Dream Nights With the CEO Read Online Free PDF Page A

a soothing motion. “He’s not talking about you.” Then she picked up the business card and pressed it into the woman’s hand. “As he said: you’re under water here. Or nearly there. What would it hurt you to listen?”
    Wyatt abruptly straightened, his body tightening into alarm. “Listen? No.”
    Both women—and the entire room of customers—turned to stare at him. He cursed inwardly, silently considering his options. He could coddle the woman, soft pedal her problems, and walk away. But that would only give her a false sense of security. She’d end up sinking her last dime into this place, only facing the truth when it was too late for him to help. He’d learned the hard way that the best choice was to hit people with the brutal truth. Better to be blunt and without emotion; it was the quickest way through her resistance.
    “I’m not handing out free restructuring advice. That takes too much time to plan out. You want a partner? You call me. You won’t like the terms of the deal, but there’s enough here that I’m willing to think about it. To give you a chance of making this place work . But I’m not putting my time into this without a deal in place. There are too many other, better properties.”
    Bethany glared at him, as he knew she would. “That’s not how a partnership works, Mr. Monroe.”
    “It’s exactly how a partnership works, Miss Clark. You’re confusing it with a friendship, which is usually some version of a fifty/fifty exchange. You’re under water. I’m not. If you want rescue, you’re going to have to pay for it. Rather painfully, I’m afraid.”
    “You’re a jerk,” Bethany shot back.
    He shrugged, not denying it. In truth, he’d been accused of much worse.
    Meanwhile, Megan was proving herself invaluable again. She gave the woman an apologetic smile. “He’s brutally honest. It’s irritating as hell, but it’s usually exactly what you need to hear.”
    Miss Clark’s eyes narrowed and her gaze hopped between the two of them. Then she lifted her chin and looked hard at Megan. “What brutally honest, asshole thing did he say to you? It had to be good to get you to defend him like this.”
    Megan froze, and then her expression shifted into something he’d never seen before. Part wistful, part embarrassed, and wholly bizarre. He’d never seen it on her face and he wasn’t at all sure he’d interpreted it correctly.
    “It was horrible,” Megan finally choked out. “But I needed to hear it.” Then she abruptly straightened. “Give it some time. Then, when you’re ready, call him.”
    Bethany didn’t respond. Instead, she pulled out her waitress pad and slapped down their bill. Then she walked away. So…not a “yes,” but not a “no,” either.
    Meanwhile, Megan slumped back in her seat as she toyed absently with the wrapping on her muffin. She didn’t look at him.
    What the hell had he ever said to her?
    …
    Megan stared out the window of her bland room in the Effingham B&B. Her fingers itched for some quiet busywork. Anything that would keep her away from the internet. At home she had a corner for her beading hobby, but none of that could be brought along on these business trips. Which was a shame, especially as she’d just had three more emails from her mother. The first had been an article about career women who delayed starting families then ended up regretting their choice. The other two had been insulted diatribes questioning why Megan hadn’t answered her phone calls throughout the day.
    Apparently, her mother didn’t understand the words “business trip.” Megan spent nearly every second with Wyatt on these jaunts, and she’d be damned if she let him hear her get raked over the coals by her mother while they drove from Cherry Moon to Effingham. And she certainly had no interest in talking about her mother’s bunions while sitting less than two feet away from her boss.
    So she’d ignored her mother and now she guiltily deleted the emails.