Working Stiff

Casimir Secret Billionaires, Book 1

De: Blair Babylon

Narrado por: Joe Arden

Here’s the problem: When Rox was hired, she told her smoking-hot boss Cash that she was married, but she’s not.

Now, three years later, she’s kind of accidentally living with him, and he’s being a perfect gentleman, dang it.

Everybody in the office said that Cash was a heartbreaker, that he’d bump her and dump her, so Rox decided not to become a statistic. She went out and bought herself some rings of the finest cubic zirconia so that she could work with Cash, who was several inches over six feet tall, emerald-eyed, ripped, gorgeous, his tailored suit clinging to his athletic body, sporting a British accent, and loaded.

It had seemed like such a good idea at the time.

But now, three years later, she and Cash have become friends. They travel together for work often, and they’re the best of buddies. When Rox gets thrown out of her apartment, Cash insists that she come live with him until they can find her a place because that’s what friends do.

Now, even though everyone insists that Cash never goes after married women, something about him has changed. There are little touches, little slips, and Rox is more and more tempted to tell hunky, gorgeous Cash that she never was married.

And then, he’ll take her and break her, and then he’ll walk away, and then she’ll lose her job, and she still hasn’t found a place to live.

And yet, every time he looks at her with mischief in his dark green eyes, every time they’re teasing and it somehow turns into tickling, every time she swats at him and somehow ends up in his arms, she wants so much to risk everything.

What’s a working stiff to do when she falls in love with her friend, the boss?

©2016 Malachite Publishing LLC (P)2019 Malachite Publishing LLC

Casimir and Roxanne !!!!!!!! Loved it

I have read quite a few books by this author and I am going to say I think this one is my favorite so far. One thing I love is we hear of others from the previous series, which I always love when an author does that.
In this story, we have Casimir aka Cash.
Casimir lives in California and he is a lawyer in a firm that deals with high players.
Rox is his personal assistant and unlike all the other women who work there, she has no pull on Cash or at least she does not realize she does.
Cash has always had feelings for Rox but she has a wedding band on so has been off-limits. After some major thing happens, Rox ends up staying with Cas and well many things take place for these two. Of which includes a trip to Casimir's real home and a visit with his family. Rox learns many things that no one else knows about.
The story, the plot, the couple, and the narrator make this story blossom.
I loved this couple and their quirky relationship.

Just another hard working attorney & his paralegal

First let me say, Blair Babylon has a gift for creating strong sexy men with a marshmallow heart and a delicious touch of dominance in the most enjoyable way. Joe Arden did a great job of presenting so many characters, each with their own unique accents and made you believe you were in the room with them. Casimir is the Intellectual Property Attorney to the stars. Rox is the only paralegal that can work with him, because she's the only paralegal in the company that didn't drop their panties into his lap. When irregularities in a large number of client contracts approved by the other partners are discovered and Casimir and Rox start digging mayhem ensues. Facing car crashes, snipers, and firebombs they uncover a plot to bilk clients of many millions of dollars all while falling into each others arms. They can survive all of that but will Casimir's secret be more than Rox can adjust too? Come and see...

Loved it as an ebook and now as an audiobook!

I read and reviewed the ebook of Working Stiff when it was first released back in 2016. That's over 3 years, and about 800 books, ago. So, while I still remembered bits of it, I was very excited to listen to the just-released audiobook performed by Joe Arden.

This is a long audiobook, coming in at over 12 hours, and I devoured it in one day! I managed to get a bit of laundry done while I was listening to it but otherwise, I was focused totally on the wonderful sounds coming through my headphones. It's the first audiobook I've listened to by Joe Arden and now I know why he's so popular. A quick search of Audible show he has over 340 titles there!

I read over my original review and there isn't anything I'd change. I sill continue to love the books she's written and look forward to listening to more of them as audiobooks.

Below is a copy of my original review written back in May of 2016:
* * * * * * * * *

Blair Babylon has done it again! I love this book!

I’ve been in love with Blair Babylon’s books for quite a while now. Each time I read a new one, her stories continue to captivate me.

Working Stiff is the latest addition to her Billionaires in Disguise (BID) world but it’s also the start of a new series she’s titled Runaway Billionaires. This book is a standalone – no cliffhanger. Yay!! You don’t need to have read any of her other BID books to enjoy this one but you really should because they are great.

Rox doesn’t want to become another notch on her boss’s infamous belt so she tells him she’s married when he hires her.

Cash doesn’t mess with married women – ever – but being around Rox is sorely testing his resolve.

Fate throws the two of them together in more than just a day-to-day business way and the sparks fly (in more ways than one).

Blair has penned a captivating story filled with romance, mystery, intrigue and no small amount of humor. You will be more than satisfied with the conclusion of this story (there truly is no cliffhanger) but I think you will also be curious to read the upcoming stories for Cash’s friends Arthur and Maxence.

