Double Trouble: A Menage Romance Read Online Free Page A

okay?”
    “Will do.” She made her way out of Harvey’s office and straight to the elevators before the doubts set in.
    That morning had been like any other. She got up late, stumbled around, made coffee. Three cups in, she’d woken up enough to turn on her computer and lose track of time.
    Now she was headed out to a waiting car and a whole world she had spent years avoiding. Every time opportunity presented itself, she had done the sensible thing and said no. The mantra she lived with every day repeated in her head as the elevator doors opened.
    Don’t be the nail, they get hammered down.
    Her father had never wanted this for her. She was meant to walk a different path, not repeat her mother’s mistakes.
    But this wasn’t about just her this time. She needed to take the assignment for Harvey. Jess squared her shoulders. I can do this.
    It wasn’t like dropping into a war zone or going undercover to bust politicians taking bribes. All she had to do was follow them around. She would be a shadow. A ghost. She wouldn’t be in the spotlight. The only thing at risk was her time.
    A black town car, sleek and shiny, stood at the curb. A driver waited, hands clasped in front of him like an altar boy at Sunday service. Jess thought about the MacIntosh brothers’ reputation. With all the things that poor driver saw, he probably had reason to pray.
    She walked up to him with a smile. “I’m Jessica Woodson. I think you’re waiting for me.”

Chapter 4
    GAGE
    B etween the developments planned in New York and New Jersey and the potential casino venture with Travis Beauchamp in Vegas, Gage already had a full plate. Adding in the hostile takeover of MacIntosh Hotels stretched him thin. Now Holt had roped him into being hands-on with the acquisition of NNT—something he had specifically declined to do.
    Ever since their father passed away, the pair of them had co-run the family empire. As long as they didn’t interact, everything ran smoothly. Thanks to push-back from the board and the shareholders of the Hotel chain, Gage and Holt were now stuck making decisions as a team. Talk about miserable.
    He flicked open the blinds and looked down from the living room in their penthouse suite. “She’s late.”
    “Perhaps it took some convincing.” Holt sprawled across the white leather sofa, the epitome of the younger brother. The man never took the world seriously enough.
    “This isn’t fun and games. If we don’t win the shareholders over, this takeover attempt will fail. The chance to bring the Hotels back into the family will pass us by.”
    Gage remembered the night he’d made the promise. All those machines beep-beeping in time to their father’s failing heart. Blurs of blue scrubs and white lab coats. The smell of antiseptic still turned his stomach.
    “Relax or this reporter will see right through you.”
    “I have nothing to hide.”
    “What about all the skeletons in your closet?”
    Gage sighed. Did he really have to spell it out for him? “That’s why I requested a researcher and not a front-line reporter. A researcher is interested in doing the job. A reporter is into a making a splash and grabbing headlines. If Harvey tells this Woodson woman to prepare a piece chronicling our lives today then that is precisely what we’ll get.”
    He turned to his brother. “Just spend the next three weeks being as boring and straight-laced as possible.”
    The phone rang and cut off any chance Holt had at a comeback. He answered before relaying the message to Gage. “She’s on the way up.”
    “Splendid.” He straightened his cuffs as a knock sounded on the door.
    “Come in.”
    A moment later, the hotel concierge appeared at the edge of the living room and smiled. “Ms. Woodson is here, gentlemen.”
    A woman stepped out from behind the man’s back and Gage clinched his jaw. That was Jessica Woodson?
    Halfway through the meeting at the network she had caught his eye. High cheekbones. Big blue eyes. None of the