The Garrisons: Parker, Brittany & Stephen: The CEO's Scandalous Affair

“Yes, he is,” Anna agreed. “And he’s also…” She willed herself not to turn all dreamy and stupid. “Very…”

“Arrogant.”

“Well, sometimes. But he’s…”

“Demanding.”

Anna’s eyes widened. “He likes things his own way, but he can be…”

“A snake.”

Her jaw dropped. “No. I don’t think he’s a snake, Megan. He’s confident and a leader, he’s smart and he’s—”

“Flat-out gorgeous. They all are.” Megan took a deep drink then thunked the cup back on the table. “Don’t get sucked into it, Anna.”

“Sucked into what?”

Megan leaned on the table. “I’ve done enough work for the Garrisons to know what they’re made of.”

“You consulted, Megan, as the interior designer when they refurbished the Garrison, Inc. offices. You don’t really know them. It’s not the same as being in their face day after day.”

“Oh, I was in their face plenty,” she volleyed back, more blood deepening the delicate dusting of freckles across her nose. “Don’t forget what happened to you, Anna. You are a living example of what can happen to a woman who is wooed by a man who isn’t above using her,” Megan said.

“He hasn’t used me,” she said, defensiveness making her voice tighten as she stood. “And I already gave him the ‘we can only be friends’ speech this past week at dinner and he’s been nothing but business since then.”

“It’s gone that far? You had to give him that speech?”

“Not that far,” Anna mused, turning off the oven and taking a minute to refresh their cups. “We’ve only kissed. In London. That’s all, I swear.”

Megan held her cup for a refill. “Why?”

“Why was that all or why did we kiss?”

“Oh, I know why you kissed,” Megan said wryly. “You kissed because you were in a ridiculously romantic place and wildly attracted to each other and he whispered in your ear and you melted.”

Anna laughed as she put the coffeepot back and sat. “Oh, you think you know everything.”

“Not everything. But I know enough.”

The need to share the truth was powerful and if anyone would understand, Megan would. “We kissed because he told me he suspects there’s a spy in the company and I planted one on him to drag him away from that dangerous train of thought.”

“A spy?” Megan’s eyes popped. “No wonder you’re freaked.”

“Can you imagine if he found out that I was stupid enough to let my boyfriend infiltrate my boss’s computer system and steal technology secrets at my last job? And then got blamed for it?”

“You’d be okay,” Megan said. “I mean, you’ve been at Garrison for four years or so.”

“But now there’s the Internet. How long would it take before someone searched my name and found articles in the local Indianapolis papers accusing an administrative assistant of being a corporate spy?”

“You were innocent, Anna. Michael Montgomery finally admitted he did it.”

“Yes, I know that and you know that, and even my former boss knows that because the confession happened in the privacy of a conference room in Indianapolis.”

“Barry Lynch dropped all charges.”

She nodded. “Yes, he did. The boss dropped the charges and the boyfriend fled town and no one bothered to call the papers and inform them except me, and the reporter wasn’t interested. Called it an ‘old story.’ But my name is still media mud.”

Megan sighed, obviously unable to deny that. “Barry Lynch is still running FiberTech outside of Indy. Why don’t you call him and ask him to vouch for you?”

“I don’t want to dredge up old history. He was embarrassed by the lax security in his company, anyway. That’s why he didn’t tell the newspapers the truth.” Anna closed her eyes. “I want it all behind me.”

“I know you do.” Megan reached across the table and put her hand on Anna’s. “And I want you to be careful with Parker Garrison.”

Parker again. “Do you even know him, Megan?”

“I met all the Garrisons when I did the consulting job. Cheating runs in their genes.”

“Cheating?” Then Anna recalled the latest Garrison scandal. “I guess you’re right.” She rose and donned an oven mitt to slide the pastry tray out, and as she did, told Megan the whole story of Cassie Sinclair and her unlikely role at Garrison, Inc.

Megan listened, rapt, then asked, “So this woman over in Nassau is John Garrison’s illegitimate daughter?”

“Looks that way. And now she owns twenty percent of Garrison, Inc.”

Megan’s eyebrow notched. “At least he took care of his child.”

At the catch in her friend’s voice, Anna turned from the oven, pastry tray extended, but Megan hid her expression behind the coffee cup.

“Would you like a cinnamon roll?” Anna asked.

Megan put her cup down with a little too much force. “But you see what I mean?” she asked, obviously not hearing Anna’s question. “See what they’re made of? Gorgeous, yes, every last one of them. But can they be trusted? And you, after all you’ve been through, you have to trust the man you love, Anna.”

The tray slipped in Anna’s mitted hand, but she caught it.

Love. Whoa.

“This isn’t love,” she managed to say. “This is a pathetic crush on my part and lust on his.”

Megan’s chair scraped the tile as she stood. “You think? How’s he treated you since you gave him the speech?”

“Well, he’s had a lot of closed-door meetings and placed most of his own calls, so I thought he was trying to avoid me. But…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of how to explain what had been happening for the past five days. “But when we’re together, well, to be honest, there’s been a lot of electricity in the air.”

“Oh, really?” Megan meandered over to the counter to help herself to a cinnamon roll. “Like lightning bolts that turn your lower half into liquid and your brain to mush?”

“Yeah.” Anna half laughed.

“And every time your hands casually brush when you exchange papers, you sort of shiver and get all tingly?”

“Precisely.”