Spotlight & Giveaway: Catching the CEO by Victoria Davies

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Victoria Davies to HJ!

Hi Victoria and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Catching the CEO!

 
Hi everyone. I’m thrilled to be here.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Catching the CEO is the story of what happens when two business rivals find themselves trapped at the same conference together. Caitlyn will do anything to grow her family business and she’s not about to let some billionaire CEO stand in her way. But being thrown together at the conference is causing her to see another side of her annoying rival Damien and it’s getting harder and harder for her to separate business and pleasure. While taking a timeout from reality might be tempting, she knows they’ll eventually be back on opposing sides. And when that happens, she can’t risk letting her heart rule her head.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“Bite me, Reid.”
A slow smile curved his lips. “Only if you beg me just right, cupcake.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• When I write I usually pick one song to play on repeat in the background. For this book, my song pick was Billie Eilish – Lovely.
• This book was inspired by a real conference I went to in DC. Unfortunately for me, my conference only ended in learning some new skills, not with the phone number of a tasty billionaire.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Caitlyn wants little to do with the wealthy CEO who’s goal in life seems to be annoying her. And Damien has no time for anyone but his company. But each time they war over their businesses, the connection between them becomes more undeniable. Soon their fiery fights in the boardroom make them wonder if the same energy would also extend to the bedroom. And when they find themselves at a conference in a hotel full of beds, those musings become all they can think about.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

Ooooh well if these characters were going to grace the silver screen then I think the chemistry between the main leads would be the most important element to cast right. Because of that, I’d give them this scene to act out.

“Good morning,” she said neutrally.
“Don’t tell me you’re heading for the corporate strategy session in the east ballroom?”
“I’m sure every executive at the conference is.”
“Were you going to save me a seat?” he teased, moving toward her in easy strides.
His all-black suit fit him like a glove, and she hated that she’d noticed. Spinning on her heel, she headed back down the hall.
“Didn’t think so,” he said, keeping easy pace by her side.
“Do you try to annoy me on purpose?”
He chuckled. “It’s just so easy.”
She shot him a glare and missed the flipped-up edge of the carpet in front of them. Her heel caught it in just the wrong way, and before she could think, the world tilted around her. Her arms pinwheeled as she tried to keep from falling, but she knew she had no chance of avoiding a tumble to the ground.
Until an arm wrapped around her waist.
Damien cursed as her momentum started to pull him down with her. In a last attempt to save them both, he swung their bodies up against the wall.
The air rushed from her lungs as she hit the side of the hall hard, Damien pressed firmly against her. One hand splayed out by her head, the other was tightly wrapped around her middle as he pulled her body to his.
She tried to catch her breath as adrenaline swept through her veins. Bit by bit it subsided, leaving her to realize her face was pressed into the hollow of his neck.
Every inch of his hard body pressed against hers, and she stood frozen in his embrace. There was no doubt in her mind he’d saved her from a scraped knee or two, but she wondered if the pain might have been worth it to escape their current predicament.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his lips a breath away from her ear.
“Yeah,” she said. “You?”
“All good.” He raised his head enough for her to look up at him.
“Do you make a habit of playing knight in shining armor?”
“Only to easily rescued damsels in distress,” he replied. “Not that I mind a bit of mockery, but gratitude is another way to go, too. Just throwing that out there.”
She swallowed hard, trying to ignore the heat from his body or the feeling of his leg pressed intimately between hers.
He wasn’t wrong.
For better or worse, he’d helped her when letting her fall at his feet would have been a far easier option.
“Thank you,” she said.
Surprise flicked in his expression.
“You could have let me fall.”
His gaze dipped to her lips before he tore his eyes away.
“No, I don’t think I could have.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
Right now, she didn’t feel like CEOs on opposite sides.
She felt…
Vulnerable.
When was the last time she’d let anyone get this close to her? The last time anyone had thrown her as off-balance as Damien could with a single look?
His eyes returned to hers, pinning her in place as surely as his body was.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. For the first time in recent memory, she had no idea what to say.
I should tell him to let me go.
Even if being in his arms made her feel alive in a way she hadn’t realized she’d been missing.
“Feel like rewarding this good deed?” he asked.
She swallowed before replying, “What did you have in mind?”
His hand left the wall to trace her jaw in a light touch. He tilted her head to the side, brushing his thumb along the smooth skin of her cheek.
“Dinner,” he said finally. “Have dinner with me.”
It didn’t seem like the laughable idea it had been the first time he’d asked her the same question.
“Why?” she asked.
His familiar grin tipped his lips. “Because you want to.”
She opened her mouth to argue when his next words cut her off.
“And because I want to.”

Readers should read this book….

If you like stories about the wrong people realizing they might be just right together. If they can only figure out a way to get there.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m currently working on two books about twin sisters who each stumble onto a problematic love while having to hide their identities.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: $10 Amazon giftcard (US)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Would you consider dating a colleague or should business and pleasure be kept separate?

