Page 33 of Indecent Secrets

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Any particular reason you just forwarded me someone’s resume? I texted Leigh.

I was stuck in this boring meeting with the board again, recording it secretly on my phone so that Jack could listen to all of it later. I’d opened my emails on my phone to check, and saw that Leigh had forwarded me someone’s resume.

The person seemed fairly qualified for a position as a personal assistant or minor administrative position. Bill—currently working as our receptionist, according to the resume. But that didn’t explain why Leigh would send this to me. She didn’t actually think I should promote this guy to an executive position, did she?

I received a reply almost immediately. You need a new secretary.

Why do I need a new secretary?

Because Rebecca has a crush on you and that will only lead to trouble. Put her in a junior executive position and have her oversee whichever of the employee projects you want to go with. You want her feelings to ensure loyalty, not cause awkwardness.

If Leigh had noticed that Rebecca was attracted to me, then I was sure others had as well. There was no way I wanted Jack’s reputation damaged because I was too charismatic for my own good. I appreciated Leigh’s suggestion.

Although, I couldn’t help but wonder…

So you’re not jealous and replacing her so she’s out of the way, hmm?

I received a reply a minute later: Why would I bother being jealous?

She had a point. Leigh was gorgeous, sexy, and confident. Between her and Rebecca—at least in my opinion with my personal tastes—it was no contest. Leigh had no reason whatsoever to be jealous of Rebecca. Besides, I wasn’t going to sleep with my secretary.

But weirdly, there was a part of me that wanted her to care enough to be jealous. Because I’d be jealous if—

Okay, no, that was dangerous territory. I definitely didn’t care if other men wanted Leigh, or if Leigh wanted other men. She was just another fling at the end of the day. A smoking hot and witty fling who was actually educated, someone I could hold a conversation with, but she wasn’t special.

All right, yes, she was special. She could keep up with me. She was funny and educated. She was exactly what I wanted in bed and was submissive, eager, and up for anything. She let me collar her and toy with her.

That didn’t mean that I was going to let myself feel anything for her beyond attraction. Especially not any kind of jealousy. Leigh wasn’t mine and I shouldn’t want her to be. I just had to keep reminding myself of that. I hadn’t been tempted by any of the other women I’d had affairs with over the years, why should Leigh be any different?

The meeting wrapped up and I took the opportunity to grab David Weston, the company lawyer. “Hey, David, I was hoping that I could get some advice from you on what to do with my uncle’s estate? The personal things, I mean. I don’t necessarily want to keep them.”

“Sure thing, I can set you up with something,” he said enthusiastically. “Why don’t we grab dinner?”

“Ah, I don’t want to bother you. I heard that you’re having dinner with your old man…”

“No, no, Dad would love for you to join,” he insisted.

I was sure the older Weston would fucking hate me joining, but tough cookies for him. He could use it as an excuse to try and get me to do what he wanted, and I was happy to let him do it while I tried to get information out of him about his movements and knowledge on Lawton’s house and habits.

My research and questioning had shown that out of all the board members, Weston was the most vocal against Lawton’s decisions, but he was also the one who’d known Lawton the longest and was said to spend a ton of time with him. If anyone would have the opportunity to move the guy’s pills out of reach, it would be Weston.

Luckily, his son David seemed to like me and was cheerful enough, so he could be a good buffer at dinner tonight. I was tempted to call Leigh in and have her be my date to provide a distraction if that was needed.

“Well, if you’re sure,” I said, smiling, “then I’d love to join the two of you.”

“Great.” David clapped me on the shoulder. “I’ll text you details.”

My phone chimed, as if on cue, and I pulled it out to see what I had—but it wasn’t another email from Jack or a text from Leigh. It was a report from my tech guys into people’s backgrounds like I had requested.

I headed into an empty office—not mine, since Leigh might be there—and pulled the report up on my phone. It looked like all of the employees were aboveboard, although the executives had various shady business practices relating to the Lawton company tendency to swoop in and destroy local forest as well as local businesses. Christ, what a mess. It was all technically legal, though, so really not my jurisdiction…

But then I got to the bottom and I saw Leigh.

I frowned. The note from our team was pretty straightforward and didn’t leave room for error.

When we conducted our background check, we found a lot for her but nothing like what you said she did. She’s an activist for the environment who has led multiple walkouts, protests, and grassroots movements. She’s the producer behind a YouTube channel that showcases local businesses advocating for better environmental practices and she works with a lot of other people—maybe that’s how she slipped under your radar? She doesn’t like to be the ‘face’ of the movement and boosts other people especially local businesses, family-owned places, again see attachment…

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