Smitten Heroes 1

Get ready to laugh and swoon with this boxset featuring eight short, steamy insta-love romantic comedies. These stories are all about quick sparks, lots of laughs, and zero drama. These possessive heroes stumble into love faster than you can say “match made in heaven,” while their stubborn, curvy soulmates give them a run for their money.

Included in this collection:
Leaping Into Love
Barrett’s Play
Spade’s Queen
At Recess
Snow’s Spell
Over It
Into It
Rescuing the Superstar

If you like possessive hero, curvy girl, over-the-top, insta-love romance with a little bit of humor, and very little drama these Loni Ree short stories are perfect for you.

My horoscope said, “For all those Leap Year Babies out there, it’s your day! Take a leap into something fresh and exciting.”
I’ll get right on that after I do my roommate a huge favor and save her ass. She’s double-booked herself today and doesn’t want to lose her cushy job of walking some rich asshole’s spoiled dog. In an absolute moment of weakness, I allowed Kelsey to convince me to take her place walking the dog. 
As I walk the six blocks to the building housing her client’s penthouse apartment where the pampered pooch lives, I run through the rest of the day in my mind. I have meetings lined up back to back, then I’ll have to work through lunch to make up for my morning off. My company is being taken over by a huge competitor, and now is a horrible time to ask for the morning off. If my boss wasn’t losing his job in the coming weeks, he’d probably fire me. Right now, I’m holding out hope I can impress the new company bosses and keep my position.
The three-foot-high mountain of dirty clothes will probably still be on my closet floor when I get home tonight, so that’s going to be on my list later. Maybe, I’ll reward all my hard work with a pizza after I dig out my closet floor. There you go—I’ll be excited to leap into my fresh clothes, and my horoscope will come true. Snickering to myself, I stroll through the massive glass doors that lead to the lobby of the building. My breath catches a little while I take in the ultra-modern lobby with its shiny gray marble floor and matching steel-gray modern walls. 
My tennis shoes squeak on the spotless marble as I make my way across the huge expanse. The middle-aged security guard looks up from his computer screen and smiles. “Hi, can I help you?”
“I’m taking Kelsey’s place today walking Mr. Walker’s dog.” I hope he doesn’t call the asshole to confirm. Kelsey is worried her ultra-uptight boss would consider her nerfing the poor animal off on me to be irresponsible, so she’s hoping he never realizes I’m the one taking his little monster on a walk today. We’re taking such a huge risk with this stupid stunt. Not only are we risking Kelsey’s job, but I’m risking my real job, too.
 Luckily, the guard shrugs and waves me by the front desk, and I smile and keep walking. Trying to ignore the butterflies in my tummy as the elevator zips up to the thirty-second floor, I close my eyes and tell myself to hold on. How can anyone ride these death traps every day? Relief hits me when the doors swish open, and I dash out and head to the only door at the end of the hall. Using the key Kelsey slipped into my pocket, I hear the heavy lock turn and walk through the door then disarm the security alarm. Now, I need to find George, the little dog.
When I don’t see a chubby little body anywhere, I call his name and wait to hear him charging across the floor. “Come on, George. Mrs. Beasley’s poodle is waiting for you.” Kelsey told me he loves Mrs. Beasley’s poodle and is ready to go every day when she walks in the door. Where could the dog be today? I don’t have time for this if I’m going to make it to my first meeting of the day. I call a few more times, but George still doesn’t show, so I wander down the hall looking for the missing animal. My sneakers squeak on the flooring as I look from one empty, huge room to an even bigger empty room, and I wonder if Kelsey messed up the day she’s supposed to walk George. 
I get to the last room at the end of the hall and find the door slightly ajar. Pushing it open, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see the English Bulldog sprawled on the biggest bed I’ve ever seen. “George, why didn’t you come to me? We’re going to be too late to see Mrs. Beasley’s poodle and get your ice cream. I know how much you like it.” The dog looks over my shoulder, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“You know his name isn’t George, right?” Spinning around, my poor mind doesn’t know how to react. The drop-dead gorgeous face paired with the sapphire blue eyes are a double punch. Then you have the rest of the package. Wow. I’m done. His broad, masculine chest still has droplets of water from his shower dripping down onto the towel that’s wrapped around his trim waist. When he clears his throat, I realize I’ve been staring at the front of the navy blue towel, waiting for it to magically drop to the floor.
He’s looking at me with a raised eyebrow, and it hits me that I’m staring at Kelsey’s uptight employer like he’s Sobu Sushi while he waits for me to answer. I remember Kelsey explaining that she refuses to call the cute little dog his given name because it’s too pretentious and instead calls him George.
Well, the unfamiliar feelings running through my body cause my unfiltered mouth to let loose before I can control myself. “Alberto is too pretentious for him, so Kel… Uh, I mean, I call him George. Who would name that cute, fat guy Alberto?” 
Yikes, his blue eyes darken to almost black, and he actually sputters for a second before growling, “I named him Alberto.”
In for a penny and all that, I go all in, “Well, it’s right up there with having two middle names.” It’s the best argument I can come up with at this point while my entire body is overwhelmed by him since spewing out Kelsey’s explanation didn’t seem to convince Mr. I Named Him.
I really screwed the pooch this time with my unfiltered mouth. Her boss’s face turns a shocking color before he whispers so low, I barely hear the words. “Let me introduce myself, Knox Christopher Logan Walker.” Oops, I lose count of the names that he lists. I hope Kelsey doesn’t hate me too much for the loss of this job.
“See, I bet you had a hard time remembering all those names when you were little. Right? So, you see what poor George is feeling.” My reasoning doesn’t seem to impress him, and I decide to change the subject before he strangles me. Sticking my hand out, I hope he uses his enormous hand to shake it and doesn’t wrap it around my neck instead. “I’m Sloane.” Shit, will he realize that I’m an imposter now?
I hold my breath for an eternity before his gigantic palm encloses mine. All thoughts scatter around in my mind. I realize he’s talking, but I’m concentrating on the tingles zipping around my body instead of his words. He removes his hand and waves it in front of my face. “Hello?”
After blinking for a few seconds, a smile weakly and try to lie my way out of this mess. “Sorry, I just remembered a ton of things I forgot to do.” Cool. So far so good.
“Aren’t you going to walk Alberto?” He reminds me that I’m here for George, and I shrug and glance over at the confused dog.
Without thinking, I smack my victim’s gorgeous naked chest and almost forget what I’m about to say as the muscles jump under my palm. “Oh, yeah, Mrs. Beasley’s poodle and ice cream.” Turning to George, I grab his collar and insist, “Let’s go, buddy.” The dog looks at me like I’m crazy and sits back on the bed. God, what is happening to me? I’m usually the sane one.