Behaving Badly

Delaney Pierce is desperate, no, determined, to rebuild the family business, Manners Matter, after the disaster her own mother brought down on it, and her, a year ago.  With two crazy aunts living life moving from one misadventure to the next and her younger sister waitressing to help make ends meet because Manners isn't bringing in enough money to sustain them, she pins her hopes on her commission to curb the undesirable habits of Cyrus Chapman, one of New York's premier businessmen and one of the city's most eligible bachelors.

            Cyrus Chapman is less than thrilled to find out his father hired a life coach (whatever the hell a life coach does) of all things to help him cease the behaviors his father finds unfavorable rather than just discussing the manner with him.  He’s not really surprised by his father’s heavy handedness, however he isn’t about to comply that easily.  But when his father threatens him with his future position as CEO of Chapman Industries, Cyrus has little choice but to agree to the farce.  At least, until he can come up with an alternative.

            Delaney’s resolve to succeed with Cyrus is immediately put to the test during her very first meeting with him and she realizes that no matter how much she prepared for all that was Cyrus, it all paled in comparison to the real man.  She believes they come to an understanding, even going so far as to agree to act like his girlfriend to hide their arrangement from the press.  But when her reputation, along her mother’s antics, get rehashed and dragged through the mud by the press less than twenty-four hours after being hired because of Cyrus’s actions, she’s rethinking her ability to handle the situation.

            When his new life coach aptly puts him in his place, Cyrus finds himself in the unfamiliar position of feeling guilty.  And intrigued.  Before long, he also finds himself in the unaccustomed position of fighting for more than just a professional relationship with Delaney while she tries to keep him at arm’s length.

            But Delaney can’t entertain the idea of having more than a professional relationship with Cyrus.  After all, that’s something her mother would do and she’s not about to start emulating that woman now.  However, fighting her attraction to Cyrus becomes harder and harder the more she’s around him and she finds herself wondering if she’s become so wrapped up in trying not to be her mother that she’s forgotten to just to be herself.