Read Online Bound to Happen by Mary Kay McComas - Free Book Online Page A

admit she did fit the bill. She liked to work and enjoyed the power and money that it brought her. She couldn’t bring herself to feel shame for her whole career. She worked hard and took great pains to make sure her efforts were as flawless as possible. When Leslie Rothe made a recommendation in a room full of wealthy investors and entrepreneurs, her judgment was no longer questioned. She’d proved herself over and over again to be someone who knew her facts inside out and who could back up every contention with a clear logical answer or solution.
    Thousands of dollars and countless man hours went into the preparation of the reports she submitted before permits could be obtained to start a new project. An error was not only costly but could ruin the proposal altogether. It was her awareness of the potential hazards and her determination to avoid them that had won her the reputation of being one of the more reliable and thorough analysts in her field. She had a lot to be proud of, and for the most part, she was. But in this particular case …
    She loved her work. It suited her disposition perfectly. There were times when she felt she dealt better with facts than with people, that she trusted the words on a piece of paper more than she did human relationships. She liked things to make sense and follow a progressive order. And she found, very often, that people didn’t.
    Especially in the case of Jeff Warner, but then her whole relationship with him was confusing. If what she felt for him was love, why didn’t she feel something special. Why didn’t she feel in love, like Joe Bonner, Beth, and her mother had assured her she would? Why did people assume that simply because she and Jeff had spent so much time together over the past few years that they were automatically in love and bound for wedded bliss? She and Jeff were friends. They shared many common interests, and they enjoyed each other’s company. Granted, there had been a few nights when they had shared some very insipid sex together, but those nights had been fueled by loneliness and a desperate need on both sides to be close to someone. She was sure that Jeff’s feelings were no stronger than her own. But what if that was as strong as love ever got?
    Leslie sighed and ran her hand back and forth across her brow trying to dispel some of the tension her thoughts had deposited there.
    “Does your head still hurt?” Joe asked.
    “No.”
    “Want to sit and rest for a while?”
    “If you’re tired, we can,” she said, refusing to admit that she was dying for a break, too proud to let on that her left arm was sound asleep and that her lower back was throbbing under the weight of her pack.
    Joe’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “I’m fine,” he said, and he kept on walking.
    After nearly two hours, Leslie was past the point of pain and almost totally numb.
    “I … don’t … whine. I … don’t … whine.” She said it over and over in her mind trying to believe it, wanting more than anything to be back in her nice, safe office where she belonged, or as a second alternative, to cry out in misery. Instead she ground her teeth together and watched the dust from the road billow out under her shoes as she flopped them down, step by step, to the rhythm in her head. The thin mountain air ripped at her lungs with every breath, but she kept on walking. She’d rather fall down dead in her tracks than have to cooperate in a kiss with Joe Bonner.
    “I’m beat. Let’s rest,” Joe said suddenly, moving off to the side of the road.
    “What?” Leslie asked, stunned.
    “I need a break.”
    “You do?”
    Joe nodded. “Don’t want to get overtired, you know. Only a fool would walk himself to the point of exhaustion.”
    There was a reproachful look in his eyes as the zing shot straight up Leslie’s spine and registered as a direct hit, but she was in no mood to care. At least she wasn’t a whiny fool. She got the distinct impression that it wouldn’t matter