An After Hours Proposal: Love in two office parties
Publisher: Sharon Anderson
Published: December 26, 2015
Language: eng
Format: Kindle Edition
Number of pages: 102
Description: Shelby, shy and tentative in her personal life, has a confidence in her abilities in her new job as a paralegal that help make her transition to the workplace easier. She is young and this is her first ‘real job; one that holds great potential to make or break her career since it is with the prestigious New York City Law Firm of Adams, Barton and Collins, LLC. 
Her mentor for the first week’s orientation turns out to be the son of two of the partners. He appears to be working in a job well below his ability level but he makes it clear this is what he enjoys doing and does not have huge aspirations, at the moment, of changing his position. He is good at what he does and he exudes self-assurance and personality. 
From the second Shelby meets Dylan she feels a connection, at first a worrisome one, which leaves her wondering if his charming disposition and good looks will allow her to concentrate and do her best work. Their week of working in concert for her orientation alleviate these fears, yet in moments, throw her off kilter in directions she is not sure she is ready to be moving. 
Dylan is excellent at his job but he is far too charismatic and distracting in more primal ways than Shelby should find comfortable. He is also very sweet and gentle with her when she lets him know she is not ready for a workplace relationship. In reality, she is not ready for a relationship at all in her life still holding on to a sad past. 
Life on the job goes better than expected for Shelby and things with Dylan do, as well. They truly become a respected team, and fast and really solid friends. Personally, the pull on Shelby to let the friendship go more in the direction of Dylan’s interest genuinely surprises her. She finds him to be considerate, old fashioned and patient. 
Still his willingness to let her move at her own pace does nothing to quell her desires for what she thinks is all his idea. She realizes she is truly falling fast for this man…and he is a man, eleven years her senior. 
Over the course of working and playing together, exploring the rich landscape of New York City at its most beautiful, during the holiday season, they grow close. While maintaining she is not ready for anything more than friendship, it is Shelby who makes the first move to a romance. Working at a soup kitchen and an early snow, their mutual love of winter, draw them close. A series of ‘friendly’ dates to the Macy’s parade, the tree lighting and skating in Rockefeller Center, The Rockette’s Christmas Spectacular, Balanchine’s Nutcracker…all prove too intimate to keep the two determined professionals from falling for each other. 
Work also has some unexpected and immediate promotions that throw Shelby and Dylan into an even closer relationship than her initial job would have intended. They become partners in providing support to two of the firm’s lawyers. Like everything else in Shelby and Dylan’s current life, there is coincidence and fate at work. The partners are Dylan’s doting parents. Nothing in their work or personal lives seems to do anything to maintain the healthy balance Shelby is looking for. In fact, everything just tosses them deeper into each other’s lives. 
Is either one of the strong-willed youngsters going to be able to stop the blizzard of events being weathered by the two of them? It is going to be a very stormy Holiday Season in New York City, but Shelby and Dylan love storms, especially those with glittering, crystalline snow involved.