Laid and Leveraged Read Online Free PDF Page A

shirt. His heart pounded wildly against her. She let herself drift into lazy contentment. Roger pressed an intimate kiss against her throat before lifting his lips to her ear. When he spoke, his breath was like a warm, smoky breeze that penetrated her foggy mind.
    “ You're still fired, ” he said.

Chapter 5.
    Michelle went to the freezer and opened another pint of double fudge, cookie dough ice cream. Not bothering with a bowl, she stabbed her spoon directly into the container. Brisket purred, circling his lithe body around the hem of her pajama pants. She glanced at the clock and groaned. Two in the afternoon and she hadn't even bothered to shower. She made her way to the living room with Brisket following and flopped down on the shabby sofa.
    For the majority of her adult life, Michelle had put all of her energy into Today's Energy now she had no energy and nothing to show for it. She looked around at her tiny, shabby apartment. Even though she'd been CEO, Michelle had never made the kind of profits to allow her to live the luxurious life that Roger had. And when the company did profit enough, Michelle would dump the money back into the business, giving employees better benefits or taking on new ventures. She had been thinking so much in the long term that she neglected to take care of the short term.
    Michelle collapsed into a heap, clutching the melting ice cream to her breast and sobbed into the worn couch cushion. Brisket, bless his soul, didn't care how successful she was. He nuzzled her feet, curling up by her legs.
    She cried long and hard. She had so much to let out. She'd failed her company, nearly ran it into the ground. Roger had been right, but she refused to listen to him, and now she'd lost him too. If only she had obeyed him like he wanted. She'd still have her job and maybe she'd still have Roger too.
    Hiccuping, she stuffed another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. God she missed Roger. She missed his smell, his touch. She'd give just about anything to hear the sound of his voice again. She stared at her phone on the coffee table. It lay relatively untouched for the past three days. As it turned out, now that she didn't have a job, no one bothered to call her. She'd neglected her friends over the years to put her company first and now she had nothing.
    A new thought crossed her mind. She could call Roger. But if she did that, she'd have to swallow her pride first. Michelle jammed her spoon back into the pint and dug out a thick piece of cookie dough from its melting prison.
    Could she really do that? Could she really call Roger up and beg for her job back? Beg for him back? She still didn't think he was right, at least not about everything. Okay, she could see how outsourcing the solar panels to the Germans might be a good idea – for now, anyway – at least until Today's Energy was big enough to churn out enough demand to justify the expenditure. But she still didn't want to cut back on her staff and the benefits packages she so proudly offered.
    She set the ice cream down and picked up the phone. She scrolled down until she located Roger's number and hesitated. The thought of sleeping with Roger again made her heart rate go through the roof. Did he miss her? Did he have any regrets about firing her? Finally she couldn't take it anymore and pressed 'send'.
    It rang and rang and just when Michelle thought she'd get his voicemail, Roger picked up.
    “ What? ” he snapped.
    She felt a pang of disappointment by the lack of welcoming fanfare. But she trudged forward, anyway.
    “ Roger, ” she choked, her mouth sore from the excess sugar. “ I want my job back. ”
    “ I guess you should have thought of that when you had the chance. ” He told her firmly. “ Now if you don't mind, I have important things to take care of. ”
    “ Wait! ” she cried out. “ Please. ”
    She felt, rather than heard, him hesitate. Of course that was what he wanted! He wanted her to grovel. Once she said please,