Running on Empty

By Allyson Young

J.R. Redding saves ailing companies, and if his relationships with his personal assistants raise eyebrows, whatever works. He steps in to save Alanna Giles’s company and get closer to the beautiful blonde. Her father agrees that Alanna fill the position of his P.A.—not that she’s to assume the submissive role J.R. demands—yet.

Alanna must recover the money her father stole and return it to the company—without alerting J.R. She knows what his assistants provide, but if she refuses, can she ensure her little sister is financially secure? She takes the position, leading J.R. to believe she’s agreeable—to everything.

Truth will out, and J.R. fires Alanna, as he can’t abide liars, though she hasn’t been lying to him for some time. She loves him.

As she leaves, tragedy strikes, and J.R. faces the fact he dismissed the woman he loves. Do his skills extend to saving her?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight
• Release date: Apr 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9780369503381

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Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2021 Allyson Young

ISBN: 978-0-3695-0338-1

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Audrey Bobak

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

Once again, to my faithful beta readers Karen Hawk, Joyce MacGregor, and Salima Headley. Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to read my work and giving feedback to make it the best it can be.

—Ally

RUNNING ON EMPTY

Allyson Young

Copyright © 2021

Chapter One

I find myself requiring a personal assistant immediately, Alanna. JR Redding’s muscular frame lounged in the ergonomic chair behind his desk while she sat perched on the edge of one of the client chairs. Their positions were reversed, something else that added to her resentment of the guy.

She wondered what his requirement had to do with her. He’d insinuated himself into the company, and while they met every couple of days for updates and for her to answer his queries, she’d kept her distance otherwise. He was all too male, so alpha, and it took a massive effort to temper her increasingly ambivalent reaction to him.

And then there was the not-so-little issue of finding evidence of her father’s criminal escapades before JR did and expunging it.

She pasted on a cool smile and answered him. I see. Did you want me to contact HR? I’m sure they will have suggestions.

Unnecessary. I’ve found one.

Then why was she here? Oh?

You. You’re qualified, and you know this company better than anyone other than your father.

The idea of spending a vastly increased amount of time with JR sent a ghostly shiver down her spine. He had a certain reputation when it came to his PAs, after all, though surely he wasn’t implying… A breath shuddered up from her chest, and Justin’s gaze lowered to her breasts.

Blessing the confines of a structured bra and the thick material of her suit jacket that contained her traitorous nipples, she sought to distract him. Having the man look at her body was tantamount to some form of sensual invasion, and she wasn’t having it. It should have felt nasty. It didn’t, not at all, and that made it genuinely unsettling.

I’m afraid my plate is full. Hopefully, my father will soon return.

He shrugged, as much as his relaxed stance allowed, and it was her turn to notice the way his fine body flexed before she focused on his answer.

And I’ll make use of his acumen when—if—he is well enough. In the interim, you’ll fill in because time is wasting.

Hearing him speak it like it was a done deal was the height of arrogance, yet she wasn’t exactly in a position to challenge him. What if he decided he didn’t need her in the company at all? Sure, she knew Giles Inc. inside and out, but JR also had the reputation of being a new broom, and he’d already gotten a reasonably good handle on her dad’s company.

She just needed a little more time to sort out the books—and make any necessary corrections. Not for the first time, she cursed the necessity for someone like JR to come in and rescue the business and wished it wasn’t someone so astute—and so damn sexy.

Justin Redding was a legend, the youngest and brightest in his field if the papers were to be believed. His field was finance, but not merely the making of obscene amounts of money. No, Justin Redding—JR, as people were wont to call him—was known for his ability to suss out companies either failing or in danger of doing so, then infiltrating or purchasing them outright and building them into once again viable enterprises.

Saving jobs, providing additional gainful employment, insisting on excellent benefit plans, and the like ensured loyalty and dead-on adoration in many cases. No doubt his own coffers overflowed, and those of the shareholders, but he was seen as fair and even-handed. She would rather see him as a corporate raider.

