Need You Now (1001 Dark Nights) Read Online Free PDF Page A

best, and I call him on his threat, unwilling to play a game or remain here, a prisoner of a stupid mistake. “Officially?” I prod, daring him to speak up and tell all.
    His eyes light with a tiny hint of amusement that is still somehow cold, where he’d been downright hot last night. “Meredith’s been telling me all about you the past hour.”
    I narrow my eyes on him. “And why, exactly, is that?”
    Meredith is quick to answer. “Jensen needs you to acquaint him with the staff and the properties.”
    My gaze jerks to hers, my lips parted in silent shock. “Me? Why me?”
    “You know the staff intimately,” she says. “They trust you and so do I.”
    “Here at the corporate office but not at the other locations,” I argue, and even now, in this crazy situation, it’s impossible not to be flattered by her rare compliment. “We have a regional manager. She can—”
    “She can’t know what’s happening,” Meredith states. “No one can but you.”
    I look between the two of them, and I can’t help but wonder about Jensen’s motives, both last night and now, which is why I focus on Meredith. And isn’t she giving him the ammunition to take over in a literal way? She’s preparing him to step into her shoes. “Meredith,” I begin. “Can we have a word in private, please?”
    “He doesn’t have time to step into my shoes,” she says, “if that’s what you’re worried about. He’s the CEO of Gester’s Golf Club and Resorts based here in the city, which he took over from my brother when he had a stroke five years ago. Today it’s fifty units strong and profitable, with an international expansion in play. That’s what I want for us here and as long as the family fights me, I can’t get us there. I want Jensen to take a consulting role and help negotiate with the family on our behalf. I need you to work with him for the next few weeks.” She stands up. “He’ll be working from the corner office.” The phone rings and she grabs it. My eyes meet Jensen’s, his gaze piercing and intense, his emotions as hidden as his agenda, and my mind spins, tangled in a spider web of options for my next move. Or worse, I’m tangled in his web and last night was no accident, but I can’t assume his intentions. Part of me wants to retreat, to resign and leave, but somehow I ground myself in logic. This could all be a bad coincidence. I need this job too much to simply write it off.
    Meredith ends her call. “There’s a package up front for me from the board. Can you go get that for me please, Danny?”
    “Of course,” I say.
    “Why don’t you walk me to my office before you go?” Jensen suggests.
    Blood rushes in my ears. I have no idea what his intentions are. We had a one-night stand that wasn’t even fully realized, but I need to know if it was a mistake or him being manipulative. And I need to know now. “Of course,” I say, quickly checking in with Meredith. “Do you need anything before I leave.”
    She presses her fingers to her temples. “Just give Jensen whatever he needs.”
    My cheeks heat instantly and the air spikes with the implications of her words she can’t possibly understand. “I’ll show him his office,” I reply, and I have no option but to look at him. “Is now a good time?”
    His eyes darken and give a little twist. “Now would be exactly the right time.”
    I inhale at the way his words run through me like a jagged-edged rock scraping the bottom of a river bottom running out of control. Like I’m out of control. “Right this way then,” I say, rotating on my heels and marching for the doorway in a slow, steady pace that defies how much I want to dart out of the room. But I won’t let this man see me rattled and I’m good at putting on a mask of calm and cool, no matter how much I feel I am drowning. My mother taught me that with the collage of men and madness that had decorated my teen years.
    Stepping into the hallway, I turn, shocked to find him nearly on top