Read Online Tarzan & Janine by Delilah Devlin, Elle James - Free Book Online

middle of his desk.
    Tanner gave him a baleful stare. “Good God, it’s even in the paper?”
    “Yeah, flip to the entertainment section. You’ll find yourself in all your glory.” Scott chuckled. “Not a bad picture of you and Janine.”
    “You’re enjoyin’ this way too much,” Tanner grumbled, flipping through the paper. “The entertainment section? They could have at least put it on the front page, or the business page or even the sports section.”
    “Why are you complainin’? I see it as free advertising. You should be thankful, instead of grousing about being humiliated in front of the entire city of Austin.”
    Tanner glared at Scott. “Thanks, I feel much better.”
    He turned his attention to the newsprint and the story on the front page of the entertainment section. The photo was of him swinging from the banner with the monkey sliding down behind him. The picture filled half the page, giving him a surge of hope. “Wow, that is good advertising. Look, you can even read Peschke Motors on the banner.”
    “See, I told you to cheer up. It was a great stunt, if you ask me. You couldn’t have pulled it off any better if you’d planned it.”
    “Which I didn’t,” Tanner muttered.
    “Point is, the advertising is great and the public loved it. The phones have been ringin’ off the hook from all the media folks in the city. They want to know when they can expect the next episode of The Tarzan and Janine Show.”
    His buddies in the TCB had said the same thing. Tanner cringed. “That’s a question I’d like to know myself.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t have Janine under contract. She may not agree to do another commercial. Not only that, I’ve got competition now.”
    “What, is the circus in town?” Scott’s shoulders jerked with suppressed laughter.
    Tanner gave him a blistering glare. “No. Old BS-Squared offered her a job and Janine didn’t refuse it. In all the ruckus, I didn’t get to her in time to firm up our deal.”
    “Did she take the job with Ms. Stockton?”
    “Not exactly.” Tanner blew out a deep gust of air. Did he really stand a chance against the beauty products maven?
    “What do you mean, not exactly?”
    “Just that, Janine didn’t say yes or no. She said she’d think about it.”Tanner’s desk phone buzzed and he jabbed a finger at the intercom. “ I told you not to disturb me.”
    “No, you didn’t, and your father’s on line two, Mr. Peschke,” came the calm voice of Jill, the receptionist.
    “But I don’t want to talk—”
    “Tanner, is that you boy?” Joe Peschke’s voice boomed over the intercom.
    The boy in question leaned back in his chair and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, his eyes squeezing shut, trying to block out the nightmare that was his life. “Yes, sir, it’s me,” he answered, schooling his voice to flat and emotionless. Might as well get the lecture over with. Dad would go on about how inadequate he was at this business and Tanner would promise to try harder.
    He really should tell his dad about his billions, then the old man wouldn’t look at him as such a failure. But how would that make the old man feel? He’d worked hard teaching Tanner the business and took pride in the fact his son would one day take over the dealership.
    Tanner braced himself for the blasting.
    “Way to go, son.” Joe Peschke’s big voice blasted over the speaker phone.
    Huh? Tanner’s eyes opened, and his hand fell to his side. Was this his father, praising him? Tanner frowned across the desk at the lead salesman.
    Scott mouthed, Told you so .
    “I knew you had it in you, son. You just needed the right angle. And boy, does that young lady have all the right angles.”
    “But, Dad—”
    “For once your aptitude with the ladies has paid off.” His father was on a roll now and couldn’t be stopped. “That Janine is a gold mine. You were real lucky to find her.”
    “Yeah, Dad, I know. I was real lucky,” he