So Alanna had few people to support her altogether opposite feelings about Justin Redding, not that she’d shared them. Arrogant. Bossy. Overwhelming. Infuriating. Most of her reaction was because of his role—he’d contacted her father to offer his services when her efforts at finding someone to partner with them had failed. She should have been grateful for his intervention and act professionally, but instead, she’d been angry.

Her anger wasn’t related to her awareness of him as an incredibly good-looking, well-built male who oozed sex appeal and a veritable wealth of hotness. His physical appearance impacted her. She could admit it. Yes, she was aware of it, but her anger toward him was a reflection of her impotence. Right. She’d keep telling herself that, and it wasn’t all a jumble of indecipherable feelings.

He continued when she did nothing more than stare at him, her thoughts ticking over rapid-fire. When I took over the running of the company, your father assured me I’d have … access to anything I required to ensure its success. That includes staff.

His measured tone reflected nothing other than equanimity. Part of her wanted to refuse and walk out the door with her head high and her nose in the air.

JR might be saving her father’s company, but she knew the other cost behind the grateful employees and soaring stocks. There were many more changes on the horizon, changes that wouldn’t include her father. Or her. Her parent might have survived the recent heart attack and would apparently recover to live many more productive years, but a buyout was on the horizon. Old Stephen Giles would be eased out, so she had to make use of the time she had.

My father said I was staff?

She didn’t particularly care about her father, but she did care for her remaining family, and God knew how the old man would react when he came to understand his actual role once he recovered. He’d likely try to grab the cash she knew he’d hidden and make a run for it. Cash belonging to the company. That was the reason she’d stuck around when JR waltzed into her life. She wanted to find the stash and add it back into the coffers. A criminal investigation could only affect her and her sister adversely.

Yes, staff. Your skill lies within your overall knowledge and the ability to negotiate, Alanna. JR’s comment effectively shut down her painful thoughts and attempt to hedge, and impatience flavored his tone.

She had to try to take a stand without alienating him. I … I’ve heard the job description of your personal assistants is somewhat different, Mr. Redding. I’d want to negotiate that.

His stare narrowed, and one brow quirked. Contracts are always negotiated. Although none of those women are you.

What the hell did that mean? Perhaps you might clarify.

I’m a busy man. I require a qualified PA. One who is available to me at any time. In any regard. It works for me. And I assure you none of my past assistants have complained. The pay is excellent, and the … benefits equally so.

He didn’t come right out and say it, but she knew his intent. Just as anyone who knew JR Redding was aware of the complete role his personal assistants played.

The fucking arrogance of the man! Did he think he was so sexually skilled as to make his assistants feel that grateful for his attentions? To be able to move past their role as what so many others perceived as his whore? And had none of them had their hearts broken when he set them aside, promoted, or well-compensated or whatever?

Alanna didn’t have sex casually, and she certainly wasn’t going to get paid for it. Her physical reaction to JR fizzled at the thought, and she spoke without watching her tongue. I’m not interested in whoring for you.

Wow. Whatever he’d expected from her, that obviously wasn’t it. Those high cheekbones nearly pierced his flesh as the skin tightened over them. His mouth set in a straight line, the chiseled sensuousness tightening before his anger. Crystal-blue eyes gleamed like shards of ice. But within an instant, his face smoothed back into its usual aloof, calm appearance, and she wondered if she’d actually seen the animal within the man.

My personal assistants aren’t whores, Alanna. Your judgmental attitude surprises me. I wouldn’t have thought it of you.

A flicker of shame nearly made her wince. She usually wasn’t that kind of person. Live and let live as long as people practiced informed consent. That had always been her motto. She found she didn’t want him to think poorly of her, regardless of how insane that impulse was.

"I apologize. I didn’t mean to denigrate your assistants. But I’m sure I’m not one of the staff my father referenced that you have access to."

Her father could care less about her now because he thought JR could be manipulated, be the next Alanna, only new and improved and without the inconvenient familial ties—and a vagina. Even lying in his hospital bed, hooked up to machines, the old man had started calculating. He wouldn’t see her as useful anymore, but JR didn’t need to know that. It was actually a bittersweet victory to look into the future and know her father would also be tossed aside.

