Page 16 of Bossy Trouble

She may not have known it at the time, but that was likely a test from Red. He wanted to see how much he could do that would go unnoticed, how much he could get away with.

There were likely signs of his crime before he even committed it, and she missed all of it.

It wasn’t because she was stupid.

But I knew Georgia. She was someone who often had more heart than sense, and that made for a bad CEO. And if she were to get her company back, I didn’t trust that she wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

I had to find out more information.

“How many employees do you have?” I asked.

“Full-time? About a dozen. And then a few contractors. We’re a small operation.”

“What benefits do you offer them?”

“The usual. Health and dental and paid time off when notice is given in advance,” she listed. “Although, if they really need it, they can usually call in, and I’ll give them the day off. Like if it’s an emergency or something.”

Yes. Definitely too soft.

But then, suddenly, another idea occurred to me, one that I nearly smacked myself for not thinking about before.

Why didn’t I kill two birds with one stone?

I needed to get Lupin off my back, and here she was, offering me a way to do just that. A distraction disguised as a motive for my increased sociability with the extremely rich. It made sense for me to be looking into investors if I was going to invest in a range of small businesses and turn them into multinational successes. It was, after all, one of the things Dresden Inc. did well. Despite being primarily a telecom company, a significant portion of our income came from investing in other businesses and growing them. Or just buying them off.

I could do that for her. For both of us.

But I didn’t think Georgia would necessarily agree with my methods.

“Fine,” I said, smiling. “I’ll help you.”

7

GEORGIA

Iblinked, unable the believe the words that just came out of his mouth.

“Seriously?”

Instead of answering, Donovan flipped one of the papers in the folder, turning it over and looking at the back.

“These numbers are pretty good,” he said.

“Thank you,” I responded, still in a daze.Did he just say he was going to help us?I knew my pitch had been solid. I’d organized it myself and rehearsed enough times to have the technique down pat. Plus, I had pretty good visuals on the graphs and everything, and I knew our profit margins would make a smart investor drool.

Still, a part of me never expected he would say yes.

So I needed to confirm. “Sorry, did you just say that you’ll loan us the money?”

“Yes,” he answered simply, and that was enough to send me soaring through the roof. Before I knew it, I whooped and leaped into his arms at the same time, hugging him with all the happiness and relief flowing through me.

“Oh my God! Thank you, thank you! Thank you, Donnie! You won’t regret this, I promise!”

“You’re not supposed to call me that,” he scolded, but I could hear the smile in his voice when he said it. I also felt his arms go around my waist, gradually drawing me deeper into his body.

And that was when I realized. This was the first time Donovan and I had ever hugged.

Sure we’d made out plenty of times before and had sex a few times, the last time on a disastrous night filled with tears and far too much alcohol. But we’d never shared something so simple as a hug without any sexual touching involved.

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