Read Online Dirty Thoughts by Megan Erickson - Free Book Online Page B

there, Pete.”
    He stopped in front of her and gestured toward the office behind them. “You working late too?”
    She blew out a breath. “Just trying to get caught up.”
    Pete nodded. He was one of the managers and worked closely with Dylan. “Yeah, me too. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I’m glad you’re here helping to get things back on track.”
    She raised her eyebrows. “So what you’re saying is that things are off track.”
    Pete laughed sadly. “You know they are, Jenna.”
    She sighed and said softly, “Can I ask you a question?”
    Pete eyed her but nodded.
    “Is the main source of this derailment my brother?”
    The big man looked at his feet, kicking a stray piece of gravel. “You know he and I are friends.”
    “Yes.”
    “So you know that I’m not trying to bad-mouth him or get his job.”
    “I know that.”
    He looked up. “But he’s . . . changed. I don’t know what it is. He’s controlling and, frankly, he doesn’t play well with others.”
    Jenna rolled her lips between her teeth. It was amazing how two people could grow up in the same household and be so different. At least she hoped she was different from her brother. Jenna never reveled in the MacMillan name. She rebelled. At sixteen, Cal Payton had been one hell of a way to rebel. He was everything her family wasn’t, and in her mind, that had been a good thing.
    Cal had been a way to get back at her parents, but then she’d gone and fallen in love with him.
    Dylan, however, fed into the whole MacMillan name, demanding respect because of who he was rather than what he did. He’d been a bully growing up, plain a simple. A bully who used words and money rather than fists.
    “Do you . . . ” Jenna hesitated. “Do you think he should have won that discrimination lawsuit?”
    Pete looked sick. “Please don’t make me answer that.”
    “Shit.” Jenna felt as sick as Pete looked. That was all the answer she needed. She placed a hand on Pete’s arm. “I’m going to try to get this company back on track, in the eyes of the employees and of the community.”
    Pete nodded. “Your father is . . . well, he’s your father. But at the end of the day, he does good work, and this business supplies a lot of jobs. This place matters, but your brother . . . ” His voice trailed off.
    “It’s so hard because it’s family,” she said softly.
    “I know.” He sighed. “I need to get home to the wife and kids, but if there’s anything I can do, let me know, okay?”
    Jenna nodded. “I appreciate your talking to me.”
    He smiled as he backed away. “Any time.”
    Jenna watched him as he turned around, back hunched as he dug in his pocket for his keys. She sighed and continued walking to her car.
    Her relationship with Dylan had always been complicated. He was her brother, and the importance of family had been drilled into her every waking moment. Yet she had nothing in common with him except they’d been conceived by the same parents. And as time went on, Jenna even questioned that. She tried to find anything good in Dylan, but other than his work ethic and dedication to the family business; there wasn’t much. So to hear that his attitude was threatening the foundation of what her father worked for made her angry.
    This business mattered to a lot of people. It mattered to this town. And her brother wasn’t going to mess it up.
    She reached her car and slid into the front seat. She wanted to go home and not think about it until Monday, but unfortunately, she was going to have to sit across from her brother for an entire meal. Which would be hard, because right now, she wanted to stab him with a fork.
    Their relationship had always been tainted with a competitiveness that she hadn’t wanted to participate in. Dylan was always, always trying to one-up her, to make himself look better by making her look worse.
    She’d always wanted a close sibling, someone to joke around with about family holidays, someone she’d be happy