P.S. Don’t let anyone tell you romance novels are a bunch of crap written at grade school reading levels. Here are a few of the words I had to look up as I read this book:
teester
aesthete
musth


A copy of this audiobook was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author.

Steamy story

I really enjoyed this story. The narrator did a wonderful job with Cash, but the southern accent in Rox just kept throwing me off and would distract me from the story. Overall I enjoyed the story and especially Cash's friends they are very funny and intriguing. Excited to see more of Arthur and especially Max.

Brilliant Story & Narration🎧 Captivating & Hot🔥

I loved everything about this book, from Blair Babylon’s wonderful writing style to the storylines and characters she created to Joe Arden’s fabulous narration. There is a lot of story in this book, it is well written and plotted and completely engrossing. Do not let the length of the book scare you off, it goes by very quickly. The characters are complex and well developed, I adored Rox right from the start, she is likable with a great disposition and is easy to relate to. Cash, her smoking hot boss is a player and serial dater who has a reputation with the women in the office, as a love them and leave them type of guy. Rox did not want to fall in that category so she pretended to be married. She has built a good rapport with Cash, they became friends and they work well together. When he finds out she got evicted from her apartment he told her to stay with him. The two become even closer and Cash does not cross the line with married woman he find he is attracted to Rox, Rox is attracted to him but knows he only winds up dumping his woman and is afraid he will break her heart. I loved the chemistry between these two also loved how everything plays out in this book, the drama, angst, action, the great twists and surprises, the mystery and thrilling suspense, the heartfelt moments and the slow burn friends to lovers romance as well as the smoking hot sexy times. Also loved how the author kept me on my toes and had me wondering about a few things. It was great to find out more about Cash, it was great meeting his two friends and then family too. Blair Babylon, thank you for the amazing story, I hope the rest of the series comes out on Audible soon.

Joe Arden is an amazing narrator and voice artist. He performs the voices of all the characters, giving each their own unique sound and personality. He does a great job with the different accents too. You could hear how much heart he puts into his work as he projects the characters emotions and passion into his performance. He is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for another fabulous listen🎧

Working Stiff

This is my first book by this author but definitely not the last. Casimir (Cash) is a LA lawyer who is really a Dutch prince but no one knows it and he is notoriously the man who sleeps with all the women and then ghosts them but there are no hurt feelings (go figure). Rox is his paralegal and she is warned on her first day about him and she immediately sets herself up as the "married" coworker so he will not hit on her and she will always be the one to be able to work with him. Little does she know but he has been crushing on her for three years even though she is "married" and when she unexpectedly becomes homeless due to her cats he insists she come stay with him. After a car accident, which she witnesses, she turns into his nurse and protector. Let me say, these two are special and working together and developing not only a friendship but solid feelings before moving on them worked for them. We are left with the mystery of who was trying to kill Casimir but no worries I thoroughly enjoyed this one and recommend it.

Brilliant action story with a twist

I read Cash and Rox’s wild ride years ago, but with audiobook just coming out I had to listen to Joe Arden bring it to life!
Wow (fans self!)!
That was even more intense and steamy than I remember! I want to live in Blair’s world! The mind games, the running, the legalese.. I’m not telling you what to do but plan for the 12 hour commitment or people will ask where you have been!

So loved it!!

It’s so much fun listening to a story you’ve read.

Awesome! I love Casimir, Andrew & Maxence. Fabulous names for magnificent men! and Rox! She is a spitfire who won't up up with any crap from anyone.

It is amazing the lengths people will go to protect themselves, especially if they've been hurt by someone before.

This story pretty much has it all....mystery, hunks and amazing women.

Blair has created a great bunch of characters and I enjoyed Working Stiff immensely. The door is wide open for the rest of the series - I am so looking forward to it.

Great story, great narration

Blair Babylon is a new author to me and I have no idea why that is although I have listened to several books by the narrator Joe Arden.

Working Stiff is a hot, steamy and spicy book which I listened to in two sessions. I was totally invested in the story and had a hard time putting it away.

Cash is certainly swoon worthy and I loved the friendship between him and Rox. There is only one type of woman he will not touch and that is a married one.

Having heard the rumours of his love them and leave them attitude, Rox decides to put up a barrier between them by pretending to be married. As his para-legal she has seen the number of women Cash has gone through.

I enjoyed Joe Arden’s narration which was entertaining as he used a variety of voices which were distinctive for each character. He really added another layer to my listening pleasure.

Complications arise when Rox suddenly finds herself in need of a place to stay and Cash offers up his home.

Temptation will test both Cash and Rox’s resolve and it certainly led to some fun times. This book was well written, witty, romantic, suspenseful as well as intriguing and all in all a great book to listen to.

Although my first book by Blair Babylon it will by no means be my last.


















 

A great story

This is the first book that I have listened to by this author but I am a huge fan of Joe Arden’s narration so I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy it.
This story ended up having so many layers to it that I was completely caught up in it and trying to figure out the secrets behind the characters. If you are on the fence about this book I would highly recommend it.