Adoring Amy — Leah Mae Wright

Justin Burleson lived a charmed, happy life on his family ranch in Heart's Destiny, Texas. He worked in his dream job in the family business as the head of the research and development department in the Burleson Energy division of Burleson Incorporated. While he technically had a vice president title, he had the freedom to spend his time in the lab more than in the executive offices with the rest of his family. He appreciated being able to spend his time working on finding alternative fuels to help Burleson Energy be a more environmentally friendly company than the oil conglomerate his ancestors had started without realizing how damaging to the land and surrounding ecosystems their endeavors would be a hundred years later.

Unfortunately, spending all his time with his family on the ranch meant he didn't have as much time for dating. So, settling down, as his mother and aunt seemed to want for all their children, wasn't his top priority. It wasn't that he was reluctant to romance, more that he wasn't interested in romancing the women his mother kept setting him up with at every event in town. He wasn't looking for just any woman to marry and carry on the family name. He was seeking his soulmate.

Amy Lawton wasn't sure she was really interested in dating anyone seriously after growing up watching her mother's string of relationship failures. Dealing with her own abandonment issues after losing her grandparents was only made harder by feeling abandoned by her father and several stepfathers over the years. Not wanting to feel the pain of heartbreak when a man inevitably left the relationship, Amy put up walls and wouldn't let herself fall in love like her mother and sister seemed to do each week with someone new.

When Amy went to Heart's Destiny, Texas for her best friend's sister's wedding, Justin thought he'd finally met his soulmate. Their common interest in chemical engineering was far more important to him than their racial or socioeconomic differences. Justin didn't see a woman of color; he saw a woman of character, a woman he wanted to get to know better.

Amy felt an instant attraction to Justin when she met him, but she was reluctant to pursue a romance with the man who was so obviously different from her and anyone she'd ever dated. Even though they seemed to have a lot of common interests when they talked about their professional lives, she doubted a Black woman white man romance would ever develop between them. Though she'd seen such a pairing work for her grandparents, her mother's string of failed relationships with mostly white men had made it clear to her that a multicultural romance would never last, so she vowed to save herself the heartbreak by keeping him in the friend zone.

When the Burlesons offered her more than double her current salary to move to Texas and work in their research and development department, Amy couldn't turn down the opportunity for career advancement. Justin wanted to use their daily interaction at work to move them from friends to lovers, but Amy was fighting her instalove with her possessive boss.

Could Justin show Amy that he's the man of her dreams and she's the woman of his? Or would Amy be too afraid to take their chemistry outside the lab?

DISCLAIMER: This book contains profanity and graphic sex scenes. It is intended for adult readers (18+) who are not easily offended.