Slouching back into his chair, JR regarded her over now steepled fingers, his eyes back to that clear, pale blue framed by thick black lashes, so startling in his tanned face. Your father is aware I’m offering you the position because it’s imperative we work together, or all the progress could be nullified. And he approves. There isn’t time to wait for him to heal.

His comment slammed into her like a fist to the gut, and the outrage dissipated to leave her hollow. Her father approved? Had he offered her?

The bitterness and rejection rolled over her in waves, and she was relieved to be sitting down because otherwise, she’d be on her knees. She got a grip. Why should she expect anything different? Of course, the old bastard had approved. JR had gone to her father like some liege lord of medieval times and bargained for her body, and she was no more than chattel in this modern time. Why did it have to matter so much?

She had no idea what emotions tracked over her face but became vaguely aware of JR’s insistent voice as he vaulted from his seat and hurried around the huge desk.

Alanna! What’s wrong? Are you ill?

Yes. Yes, she was indeed ill. Sick to her soul. Daddy had delivered the final blow, maybe even from his deathbed, for sometimes people didn’t recover no matter what the doctors said about his heart attack.

He’d sold her before, trading her business acumen on various ventures, using her intelligence and skill to shore up his poor choices and deals once he’d become aware of how good she was at her job and how hard she could work. Forcing her to abandon her ethics at times—though never this.

Alanna had done it without a thought to the contrary because her mother and little sister depended on it. Her father had married for money—and spent nearly all of it before she came of age and attained the education to intervene.

Her sister Lonnie needed intensive supervision all these past years and would in the future. Alanna wished her mom was still alive. Together, they’d made a good team against the old man, but wishes were horses, and cancer, in this case, couldn’t be beaten. But she badly missed her mom.

This time, good old dad had sold her lock, stock, and barrel. He probably assumed it wouldn’t mean much to her, being Justin Redding’s PA and fucking him as part of her duties. Daddy likely understood the need to have stress relief handy while capitalizing on other skills. After all, she’d lost count of his mistresses, although he preferred to keep them separate from business—and from her mother when she was alive. He and JR were cut from the same bolt of rotten cloth, and she despised them both equally. Too bad JR’s bad boy spark made a woman want to look past his despicable personality.

Oh, she could walk out, find another job, but nothing that paid like the one she had here. And there was this latest peccadillo to straighten out or risk being implicated, and she and her father losing everything. If it went down, where would her sister be? So, if she stayed … close, it was more likely she’d succeed and keep JR in the dark.

Without needing to consider his edict further, she etched another smile on her face and looked into his concerned eyes, doing her best to ignore his scent and the closeness of his heated form.

I’m fine. I just needed a minute to consider your points and adjust my thinking. They make sense. I agree. I’ll require medical assurances, of course, and I’ll get you mine. Let me know when the … position starts.

The shocked look on his face at her sudden acquiescence, the second time she’d clearly thrown him for a loop in an hour, made her momentarily wonder at the reason behind it. Taking advantage of his brief immobility, she rose and slipped out, getting through the door without anything further exchanged between them.

Her shaky legs carried her to her office, where she carefully closed the door and sought the relative safety of her desk. She tried to focus on work. A contract from JR arrived in her email within minutes, proving how quickly he’d recovered, or perhaps because he’d been so sure of her.

It was appallingly explicit in its precise terms, but she printed it out and signed it, striking out and initialing one word only. Submissive. That smacked of surrender, and while she’d agreed to six months minimum as his PA, she wasn’t going to roll over and surrender. No, she would comport herself with dignity and get the job done.

It wouldn’t be the first time she had gritted her teeth and pretended she was elsewhere. Being in her father’s presence, as infrequent as she could manage it, had perfected that particular art. Sex with Justin Redding might be a transcending experience from his standpoint, but she was going to keep both feet squarely on the ground. Nothing to say she couldn’t enjoy the benefits. People did it all the time.

The rest of the morning flew by as she organized her files and relocated to the office across from his, a smaller and less comfortable space that reflected how far she’d fallen. His door—her old door—remained shut, and she was grateful not to have to see him gloat. Besides,