & Daria
A Fling with the Greek Billionaire: Prequel (FREE)
A Fling with the Greek Billionaire: Standalone
Eternally Seduced: Contemporary Romance (7-in-1 Boxed set)
Included in this bundle: How Not to be Seduced by Billionaires, How Not to be Seduced by Rockstars, How Not to be Seduced by Dukes Part 1
The Ice Around My Heart (How Not to be Seduced by Dukes Part 2)
The Rockstar and His Fangirl (Standalone)
The Rockstar I’ve Loved for So Long (Standalone)
BBF Series: Christopoulos University (According to Reading Order)
Warning: Love Moderately Duology (Derek & Jaike)
Unwillingly Yours (FREE!)
Meant to Be Yours
Park & Violet (Standalone)
Nick & Lilac (Standalone)
Jason & Keanne (Standalone)
Prince of Darkness Duology
Part 1
Part 2
For Angelo (Standalone)
My Greek Billionaire (Alyx & Nathan)
My French Billionaire (Christien & Kharis)
IN BED WITH A BILLIONAIRE Series
My Russian Billionaire (Sergei & Fredericka)
My Greek Billionaire (Alyx & Nathan)*
My Italian Billionaire Part One (Anneke & Marcus)
My Italian Billionaire Part Two (Anneke & Marcus)
My French Billionaire (Christien & Kharis)*
*also part of BBF series
GREEK. BIKER. BILLIONAIRE.
(Heart Racers: Christopoulos University According to Reading Order)
Leandro
Helios
Kellion
Yuri
Andreus
Drawn / Russian Stepbrother Rom
ance / Play With Me Sports Romance Series: Christopoulos University (According to Reading Order)
Drawn (Standalone)
Russian Stepbrother Romance Trilogy
When I Moan
When I Hurt
When I Love
Play With Me (Standalone)
This Round I’m Yours (Standalone)
Love You Again (A Standalone Sequel to Drawn)
Visit Marian Tee’s website for her other titles.
Want More Hot Alpha Billionaire and Biker Romances from Marian Tee?
Enjoy exclusive excerpts about my newest and upcoming releases by signing up for my newsletter.
Mr. Rochester: British Bad Boy by Marian Tee
(Previously published under the author’s pen name M.P. Tanner)
Copyright 2017 by Streak Digital Publishing
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Prologue
I take my seat in front of the H.R. manager and place my hands primly on my lap. Every time I’m called to Maria Fairfax’s office, I feel like a schoolgirl being sent to detention…and I’m not quite sure what I did wrong.
Like now.
The silence in Maria’s office is hard to read. I feel like she’s not mad at me (for a change), but I also feel like she’s about to make this dire announcement I’m guaranteed to hate.
I try to rack my brains for what possible misdemeanor I’m guilty of that warrants HR’s attention. Is it because I had exchanged words with old Sarah from accounting, who’s not just miserly and nasty but also a bit of a klepto?
Or maybe it’s because of last week’s team building in Orlando, and certain skeletons about my past had suddenly resurfaced? So I once suffered from domestic abuse. It’s not like I’m the only such victim in the world. Everyone had made such a huge fuss over it, but the thing is, I’ve long gotten over the everyday beatings my step-aunt used to subject me to.
I’m a fairly resilient person, not to mention practical. Even without the help of a therapist, I had long figured out there were two kinds of people in this world: those who were just plain nice…and those who weren’t.
Obviously, my step-aunt and stepbrother fell in the latter category, and as soon as I turned eighteen I had left my uncle’s home and never looked back.
It’s been a closed book since then, but apparently people at my workplace didn’t believe I could get over my past. Remembering the pity party that followed last week’s anonymously orchestrated exposé makes me shudder even now. Most of them thought I’d appreciate them treating me like I’m fragile, but honestly it just made me feel I’m a freak.
All those poor-little-you looks---
It had pissed me off so much, I might have, umm, thrown out a fuck-you-asshole or two, along with a couple of middle fingers, to, umm, supposedly well-meaning individuals?
I steal a look at Maria. Could that be it?
Maria looks back at me, her poker face made picture-perfect after two decades of managing labor relations has made her poker face.
The silence in the room becomes increasingly unbearable, and I start to fidget.
Maria clears her throat.
I straighten. Shit. That sounds bad.
She opens her mouth to speak---
But I beat her to it. “Whatever it is that was said about me,” I blurt out defensively, “it’s probably because of a misunderstanding.”
Maria lets out a huge sigh.
“I mean it,” I stress earnestly. “You know how I am. I’m like, all bark and no bite. So if someone lodged a complaint against me, it’s probably just a misunderstanding---”
“It is,” the H.R. manager says dryly, “but the misunderstanding is all on your side.”
