Dalton, Tymber - Contractual Obligation (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read Free Page B

some background information before we start serious discussions.”
    Here’s where she had to tread carefully. Carmen had told her the basics of how to phrase her questions so as not to run afoul of someone who wanted to cause trouble later. “This job, if it’s offered to you, will involve a lot of travel, including overseas. Sometimes for weeks at a time. A lot of nights, weekends, even holidays spent working, with me. Is there any situation in your life that would prevent you from being able to fulfill that obligation?”
    He frowned, and she felt her gut roll. Damn, he probably has a wife or girlfriend. She looked but didn’t spot a ring on his left hand.
    “I don’t have a passport, but I could apply for one. Will that be an issue, waiting for it to come through? I don’t know how long it takes.”
    She relaxed a little. “That’s fine. Not a problem.” She tried to phrase the next question even more carefully. “Your position will also include you having to accompany me to social events and business functions. Sometimes overnight. Locally and out of town. Again, are there any issues in your personal life that might arise to prevent you from doing that?”
    He shook his head. “No.”
    She smiled again. “My current assistant, Gorden, has been with the company for twenty-five years. When I took over as CEO from my father, he was assigned to me. He’s at my beck and call, literally twenty-four-seven.” This is where it would get dicey. “He will train you on the paperwork end of things, institutional knowledge. There will be situations that come up where you’ll have to think on your feet to handle them. You’ll have three months to work alongside him until he retires. Then you get thrown into the deep end of the pool.”
    She stood and rounded the desk, perching on the corner of it. “I need the person I hire to be of impeccable standards. Able to be self-sufficient, aggressive in the business world when I require it, tenacious in following orders, detail oriented, and not distracted by having to juggle any personal issues that might interfere with this position and its heavy work load. Does that sound like you?”
    He nodded.
    “I will also be running a very extensive background check. Not just criminal, but financial. Is there anything I need to know before I do that?”
    That frown again. “What?” she asked.
    He studied his hands. “How extensive?”
    “Unpaid student loans?”
    He laughed. “Yes, but I wish it was that simple.”
    And now she suspected she had stumbled onto the source of his anxiety. She took the seat next to him, facing him. “Go ahead and tell me. I need to know anything that would be a source of distraction.”
    He threw his head back and took a deep breath. “I don’t know if you want to hear the gory details.”
    “You’d be surprised.” Damn, damn, dammit! She didn’t want some stupid adolescent car-hopping charge to sink the possibility of him working for her. He was neat in appearance, and he obviously had brains to graduate near the top of his class.
    He looked down at his hands, which rested on the brown, imitation leather portfolio in his lap. He picked at his cuticles. “I found out yesterday that my parents are about to lose their house. My mom’s had some pretty bad health issues the last year. She’s been in and out of the hospital a lot. In fact, she just had surgery. She’s still there now, was supposed to come home yesterday, but they held her another day.”
    He looked up. “I’m not trying to give you some sob story here, but you said extensive, and I’d be living with them, so it might come up. They got a certified letter yesterday from the mortgage company. They’re going to lose their house if they can’t get caught up.”
    She didn’t sense a bullshit story from him. If that was the sole source of his worry, even though it was a big deal to him, she knew she could easily fix it for him.
    If she hired him.
    She had an idea. “How much