The Pleasure's All Mine Read Online Free PDF Page B

the most. Only lately had Pierce realized that Sim had only brought him back to MEG so that someone else would bear the blame when MEG failed. Pierce was trying to put things in place so that wouldn’t happen. Failure would mean over two hundred people would lose their jobs.
    “Keep an eye on VIP,” he said to Steve. “Actually, just have that area curtained off so none of the other guests see what’s going on.”
    “I’m on it.”
    Pierce smoothly made his way through the crowd, searching for the woman who had, it seemed, appeared out of nowhere.
    The navy blue chaise was still there.
    Raven Armand was not.

Four
     
    Two days later, Raven curled up on her sofa and tried to focus on writing. Her rhythm had been off since she came back from New York. A call came through on her 800 number and since she needed a break, she answered on the third ring instead of letting it roll through to her assistant.
    “Why did you run away?” The husky voice on the other end of the line brought her up short. She would never forget that voice for as long as she lived. “I was tired of waiting,” she answered.
    “I wasn’t gone that long, so come again.”
    “How did you find me, Pierce?” she whispered, putting her tablet on the cushion right next to her.
    “Did you think I couldn’t? Raven Armand, national bestselling author? You’re all over the place. I still have your tablet and I promised to give it back to you. So why don’t we start with dinner?”
    Raven swallowed hard. His voice was just as sexy as she remembered and it had triggered every fantasy that had filled her lonely nights. They had caused enough heat to melt the North Pole and a few other places. Why him? Why now? Her career was in full swing—a relationship was totally out of the question.
    She had witnessed firsthand how a man had come and dismantled her once happy home. And she swore it would never happen to her.

    ❤ ❤ ❤

    Raven had never wanted her son to experience what she had as a child—to be stigmatized and teased for his parents’ choices. She had chosen a pen name to protect him from backlash at school. Erotica had been all the rage, but parents might not have found it so chic when the son of a woman who wrote all those “freaky books” began dating their daughters.
    She didn’t believed the dynamics of her family household were that much different from anyone else’s until she’d overheard suspicions in snippets of conversation between her neighbors, and accusations hurled during arguments between her parents, James and Jaylon. All because James was furious that his wife preferred a woman lover over him.
    Anita and Jaylon’s relationship had started out as just another innocent workplace friendship, but had quickly developed into a romantic liaison. After much fighting, Raven’s parents separated, and Anita and her daughter Lorrie moved in with Jaylon, Raven, her brother Andrew, and older sister Janetta.
    Observing their relationship and roles, Raven learned what it meant to be feminine and a breadwinner from Jaylon, and from Anita, she discovered how a woman could have masculine traits, yet stay at home to raise the kids, cook, and take care of the household. Add to the equation four children who were expected to pull their weight in chores, and it should have been a recipe for a successful relationship and a happy family. But one bad ingredient—specifically, Raven’s father—turned the situation into a disastrous mess.
    Things came to a vicious head one afternoon when James Ripley was over for a visit. Several previous appearances had allowed Raven to figure out his routine—he would come to the house, reach for Drew and Janetta, and hug them, yet completely ignore Raven. Presents, clothes, money, and toys abounded for her brother, sister, and even Lorrie; but nothing—at no time—was ever bestowed upon Raven.
    One particular day, Raven’s mother called James out on his actions. “Why are you mistreating your youngest