Beauty and the Boss (Modern Fairytales) Read Online Free PDF Page A

of water for the first time.
    His mother spluttered. “How dare you—”
    “I’m your son’s fiancée,” she blurted out. “We were together before I joined the company. That’s why he can’t date other women, why he didn’t show up last night. And it makes all of your threats empty ones, too. You can’t fire me. So–yeah. He already wins, because he has me .”
    Mrs. Gale’s jaw dropped. Finally the woman shut up.
    But as quickly as her uncharacteristic impulsiveness had come into play, Maggie’s common sense came right back. She’d literally just announced, without her boss’s permission, that she was engaged to him. If he denied it in front of his mother, she would not only be fired, but everyone would hear about her shame, and no one would hire her.
    New York might be a huge city, but the pharmaceutical research field was not .
    And all of this had happened because she had a stupid soft spot for creatures who needed help. Her boss, with billions in his bank account, shouldn’t fit into that category, but yet he somehow did .
    Mr. Gale, who probably wanted to strangle her, choked and dragged his hands down his face. “Maggie, you don’t—”
    “It’s okay. I told you I didn’t want to announce it yet, but I’m ready.” She forced a smile. His mouth opened, closed, then pressed into a thin line. “We can tell the whole world how much we love each other if you want…Benjamin.”
    He made a strangled sound and tugged on his tie. He seemed more shocked than anything, but he had to be angry underneath that cold exterior of his. “Love—?”
    She cast a quick glance at Mrs. Gale, who was starting to turn blue from lack of oxygen, before turning back to her boss. Not giving him a chance to ruin the ruse she’d thrown together, she launched herself into his arms and kissed him, right in his office in front of his mother.
    The second their mouths touched, it was as if she’d woken up from a long, deep sleep. This wasn’t a kiss—not really—and she was fully aware of that.
    But her body didn’t get the message.
    His mouth softened under hers, and after a moment of sheer awkwardness, he closed his arms around her and hauled her against his chest. Though she’d initiated the kiss, it didn’t take long for him to show her who was in charge of it. A small shift of his chin, and he was the kisser instead of the kissed .
    He turned her slightly, facing away from his mother, and ran his tongue against the seam of her sealed lips. She gasped, shocked he’d actually gone there , and he took full advantage of the situation. He tasted like wine and something else she couldn’t place, and that was about as far as she got before she couldn’t think of anything except his lips on hers, his tongue against hers. She curled her hands into his shirt, and a small moan escaped her. She jumped at the sound, jerking back and covering her mouth in surprise.
    Mr. Gale stared down at her, breathing heavily, his focus clearly on her mouth. It did weird things to her insides—things that made her want to launch herself back into his arms, only for real this time, and take that kiss a step further.
    Like, stepping right into his bed.
    She lifted her face, going for another taste. His eyes darkened, and a sexy growl escaped him, so quiet she might have imagined it. He fisted her shirt at the small of her back and closed the distance between them. She sucked in a breath.
    If she didn’t, she might pass out.
    “ Enough ,” Mrs. Gale shouted, forcibly jerking Maggie out of her lust-hazed tunnel vision. “If you think I’ll buy this…this… indecent sham as something real, you’re even less fit as the head of this company than I suspected.”
    Mr. Gale—God, she didn’t even call him by his first name in her mind and she’d just kissed him—turned to his mother. Instead of letting her go like she’d expected, he tightened his grasp on her waist and kept her tucked against his side. “There’s nothing indecent