Her Valentine Surprise (Manhattan Holiday Loves #2)

USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Hefner writing as Ayla Asher

Sam has a secret he holds close to his heart...

Joy Paulson is fine being single. In fact, it saves her from the maddening dating rituals in Manhattan. If she ever settles down, it will be with someone she truly loves and trusts. That's why she turns down her super-hot boss when he asks her out, leading to disaster when he retaliates, forcing her termination.

Sam Davidson has pined for Joy since the first time he saw her sweet smile and stunning eyes. But there's a secret that the shy IT developer holds deep inside: Sam is still a virgin. At twenty-nine, he never intended it to happen, but accepts that he could never please Joy in all the ways she deserves.

Sam can offer her a job, though, and proceeds to help Joy rebuild her life after the unfair firing. As their work relationship grows, Joy is taken with Sam's kindness, gorgeous crystal-hazel eyes and generous smile. And his hands...oh, his firm, broad hands...

Joy can't figure out why Sam resists the desire that sparks so vividly between them, but Valentine's Day is coming and she's determined to seduce him and make them both burn. Even if it means discovering all his secrets...

Sam Davidson walked through the office, back to the dungeon that housed the IT department. He worked there with his buddies, Will, Jamal and Frank. They’d all become tight since Sam came on board two years ago, and lovingly referred to their hidden back room as the “forgotten lair.” The IT department was the unsung hero of the marketing firm, but that was fine with Sam. He’d always been burdened with terrible shyness and preferred the solitary existence.
“Do me a favor and send the form for a new workstation to Drake again, will ya?” he asked his supervisor, Frank. “He was supposed to fill it out for Joy two months ago. Her computer’s on its last leg.”
“You got it, man,” Frank said, giving him a thumbs up.
They were basically a foursome of loners, quiet and obsessed with all things tech, but it created an inherent camaraderie between them. Every once in a while, Sam would meet up with them on a Friday night to play cards. They were nice guys and could always fall into a discussion on gaming or something else that would totally be considered geek-worthy.
Sitting at his desk, Sam inhaled a deep breath, commanding his heartbeat to chill the fuck out. When Joy had touched his shoulder, he’d almost lost it. She’d smiled down at him with those gorgeous, full lips and her adorable heart-shaped face had such genuine sincerity. Her light-blue eyes had latched onto his and he’d had to physically shift in her chair. Closing his lids, he imagined, for one moment, strumming his fingers through her strawberry-blond hair. It always smelled so damn good, like flowers and rain, and he’d love nothing more than to rub his cheek against it as he inhaled the fragrance.
Lifting his lids, he commanded his overactive imagination to shut it down. Wasting time thinking about a girl whom you had zero chance with was the definition of futility. Sam was practical and didn’t enjoy the frivolity of spending time on things that were never going to happen. After all, Joy was in love with Drake. It was obvious to anyone who observed them interact. Sam understood why, of course. Drake was the definition of what women wanted in today’s modern dating world. His foster sister, Sarah, had shown him enough of her alpha male romance novels that he fully understood he was the loser in the story, where Drake was the dashing hero.
How categorically unfair, yet unalterable all the same.
Sighing, he got to work on the ticket that popped up on his screen. Whether Joy was in love with Drake or someone else, she would never fall in love with him. For, Sam had a secret he carried inside, wrapped in a hefty dose of annoyance and a slight bit of embarrassment.
Yes, Sam had been in love with Joy for almost two years now.
But he’d been a virgin for twenty-nine years.
Even if he had the balls to ask her out, which he didn’t, he wouldn’t know how to make love to her. The disconcertment washed over him and he straightened in his chair, attempting to push the thoughts away. He would have no idea how to make her moan…or how to elicit a cry from her pretty lips…or how to excite her until she called his name, pleading for him to make her come.
No, sadly, Sam had no idea how to accomplish any of those things.
And that was why he would carry on with his secret love for Joy and hope she found someone who could please her in all the ways he so desperately wanted to, but never could.
Telling himself to move the hell on, he resumed working on the open IT request, shoulders hunched over his desk. It was going to be a long afternoon.