Oh.
“I called you here because executive management asked for a recommendation for our CEO’s personal assistant---”
I sit up at the words. Is this what I think it is?
“And I chose you.”
Oh my God, it is what I think it is.
I shake my head, amazed and incredulous. “No shit?” Maria winces at the words, and I apologize right away. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to. I’m just shocked.”
“In a good way, I hope.”
“Oh yes. I’m happy as fuck---”
Maria scowls. “Language!”
Oops. “Sorry,” I say again, more meekly this time, but inside of me I’m doing somersaults and cartwheels.
Clearing her throat, Maria goes on, “Should you choose to accept it---”
I almost snicker, thinking how she makes it sound like babysitting the CEO is some kind of mission impossible.
“---then the promotion will come with a salary upgrade and a more lucrative compensation package overall. You will also be working from the penthouse, with your own work area---”
“I accept,” I say eagerly.
Maria frowns. “Don’t be so hasty.”
“But salary upgrade, Ms. Fairfax!” I grin. “It’s everything to me.”
“Oh, Ms. Reed.” The older woman sighs. “Money isn’t everything.”
“Only rich people say that,” I mutter under my breath.
Maria ignores this, which of course is something also only rich people can do. “I know you don’t believe me, but there will come a time when you’ll realize that money truly isn’t everything.”
“I already know that,” I say patiently. “I know it very well, and I know you know that, too, Ms. Fairfax. In my job interview six years ago, you used your psycho mumbo-jumbo to hypnotize me into telling you my life story---”
Maria rolls her eyes. “For the last time, Ms. Reed, no hypnosis was involved. I’m simply paid to prevent the unwanted from working here, and that’s why I needed to ferret out your past. Moreover, I am not worried – as you have mistakenly assumed – that money will make you greedy. What I am worried about is the way you seem to be using money as an excuse to keep other people away.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I say automatically.
Maria wags a finger at me. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed how confrontational---”
“You mean bitchy?” I ask innocently.
Maria gives me a pointed look. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”
Shit. She totally got me there.
“Now, you’ve been working for us for six years and throughout it you’ve had a succession of bosses as you climbed your way up.”
I can’t see where she’s going, and I say warily, “There’s a but, isn’t there?”
“They may have let you gotten away with a lot of things because they appreciate your hard work, but---”
“I knew it,” I grumble.
“Our CEO won’t be the same.” Leaning forward, the older woman settles her elbows on her desk and laces her fingers under her chin. “Mr. Rochester is different, Mary Jane---”
I cringe. “Reed please.”
“Mary Jane,” Maria says even more firmly. “And you better get used to it. Mr. Rochester happens to be the traditional and conservative sort---”
“Is that the H.R. term for chauvinist?” I quip.
“My point is,” Maria says diplomatically, “it’s possible that Mr. Rochester won’t call you ‘Reed’ like you’ve convinced your other bosses to do so, and you must be prepared for this.”
“So he is a chauvinist.”
“No.” But Maria is visibly fighting off her smile, and when I snort, she loses the battle and the sound of her barely smothered laugh fills the room. “Oh, Ms. Reed.”
Every time she says that, I think wryly, I feel like I’m a hopeless case for Hell.
“Working for Mr. Rochester is a once-in-the-lifetime opportunity, and I want it for you. I really
do. But I also know you’ll end up fired within the first five minutes if you don’t at least try to---”
“Act like a sweet little idiot around him?”
“Mary Jane!”
“Sorry.” I gnaw on my lower lip. “I’m grateful you recommended me of all people, but I don’t know if I can meet your expectations. I’m not sure if I have the stomach to pretend being someone I’m not.”
“Which is good,” Maria surprisingly concurs, “since I’m not asking you to do such a thing. Rather, I’m imploring you to give Mr. Rochester a chance---”
“Oh, please, Ms. Fairfax. You make him sound like I can bully him.” I snort at the mere idea of it, which is utterly preposterous. If what I’ve been hearing is even half-accurate, then someone like Mr. Rochester is the exact opposite of what he’s suggesting. Rather, he’s the type who throws his weight around on a whim, and of course no one has the power to stand in his way when he does.
When I notice Ms. Fairfax’s lips purse, I say defensively, “I only know what I’ve heard.”
“Then I’m disappointed,” she counters severely, “that you put so much stock in the office grapevine. I thought you were smarter than that.”
Shit. She has a point. “Sorry,” I mutter, properly chastened. I barely know anything about Mr. Rochester, and what I do know I’ve only picked up from workplace gossip, like the fact that our 35-year-old boss is considered one of Britain’s most legendary playboys (The Daily Mail used that exact same word!), and that he always leaves a string of broken hearts wherever he goes.
