Surrounded by Temptation by Mandy Harbin Read Free Book Online

office. She heard heated voices as she neared, but couldn’t quite make out the discussion. She cringed, hoping it wasn’t about her and the test from yesterday.
    “She cannot work here,” Josh said to his wife.
    Oh crap, they were talking about her. She needed to defuse the situation. No way was she going to leave before she was through with Rob. Er, before she was through with testing medication, she corrected in her thoughts.
    “I think that should be my call to make,” Ariel said. Josh and Mikaela turned to her and Krista looked up from reading a really thick book.
    “With all due respect, Ariel, it’s too soon for us to allow it. The guys are too dangerous.” He turned to his wife, a pleading look in his eyes. “Besides, I don’t fucking want her here.”
    Okay, that hurt. Ariel knew her presence here was difficult for everyone, but Josh’s words were too harsh to swallow. She cleared her throat and tried squaring her shoulders, but she felt like a rabbit taking on a wolf. A mountain lion’s more like it .
    “Look, I’m sorry if I’m making things difficult being here. I promise I will try to be as expedient as logically possible—”
    “Wait.” Josh turned to her, shaking his head. “I wasn’t talking about you. God, I wouldn’t be that cruel.” He sighed. “It’s Caldwell’s daughter, Lillian, that’s demanding a job since we, and I quote, ‘took her father’s land out from under her.’”
    Mikaela walked up to her husband and rubbed his arm affectionately. “Sweetie, let’s just put her off for now. Tell her we are looking into possibly hiring new people in a few months and we’d be glad to consider her then.”
    “If you reject employment because she’s a woman, she can sue you. It’s discrimination,” Krista said, not looking up from what had to be a law book in her lap.
    “It’s not that I think her being a woman makes her incapable of working here. It’s just too dangerous with Rob and Jack.”
    “I know that, Josh. We all know that, but we can’t tell her that. Just tell her it’ll be a few months before we’re ready to hire anybody.”
    “But I want some help now, kitten.”
    “If you hire someone now and she finds out, she can make a stink,” Krista said, finally looking up. “If you tell her you’ve already hired someone but didn’t actually hire a person until later, then she can still scream foul. I think your best bet is to consider hiring her for something that wouldn’t cause her to interact with the other guys and tell her that she has to earn your trust before you bring her in to the company completely.”
    Josh growled. “So I’ll be throwing away money on her when she’s not really working?”
    “Maybe you can have her work her father’s old land, the part that borders their property. It can be her probationary work. If she does well, then we can bring her on. By then the meds should be fully tested.” Mikaela looked at Ariel. “Right?”
    Crap. Ariel hated giving timelines on projects. Not that she didn’t like deadlines, but because something always happened that pushed back those original dates, making her look incompetent. She took a deep breath, considering her response. “I think it’s highly likely everything will be completed by then. However, this process could essentially be going on indefinitely. We have no way of knowing at this point if the men will become tolerant of one of the chemicals in the compound. Immunity could happen quickly or over years. Or it may never be an issue. It’s really too early to tell.”
    “Then what do you suggest?” Josh asked, arms crossed but eyes soft, genuinely seeking her opinion.
    “I think it’s a risk you have to assess yourself, but if Rob and Jack haven’t ever worked over there and you keep them from that area of your estate, then I don’t see the harm. Technically she’s been over there all these years anyway, I presume. It’s never been an issue before, right?”
    “True,” Josh