On His Terms

By Nicola Nichols

Debbie is a smart and aggressive woman who finds her new husband is weak and doesn’t share her goals to succeed. His father owns his own company and she learns her father-in-law is both successful and dynamic...and he has a proposition for her. Naturally the offer is entirely on his terms — she has to please him. She wouldn’t expect anything else.

~~~~~ PG Excerpt ~~~~~

“Mister Tyler, Mrs. Tyler is here to see you.”

Debbie had to grin. She wasn't used to being Mrs. Tyler yet, and being ushered into her father-in-law's office by his secretary made it all sound incredibly incestuous.

Caleb Tyler stood and smiled a welcome. As always, his smile wasn’t particularly reassuring.

“Debbie, do come in.” He came over to kiss her cheek then offered her a seat on the couch in the sitting area of his spacious office. “Of course, I'm delighted to see you, but you make me wonder... is there some special reason my son's wife is taking time out of her busy schedule to talk to an old man?”

She smiled at his false humility. Caleb was a vibrant man in his late fifties. Every time she saw him, it surprised her to note that he stayed in better shape than his son. He had installed a gym just off his office and worked out daily.

She'd heard him chide Steven about getting soft. And he was. Steven needed to start taking steps now or he'd go to fat. Debbie filed away the decision to get him started on some sort of program. It didn't have to be as rigorous as Caleb's regimen, but he needed to be doing something.

“I've come here for two reasons,” she told him as he sat across from her. She let her eyes take him in. This, she decided, was what she needed to shape Steven into. There was no reason for her husband not to become the man his father was. “First, I wanted to thank you for arranging and paying for our wonderful honeymoon. We had a fantastic time.”

“I'm glad you enjoyed it.” He smiled, running his eyes over her tanned legs. “I'll bet that new tan is complete.”

“Very much so. The private beach you arranged was quite a treat. I think the only time we put on clothing all week was when we slipped into robes so the help could bring us our meals.”

When he nodded, she noticed a certain heat in his look that she liked. Turning in her seat, she shifted her legs in a way that lifted the hem of her skirt, giving him a better look. She was proud of her legs, and if letting him stare at them gave her an advantage in their discussion, she was happy to exploit it. “I also wanted to talk about Steve's promotion.”

“Myra told me she'd made him the regional sales manager for Detroit. What about it?”

She didn't know Caleb well. He was a busy, and successful businessman — founder of his company. She and Steve hadn’t dated long, so she didn’t really get to know his parents before they got engaged. It had surprised her how supportive he'd been when Steven announced their plan to wed.

Debbie shot him a cold look. “You know he isn't ready for that job, Caleb.”

“I do.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Boruma Publishing, LLC
• Release date: May 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781370930210

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