Read Online Secret Gifts (Steamy Version) by Elena Aitken - Free Book Online Page A

Brent to handle it, but—“
    “Wait.” She stopped him. “What do you mean, it would have been hard for Brent?” Brent was the best damage control expert at the Grace Agency and the obvious choice for such a job. “Why isn’t Brent here?” she asked him after a few seconds. “Why me, Ryan? What do you know about Lois sending me up here?”
    His silence was all the confirmation she needed. Ryan was never a good liar and his skills weren’t improved by long-distance telephone calls.
    “What do you know, Ryan?”
    “Megan, it’s not like I told her to do it.”
    “Told her to do what?”
    “But I was upset and she’s my mother and—“
    “What, Ryan?” Megan was losing patience quickly. “Why did Lois send me up here? This isn’t normally the type of thing I do. There are a dozen people who’d be better suited to this.” The realization of it slammed into her, before Ryan even had to say it aloud. “Oh my God.”
    “I didn’t realize she was going to…look, I was mad. I mean, you just left with no explanation.”
    “First of all, I can’t believe she sent me here because you were mad at me. I told you why,” Megan said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I couldn’t marry you. It wouldn’t have been fair.” She walked to the window and stared outside.
    “It wouldn’t be fair to who? To you?”
    Megan nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. That was exactly it. If she’d married him, she would’ve sacrificed herself. And wouldn’t it be worse for everyone involved?
    “For you,” she said. “Ryan, it wouldn’t have been fair for me to pretend I could be happy forever. It wouldn’t have been right.”
    “We could’ve been happy, Megan.” He pleaded with her. “We still can.”
    She glanced towards the hall where Gage’s door was still closed. “No,” she said. “No, Ryan. We can’t. I’m sorry.” She meant it. She cared about Ryan; he was a good friend and she’d never meant to hurt him. Her mind raced back to what he’d said earlier. “What do you mean she sent me here to fail? What does that mean?”
    Ryan laughed on the other end of the line. “Come on, Megan. It’s Gage Mitchell. She sent you to keep him out of trouble. Why would she send you? He’s one of the biggest stars on the planet right now. At least until some new scandal is uncovered and his production company drops him from Tumbleweed . Word is they’re even more nervous that his reputation is going to tarnish their squeaky-clean image.”
    “Any publicity is—“
    “Not in this case,” he interrupted her. “They want the focus on the show and the other stars are complaining that Mitchell is stealing the limelight. It’s not going to fly, Megan. As soon as he screws up again, he’s out. And he’ll take out everyone around him.”
    “He’s not going to screw up.”
    Ryan laughed and the sound grated Megan’s nerves. “Yeah, right. He’s a train wreck. It’s pretty much a guarantee that he’ll self-implode. It’s a total suicide mission.”
    “A suicide mission?” She sounded like an idiot repeating him, but she needed to be perfectly clear on what he was saying and even though she knew the answer before she asked the question, she asked it anyway. “Why would Lois send me instead of Brent if she thought it was hopeless?”
    “You know why.”
    Her stomach churned at his words, because hadn’t she suspected there was something else behind her trip to the Lodge? She didn’t say anything, though, because right then she noticed Gage standing in the hallway. “I have to go,” she said into the phone. Without waiting for a response, she hung up the phone and tossed it on the coffee table.
    “You didn’t have to do that on my account,” Gage said. He walked into the room, and her senses filled with the smell of his aftershave mingled with the sharp tang of soap. At least he was wearing a shirt, she thought as he came to stand directly in front of her.
    She stared at him for a