Read Sadie's Surrender for Free Online Page B

especially with her mother in the next room, hadn’t been planned, either. And she knew how dumb he was when it came to book learning. If she decided to use that discovery against him, he was sunk.
    The only reason he’d told her was because he had little to lose. By getting her to help him in secret, he could satisfy her intelligent mind and save his company without hiring some outsider to take his place.
    His plan had to succeed. It would, if he kept his hands off her.
    “Now, then. If you would look that over,” he began.
    But she already had it on her lap. Her brow puckered with intense concentration, drawing his attention to her smooth skin. Her eyebrows, though thick, curved as seductively as her hips. His finger tingled, wanting to trace the flared edges.
    She flipped back and forth between two different pages, frowning even harder.
    “Did you find a problem?”
    “I’ll say,” she replied. “There’s a large discrepancy between inventory and payables for the oysters you buy.”
    His stomach sank. Things must be worse than he thought. “Can you fix it?”
    “I think so, but I need to review everything first to so I can see the forest instead of the trees.”
    Can’t see the forest for the trees. An expression Caleb used often. A pitfall Henry was supposed to avoid as a manager. A couple of different employees entered things into this book, and he reviewed it periodically. At least he was supposed to. Mostly, he stared at the numbers until they gave him a headache then approved everything.
    He couldn’t resist tucking back a lock of hair that had come loose over her ear. Why did women wear so many pins? She stiffened and closed her eyes for a second. Because his touch disgusted her? Or did she want more?
    She glared at him. “Do you want to get slapped again?”
    His cheek stung from the memory of that quick, hard, and painful strike. It had aroused him like nothing else. The urge to rip open the front of her dress so she could slap him again and again had overwhelmed him.
    On the way home, he hadn’t been able to keep his hand out of his trousers. Battling the storm in his small boat had only intensified his arousal. He hadn’t stopped rubbing until he’d shouted her name into the thunder, spilling his seed across the rain-soaked deck.
    Suddenly, he wanted her to slap him everywhere. Across his chest, inside each thigh, all over his rear—until the flesh was rosy red—and especially his stiff, aching cock.
    “How long will it take?” He cleared his throat. “Fixing the books, that is.”
    She flipped through the pages. “Even a review would take all night.”
    All night? Henry’s semi-stiff shaft jumped to full attention. He could think of a few things to do to her during that time, and reviewing his books wasn’t one of them. He squeezed his fingers against his palms. The last thing he needed was to bed this employee. They were already under the Klan’s scrutiny. And once he’d sampled her sweet, dark flesh, he knew he’d want her again and again.
    What he did need was help with his business. He wished they’d met at her home again so they’d have a chaperone.
    “I can’t ask you to stay here so long. Maybe we can do the task in stages.”
    “I don’t mind,” she replied. “I’d rather row home at daybreak and pick up Mama than in the middle of the night.”
    Henry slapped himself in the temple. “I didn’t even think of that. I wouldn’t want you in a boat so late by yourself. I’d have to take you.”
    And risk being observed by the Klan unless they left very late. He couldn’t expect her to work all day and all night, but the more sessions they had, the more they risked ending up in bed. Their arrangement was turning out to be more complicated than he’d predicted. It was too bad her brother, Leroy, didn’t still live at home. Caleb had told him about how the boy had taken Pearl home from her after-hours job.
    “And I can’t concentrate with you sitting so close.” She