Ruining Mr. Perfect (The McCauley Brothers) Read Free

do the job. I hate that I’m thought of as the boss’s nephew. It’s so demeaning.” Yet true.
    “Well, it’ll take time to understand—”
    “Yeah, see, that’s what I wanted to ask you. Would you be willing to give me help? Like, tutor me in the job so I learn what not to do?”
    She hadn’t anticipated that. Flattered but not sure what to say, she collected her thoughts.
    “I’m not trying to kiss your butt or anything.” He flushed and glanced at her rear, then hastily blinked at her. “I just meant you’re the go-to person at the office. We all know it. I want to be that person someday. I know I have a lot of failings, but if given the chance, I could do better.”
    “You know, that’s not a bad idea. Not about me,” she said to stop his effusive thanks. “But getting you with a mentor would help you a lot. It would also help the staff to get to know you.”
    He nodded and grinned. “Thanks. That’s great. I’d really appreciate it. I mean, I’d rather you helped me. But I know how busy you are.”
    “Sure, Josh. And, uh, I’m sorry I upset you. Before.”
    He paused.
    Awkward, bringing up his crying jag, Vanessa.
    “I was such a wuss. I’m sorry. I was trying so hard to impress you and my uncle.”
    “Me?”
    “I meant my uncle. He’s a stickler, you know,” he said in a rush. “They were tears of frustration, because I wanted to get it right. Please forget I cried like a baby. So embarrassing.”
    He looked so sweet just then. “No problem. Go mingle. Enjoy. Did you bring your girlfriend?”
    “No. Not tonight. Honestly? She’s too needy. I think we need to break up.”
    TMI. But she understood. Most of her dates turned out to be needy and annoying too. “Good luck. The clingy types are hard to shake.”
    He laughed and smiled at her, his gaze approving and not at all wary, as she might have expected for making him cry.
    After he walked away, Francie joined her with Jeanine, another friend. “So what’s with you and the junior hottie?”
    “Really, Francie? Didn’t we graduate high school, like, ten years ago?” she said in her best cheerleader voice.
    Jeanine snickered. “Yeah, Francie. He’s an attractive young man. Not a hottie.”
    “And not someone to be drooling over, you old bags.”
    “Please, Vanessa.” Francie frowned. “I’m in the prime of my youth. I’m twenty-eight. Hell, you’re twenty-eight. So why do you always seem so much older?”
    “Maybe because I’m not drooling over the boss’s nephew.”
    Jeanine smirked. “Hmm. Seems to me he’s drooling over you.”
    “Shut up, you ho. Now tell us about your last date. Did Brian rate a sleepover or did you boot him out of bed after round one?” Vanessa wanted to know, since she kept landing dud after dud. The last guy she’d met at the gym, so she’d had hopes they’d have something in common. But no one could love John as much as he loved himself. She’d chalked him to her loser column, with all the others.
    Not one man she’d met had held a candle to Cameron McCauley, and she knew it. But what to do about that fact? With both her roommates in love with his brothers, exploring their attraction might make things sticky. Especially since he seemed to be the family type—great mom and dad, deep relationship with his siblings and cousins. So unlike Vanessa and the way she handled her emotionally distant relations. She worried that if she involved herself with Cameron, even sexually, he’d demand more. And that she’d try to give him what she didn’t have in her to give.

Chapter 2
    Sunday afternoon at the gym, Vanessa worked up a sweat on the elliptical she’d been eyeing the last time she’d visited. Sundays normally weren’t as crowded as work days, and she enjoyed exercising without so much chatter around her. That…and he normally arrived about now. She eyed the clock on the wall.
    “Well, hey there.” Cameron smiled at her from the machine to her immediate right.
    Relieved to see him but