Read Online ROMANCING THE BULLDOG by Mallory Monroe - Free Book Online

hooked up
    with Scotty, the man who would become her husband. She thought he was a real estate
    mogul, he even had the office and staff to prove it. What he was, in fact, was a local drug
    kingpin and that office and staff was just a front. His arrest, on a cold, dreary December
    morning, was the beginning of a downward spiral for Liz that still had her reeling.
    “Sorry to bother you, boss,” Shameika Jackson, her young secretary, said as she entered the
    office. Liz didn’t hire her, the church did. To Liz she wasn’t exactly secretary material, she
    was a little too in your face to be an effective people person, but she was good peeps herself,
    and Liz liked her.
    “What’s up, Meek?”
    “Reverend Wheeler again.”
    Liz rolled her eyes. “What is it this time?”
    “He’s upset you didn’t make it to church on Sunday. He believes that the youth director
    should set an example for the young people she’s leading.”
    “I told that man that going to his church is not a part of my job description. I think I should
    have the freedom to choose where I want to worship the Lord.”
    “I agree. But he seems to be of the opinion, thanks to the spies he has in this neighborhood,
    that you didn’t go to anybody’s church on Sunday.”
    “He has spies?” Liz asked, surprised.
    “You better believe he does. And some of those spies are vindictive, girl, let me tell you.
    They think it was wrong for the church to hire a non-member to begin with. A few of those
    spies, in fact, believes that the church should have hired them. If your father wasn’t Hamp
    Morgan, they said, and your aunt was Hamp Morgan’s sister, you would have never gotten
    this position.”
    “My father had nothing to do with this,” she said defensively. Then she exhaled. “So that’s
    what I’m up against?” she asked.
    “You got it,” Shameika replied.
    Liz leaned back and nodded. “I’ll deal with Wheeler,” she said. “What about Milo? Have
    you heard anything about my request?”
    “What request?”
    “I asked him two days ago to get me some help. I can’t be expected to handle the youth
    division and the seniors and the adult programs, too.”
    “Oh, that. Nope, haven’t heard a word. But I have heard that Milo might not be your
    biggest fan.”
    Liz smiled. AI already figured that one out. He thinks I’m some heathen who only got this
    job, not because of my father, but because of my aunt’s close friendship with the pastor’s
    wife.”
    “But that’s bogus. You ran a community center before in Philadelphia, didn’t you?”
    “I ran the agency that funded and oversaw many community centers in Philadelphia, and all
    of them were bigger than this one. But I had help. Plenty of it. Which is what I’ve got to
    have now.” Then she exhaled again. AI don’t know, Meek, sometimes I feel as if I’m . . .”
    “As if you’re what?”
    Liz hesitated. “As if I’m being set up to fail.”
    Shameika looked at her in shock. “You’re just figuring that out?”
    “So it’s true?”
    “Of course it’s true! What you think? Here you are, this outsider, who just waltzes in here
    as far as they’re concerned and get this plum position.”
    “What plum position? This job barely pays my bills!”
    “They don’t care about the money. It’s the title they’re after. And they don’t think you,
    this young, pretty female who act like she’s got it going on like that, deserves it.”
    “And Milo feels this way too?” she asked Shameika.
    “Milo, Kirk Thomas, practically all of the leadership of First Bethel. Your aunt and the
    pastor’s wife are about the only supporters you have.”
    “You talk as if I’m doomed.”
    “You probably are.”
    ‘No, I’m not. They hired me as youth director, not executive director or admin director,
    and that’s why I’m going to focus on the youth division. If I fail there, then yeah, they can
    blame me. But they aren’t blaming me if the senior division and the Adult programs