At His Mercy Read Online Free PDF

such a totally devastating threat to everything she cared about. It took her a few seconds to summon the strength to untangle her gaze from his, but she did. Went back to staring down at the countertop. And her thoughts took a swerve back in the right direction — toward the important stuff.
    If only there w as a simple answer. But if life had taught her anything, it had taught her that simple answers usually led to lots of complications in the future.
    There was a loooong stretch of uncomfortable silence. Finally, Kyler said, “Okay, this is the deal. You’re going to … ” He sighed. “Dammit.”
    She looked at him. He was obviously struggling with this, and for that she felt sorry for him. Here he was, trying to deal with an asshole, while doing his best to keep her out of things. He was a nice guy. A nice guy who didn’t deserve the shit he’d been dished.
    Life was so unfair sometimes.
    She’d lost the bet. He’d won. Fairly and squarely. But that didn’t stop her from wanting him to tell her to just leave, go to work, do what she’d planned, and he’d deal with the fallout when the time came.
    The insane part of her didn’t want to go anywhere.
    He sighed for the bazillionth time. “You’re going to stay here, and I’m going to handle whatever happens.”
    She wanted to believe he could do just that — take care of everything. Make all her problems go away. Just like she wanted to believe he wouldn’t totally freak out if she told him exactly what dirt Becker had on her.
    Maybe he’d believe it was a lie? Made up?
    No, probably not.
    She sh ould just come clean. After all, he was bound to learn the truth soon enough. All the board members and v ice p residents would know by lunchtime Monday. Wouldn’t it be better to tell him now? Prepare him?
    Oh God, she felt sick. She swiveled the stool, facing him. Took several deep breaths. Then a few more. “Okay. I’ll tell you.”
    “Okay. Good.” He didn’t smile. He just sat there, looking at her expectantly , patiently waiting for her to untie the knot from her tongue.
    God, this was hard. Where to start? She couldn’t look at him as she spoke. “This goes back a few years. My parents died. It was one of those freakish things that never should’ve happened but did.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    She believed him. “Thanks.” Still not sure she could do this, actually confess to a crime that might land her in jail for years, she took a few more deep breaths. “ This is hard to talk about. I haven’t told anyone, since what I did was against the law. But, well… I didn’t have any choice. My brother and I were sent to live with an older cousin and well … she … something happened to her too … and I knew my brother would end up getting sent —”
    The phone rang, interrupting the explanation she was trying so hard to get out. She was both glad and annoyed.
    Kyler glanced at the caller ID screen on the phone’s back. “Shit. I need to take this. Hang on.”
    He hit the button. “Hey. Give me a second,” he said to the caller. To Elena, he said, “I’ll be back in a minute.” Then he left the room.
    Oh. My. God. What am I thinking?
    She had just about told Kyler her darkest secret , a man she was not only really attracted to but also a vice president at her work. Had she lost her mind? She wasn’t telling him another word. She’d nearly made one of the biggest mistakes of her life.
    Saved by the phone.
    She needed to get out of there, before she did something she’d really regret.
    She hurried upstairs to her room, found her purse , dug out her cell phone , and flipped it open. Two bars. She hoped she had enough battery power to talk her prying best friend into driving over here to pick her up . Quickly, she scrolled down to Ashley’s phone number and hit send.
    But just as Ashley answered, there was a loud knock at the door, and then it swung open and Kyler barged into the room, looking like a bull seeing red.
    Shit. What now?
    She