Billionaire's Pet 3 Read Online Free PDF Page B

before the elevator doors opened onto the third floor. An amiable young man greeted her in the entry room.
    The entire floor looked to be under construction — dusty and wrapped in plastic.
    Seeing that she had no coat to hang, he walked her through one open room to deposit her in another. Several eight-foot folding tables had been arranged in the center of the room, blue lines showing different office arrangements covering every last inch of their surface.
    “Someone will be with you momentarily.” He smiled and left.
    Watching him disappear into the next room, she thought one last time how he looked like some smooth-faced Harvard freshman or first year B-school undergrad at UC finishing up a summer internship. He certainly looked out of place for a charity organization — the suit was too nice, the cuff links real gold and his hair cut probably cost more than a month of her groceries.
    Dismissing her suspicions as pre-interview tension, she studied the blue lines in front of her. The director’s office was clearly marked on each drawing — the potential office size varying from a sensible ten-by-ten space to a huge corner office. She frowned, more tension knotting in her stomach. She wouldn’t want to work for the director that picked the corner office, would consider all but the smallest office wasteful of space that could be occupied by volunteers.
    “Which one suits you, Kate?”
    Hearing the familiar voice, her body swayed forward at the same time her stomach did a back flip and her legs threatened to fold. She inventoried her body’s response, wondering if she had expected, deep down, for this to be another of Montgomery’s games. Had she intentionally sabotaged herself by coming?
    “I figured you would prefer the ten-by-ten office.” He came to a stop a few feet behind her and slightly to the right, judging from the direction of his voice.
    “But my appraisal of you has been consistently off, so I had several plans drawn up.”
    Appraisal. He was doing it again, reducing her to dollars and cents. She turned, trying not to see anything more than the blur of whichever designer silk suit he was wearing as she stormed from the office. She saw jeans instead, a charcoal gray sweater, and the arm extending to slow or stop her retreat.
    “You were too fragile for us to have this discussion last time, Katelyn.” His hand pressed lightly against her hip, the briefest contact enough to freeze her in place. “You’re not fragile now.”
    She glared at him, hoping the truth stayed hidden behind the ice of her gaze.
    She was fragile as hell. A month’s worth of dreams had eroded her anger, fueled her lust, deepened her heartbreak. His ruse to lure her to the office also dashed her last hope at a job in her field. One last rent check stood between her and applications for anything she could possibly get.
    In control, Griffin turned her back to the desk. In the center of all the blue lines, a stack of papers rested face down. He flipped them over.
    “These are foundation documents and a three-year endowment naming you as director. In addition to this floor of the building and its furnishings, the initial endowment provides ten million dollars in funding.”
    Ice water trickled down her back. “And just what do you expect me to do for all this?”
    “Run the damn thing, Kate.” Griffin stepped closer, his body heat filling the thin cushion of air between them. Other than the gentle force of his fingertips against her hip, he wasn’t touching her — not yet. “Whatever cause, whatever staff you want.”
    “Think about it.” He closed that last little gap of space between them. “All of those good people you know who are out of work because of someone else’s scandal. You can give them their careers back—”
    “Right,” she bit out, spinning to face him. “Give it back so I can yank it away by having them work for a director who
    “
    She couldn’t finish, couldn’t admit what she had become in signing