Read For Her Protection: 1 (Personal Protection) for Free Online

rested his elbow half out the window. Maybe it was a good thing she’d turned
down protection. No chance he could protect her without the situation turning
out exactly as she’d said. Getting close to her wasn’t what he’d intended when
he’d volunteered to be her bodyguard, but damn—when she’d painted the scenario
of how he’d watch her, he’d known it was true. He’d be on her like a tattoo.
    His gut clenched and he rubbed his jaw. Unless she agreed to
help she’d be on her own. Something told him unless she did something to calm
the hell down, Charlize unsupervised wasn’t a good thing. Connor used his turn
signal and changed lanes.
    He could assign someone else to her if she’d allow that
much.
    The image of Charlize with another man at her back, another
man watching her, another man protecting her, flashed in his mind and his grip
tightened on the wheel. No chance in hell.
    She was his—only his.
    * * * * *
    The door clicked shut behind Gregory. Charlize sank her face
into her palms. There wasn’t time for this, the exec meeting was minutes away
and she had to get herself together. She breathed deeply. No thinking about
Connor. No thinking about his cocky smile, the hot, hard touch of his hand
between her legs… She flipped open the file and gazed down at the paperwork— paper .
She lifted out the solitary white sheet with its paragraph of figures and
simple bar graph.
    Damn it all .
    One page. One freaking page and not what she’d requested.
Gregory had provided her with the same information she’d been given before.
Overall salary analysis—no breakdowns. Her chest constricted, hampering air to
her lungs. Her eyes stung with new tears. She would not cry. Would not cry at
work. This is what they wanted—to see her break.
    Frank and Gregory and their bunch of boys who thought she
had no business leading them. They wanted her to back down and if not, they’d
take her down by making her look useless.
    They’d soon see she wouldn’t go down so easily.
    * * * * *
    Charlize leaned against the high-backed chair at the head of
the conference table and watched the scene. It was kind of like watching
monkeys fling poop across a boardroom. Fifteen suited-up executives crammed
around the table, all talking over one another. She’d realized after the third consecutive
interruption this meeting was simply a meticulously choreographed murder of her
credibility. She’d never had the chance to prove anything. Not even banging her
shoe on the table could capture the room’s occupants’ attention. She looked
powerless.
    Incompetent. An impotent leader.
    Instead of fighting a losing battle, she’d sat back and
watched. Who yelled the loudest, who was deliberately contentious, who was in
on Frank’s game.
    Neville, the director of manufacturing operations, leaped
from his chair and leveled his finger at Gregory. “How can we achieve anything
when our budgets have been slashed? I can barely afford to—”
    “And my team is massively understaffed,” Sales Director
Darren shouted.
    Beside her, Frank rose, fastening a shiny button at the
waist of his impeccable black jacket. Charlize sucked the inside of her cheek.
She’d been waiting for him to make his move.
    Frank raised his hands, his diamond cuff links flashed. “Everybody
please, this is not getting anywhere,” he said, voice firm but not elevated.
    Even the loudest of the voices quieted immediately.
    What a surprise.
    Frank bowed his head toward the desk then looked back up and
pressed his fingertips together. “If I could have everyone’s attention for a
moment. I have a solution that could pull Halifax back from the brink.”
    The murmurs died off and everyone in the room directed their
attention toward Frank’s distinguished figure.
    “For the past months I have been investigating strategies to
stem the massive losses Halifax is facing each month and finally I have hit on
the solution.” He picked up a remote control and pressed a button.