Bad Behavior Read Free Page B

things were different.
    He felt reckless, almost wild.
    He hadn’t thought he’d mind it, planning his life around other people. It had always been his goal to be successful, to be influential, and to touch lives. He’d been blessed over the years to be able to do just that. His employees were like his children, his company his wife. These people, this job, was his family and when it came to protecting it he’d never felt cheated.
    Until now.
    Once again he’d been forced to give something up, to sacrifice his wants for the good of the many. He could never love Bethany. She was too cold for that. Even if he could grow to feel some type of affection for her, that didn’t change the fact that she’d be incapable of returning the sentiment. She’d lied about having breast cancer just to keep him around all those years ago when he’d first wanted to break things off. The only reason he’d found out any different was because he’d overheard her talking to her doctor over the phone one day.
    Knowing that he’d have to spend the rest of his life with that sort of person made him view things a little differently. He only had a few months left before he had to live up to his end of the contract. A few months and then he’d be back to doing his duty. Back to living for other people. Just once in his life he wanted to do something unpredictable.
    Unplanned.
    Something just for himself.
    Just to see what it felt like.
    Why not start with a little interoffice affair?
    Why not start with Rei Donovan with her wide hips and perfectly rounded ass?
    She was still talking, and with a conscious effort Justin pulled himself from his inner thoughts to focus on what she was saying.
    “-just doesn’t make sense.” Holding up one of the graphs she scowled at it. “Your numbers just don’t add up. It could be that I’m not doing the math right, but your return is much lower than what was projected, especially considering the deals you made this year.”
    He’d stopped listening again. What did any of it matter now anyway? Yes his returns had been lower than projected. So low that the company had been spiraling towards bankruptcy without him even realizing it.
    But things were fixed now.
    Saved.
    All hail, the conquering hero.
    Justin’s smile was a bitter twist of the lips and coming fully into the room he closed the door behind him, and locked it. Rei didn’t notice. She was too busy shaking her head at the papers in her hands in rising disbelief.
    “With these numbers you should have started laying off employees months ago, not hiring new people and paying for retirement packages. You even gave some of these people raises, and I don’t even want to get started on the donations.” She looked up at him and her brow was furrowed in an odd mixture of approval and reprimand. “Do you have any idea how business works? How money works? You can’t spend what you don’t have.”
    He shrugged, crossing the room in a few long strides as he spoke.
    “At the time, I was under the impression that I did have it Ms. Donovan. All the evidence pointed to it anyway. I’m not sure what files you’re looking at, but I assure you they aren’t the ones my accountants and board members provided for me.” He snorted, “I’m not nearly as incompetent as you seem to think.”
    Confused now, she blinked down at the files in her hand. “Oh. Then…these must be for something else. Or maybe their examples? Dummy files even. But why would he…?” her voice trailed off and she bit her bottom lip.
    That, as they say, was that.
    He watched the way her teeth sunk into the plush flesh of her lip, and the rest of his common sense went right out the window. He covered the last of the distance between them in the span of a breath. Then his hands were in her hair, fingers lost in the weighty mass of curls as his lips sought and found her mouth. She was stiff at first but then softened beneath him soon enough, lips parting beneath the demanding press of