 
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Excerpt from Catching the CEO:

“Cheers,” she said, not about to squabble over the free drink. The man had given her more migraines that she could count. Alcohol was the least he owed her.
“What should we toast to?” he asked.
“Taking down giants?”
“How about to friendly competition.”
“I’m not sure that word applies to us.”
“Competition?”
“Friendly.”
His smile grew as he clinked his glass to hers. “Fair enough.”
She took a small sip of her drink, closing her eyes at the smooth, dark liquor coating her tongue. She felt the tension in her shoulders ease as the fiery liquid burned down her throat.
When she opened her eyes, Damien was watching her with an inscrutable expression.
“Long day,” she said in explanation.
“I’ll drink to that.” But when he took his first sip, his gaze never left hers.
A shiver ran down her spine, one she refused to acknowledge or show.
It’s like playing with a wolf.
Beautiful, until it ripped you to shreds.
“Is this part of your plan to get back at me? Because I have to say, excellent liquor was not the way I anticipated that going.”
“Maybe I’m just warming up.”
“I’m sure your Machiavellian mind will come up with something more fitting.”
“Should I be flattered?”
She took another sip. “I might not like you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect how you run your business.”
“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
His lips twitched. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Humor bubbled within her, and she pushed it down. She couldn’t be enjoying his company.
Could she?
Don’t drop your guard. You know you can never trust him.
No, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy a few stolen moments away from reality.
“I didn’t think you’d deign to come to events like this,” she said as they enjoyed their drinks.
“Why?”
“I thought billionaires would be all about helicopter tours of the city and elite clubs the rest of us could never get into.”
“My helicopter is in the shop.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Is that the chip on your shoulder?” he asked, moving closer to be heard in the crowd. “That I have a bank account the Brookses don’t?”
“I’ve had to work for everything I’ve earned,” she replied.
“And I haven’t?”
She snorted. “No one got me into a fancy school or paid my way through life.”
“Brooks Corp isn’t exactly on the brink of bankruptcy.”
“You know what I mean.”
His eyes narrowed. “All right. I’ll double my last offer to buy you out. Right here, right now. You can take the money and pay the way of your future children. Hell, you can pay the way for anyone you damn well please if you take my check.”
The breath stilled in her lungs. The price he was talking about had enough zeros involved to make her pause.
But her father had never wanted to sell. For him, it hadn’t ever been about the money but about the science. He’d wanted to find new ways of making better medicine that could be sold more affordably. How many times had he told her everyone deserved the right to a healthy, happy life?
If she took this deal, everything he’d fought to develop, the drugs he’d brought to market, would all disappear into the conglomerate of Reid Enterprises. The good her father had tried to do would be erased in an instant.
Damien watched her like a hawk before shaking his head. “You won’t take it, will you?”
“This isn’t about money.”
“Apparently not. It might be about stubbornness, though.”
“If I was a man, you’d call me determined.”
“If you were a man, a great many things would be different between us.”
And just like that, his billions and her company became secondary to their conversation. Her fingers tightened around her glass as she refused to look away from the unreadable expression on his face.
She’d stared down her fair share of businessmen, but this felt different.
More exposing. Less predictable.
“Such as?” she dared him, lifting her chin.
A ghost of a smile touched his lips.
“Playing with fire tonight, Caitlyn?”
“I don’t run from a fight. I told you that before.”
“No,” he agreed. “It’s not in you to retreat. Even when you should.”
“Says you.”
He didn’t reply, choosing instead to swallow the last of his drink while he watched her.
She tried to ignore how her heart rate sped up under his scrutiny.
I won’t let him unsettle me.
Even if it seemed to be his favorite pastime.
Lowering his drink, he tilted his head to the side as his gaze ran over her.
“Maybe I was wrong,” he said.
“About what?” she asked, her voice sounding a little breathless to her own ears.
His eyes flicked back to hers. “Perhaps getting even isn’t what I want from you.”
The breath froze in her lungs.
“What do you want instead?” she said, forcing out the words.
He shifted, his body so close she could feel the heat from his skin. When he touched her, however, it was the lightest brush of fingers along her waist. A gossamer caress that made every nerve in her body light up.
“Risky question.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

There’s nothing quite like being trapped with the one man you can’t stand…

Caitlyn Brooks can’t believe her luck when her biggest rival turns up at an out of town conference she’s attending. CEO of the company threatening to take hers down, she wants nothing to do with Damien Reid or his billions. But the man behind the boardroom is so much more than she imagined.

Damien can barely believe it when Caitlyn shows up at the conference reception. He has no desire to spend a moment longer with the infuriating woman than he has to. Except he can’t seem to stop his eyes from following her or the unnerving need to ruffle her perfect feathers. When teasing turns to touching, he’s not sure if it’s the best or worst mistake of his life.

There’s no denying their companies are on a collision course and their hearts might not survive the fallout.
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Meet the Author:

Victoria Davies’s passion for writing started young. Luckily she had a family who encouraged believing in magic and embracing imagination. Her love of storytelling developed from stories quickly scribbled in bright pink diaries. Since then her characters may have evolved and her plots may have grown decidedly more steamy but she never lost her love of the written word. Writing is not only a way to silence the wonderful voices in her head, but it also allows her to share her passions with her readers.

Currently she writes from Toronto, Canada. While she has a healthy love for traveling and exploring the unknown, this corner of the world will always be her home.
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