Tempting The Boss Read Online Free PDF

about my family?”
    “Ummm….” he murmured. “Not much.”” He had a feeling he’d know a lot more if he read any of the magazines with paparazzi photos of her on the cover, but he’d never actually picked one up. “I know your grandfather started a hardware store in North Carolina and now you’re running things.”
    She ran a pen between her fingers. “There’s a bit more to it than that.” Gordon and she exchanged a look. The older man appeared to be warning her silently about something, but Victoria turned back to Dean. “Whatever we discuss in this room stays between us, do you understand?”
    “Of course,” he said.
    She raised a brow. “No. Not just ‘of course.’ If you betray the trust I’m about to put in you, I will ruin your business, your reputation, and anything else important to you.”
    Dean squared his shoulders, facing the reminder that this wasn’t a normal business meeting. He was on the losing end of the balance of power. But he wasn’t lying. Who would he tell her secrets to anyway? “I understand,” he snapped.
    “My father had a massive heart attack last week.”
    He blinked a few times. He didn’t know what he expected her to say, but it sure wasn’t that.
    She continued, “He’s been in a medically-induced coma ever since and the prognosis isn’t good.”
    “I’m sorry,” said Dean softly.
    Victoria’s face was hard, no trace of emotion showing. She was stating facts the same way some people read the financial statements. “There’s more. My brother, Terry, ran the company before me. To be frank, he almost ran Green & Sons into bankruptcy. I have been able to turn things around, but I’ve heard that Terry is back. I don’t know what my father’s will says, and there’s a very real chance all the stock is going to Terry, and I’ll be kicked out.”
    She took a deep breath. Even though her face was expressionless, it did seem to stress her out that her family was falling apart. “So I need you to understand that I’m in a very delicate situation. If he contests the will, he’s going to try to prove that I’m not good for the company. At the end of the day, my number-one priority is keeping up my image. Personally and professionally. I can’t give the press or Terry any reason to think I’m in trouble. Do you understand?”
    Dean leaned back in his chair. “You didn’t bring me here to give my statement. You brought me here to make sure I wouldn’t talk.””
    She looked to the head of security sitting next to her. “Gordon, can you give us a moment?”
    The man obediently nodded and stood up, his back ramrod straight as he turned and left the room.
    Victoria shuffled in her seat and crossed her legs. “I’m laying everything on the table here. You have done me a favor already, and I want to help you out. I was going to offer to help your sister, Katy, get into any school she wants to, but I looked her up and apparently she doesn’’t need any help.”
    Dean faced a mixture of pride that Victoria Green just acknowledged Katy’s amazing grades and unease that she’d done that thorough of a search on him.
    Victoria leaned forward and rested on her elbows. “So I want you to tell me what I can do to repay you. I can pay off your truck. Guarantee Katy a job here as long as I’m in charge. I want you to tell me what I can do to make your life easier.”
    Dean rubbed his tired eyes, still trying to recover from the insufficient sleep he’d gotten over the weekend. “So…what? If I agree to keep what happened this weekend quiet, you’’re giving me a blank check?”
    Her blue eyes regarded him. “Maybe not a blank check. But I want you to understand that I’m grateful.”
    “So I take your money, and that’s it? You go on trying to keep your empire, and I never mention a word of this to anyone and we never see each other again?”
    “It almost sounds dirty like that. I might use Grace again for more events, so we might end up running in the