Tame Me (The Macintyre Brothers 3)

So, I approached the holidays with a mix of happiness and trepidation. How would my father treat him?

"Mom, you have to tell Dad not to interrogate Josh about the business back with Mr. Garner," I said when we were on the phone talking about our plans. "Josh had nothing to do with it."

"I know, dear," my mother said. "I'll give him the word."

I could almost see her pointing her finger at my father and telling him to be nice and respectful to Josh and not to pester him about Josh Sr's history with his former business partner. She was no shrinking violet.

"My Josh had nothing to do with all that intrigue and scandal," I added. "It was long before he was even out of high school so if there's any guilt, it's not on my Josh's shoulders."

"He knows that, dear, but it's hard for him to forget what happened. Don't worry. He'll be on his best behavior. I promise I'll have him whipped into shape by Christmas."

She laughed and I had to smile, although I wasn't entirely sure she was right. He had a mind of his own and was a man of power. He was used to getting what he wanted, and I knew he'd never felt as if Josh's father paid any price for what happened.

Frankly, I didn't really know what happened, except that the nightly investigative news show that was the pride of Macintyre Broadcasting Corporation did a hard-hitting exposé of Mr. Garner that led to a criminal investigation and in the end, his incarceration for fraud. If he hadn't been guilty, I felt certain that the courts would have let him go. The fact that he went to jail satisfied me that whatever role MBS had in the affair, the sentence was warranted.

Anyway, Josh was in school when it all happened so there was no way he had anything to do with it. My father would just have to forget it and move on.

On his part, Josh spent the night before we went to Concord on his computer, while I spent it watching Oliver!, a movie he said he and his brothers and father always watched at Christmas and eating popcorn.

"Josh," I called out from the living room of his apartment. "Come and watch. I thought you said you watch this every Christmas."

"I do, I do," he replied. "I just have a bit of work to finish up before I can feel comfortable taking the rest of the holiday off and join you. Go ahead and watch without me."

I shrugged, and pressed play on the remote, wanting to watch with him, but I had to realize he had a very responsible position with MBC and the Chronicle. I couldn't begrudge him trying to finish up work before taking a vacation.

I watched for an hour before I got up for a pee break and passed the office. Josh was bent over his laptop, reading some kind of document online. When I was finished, I stopped in and leaned over him, kissing his neck.

"What are you working so hard on?" I asked. I checked his computer screen and saw an old news clipping that looked like it was on microfiche.

VP of Centaur Corp Indicted on 15 Charges of Insider Trading, Going to Jail

I squeezed his shoulder. "Josh," I said and leaned my chin on his shoulder. "You said you had work to do. This isn't work."

He turned around and pulled me onto his lap. I giggled when he tickled me, squirming out of t

he way, but he was stronger, and I couldn't escape.

"Au contraire, ma petit, this is real work. This is understanding the case well enough that I can face your father and answer all his questions about it when I meet him this weekend."

"I don't want you two talking about the case," I said. "I want peace between you. It's off limits, okay?"

"You know he'll say something about it," Josh said. "I have to be able to answer."

"Seriously, no," I replied and pushed his shoulder. "Be a good boy, okay? My mom will work on my dad to keep his mouth shut, too. We want a peaceful happy Christmas."

On his part, Josh kissed me to silence my protest and I was momentarily lost in his arms and to his very passionate kiss. I knew it was just a ruse to distract me from what he was doing.

I pulled away and squeezed his shoulder. "Don't try to use your sexy body to distract me," I said and narrowed my eyes. "If you think you can manipulate me with your hunky muscles and passion, you're wrong."

"Ha!" he said and squeezed me. "It worked last night when you asked me about it. It worked again this morning when you tried again. I figured it would work again tonight."

"You think I'm that easy, do you?" I asked, mock-upset.

"I count on it," he replied and smiled at me in this totally seductive way. I couldn't help but smile back.

"I have this weakness for you," I said. "Don't condemn me."

"I know, and I intend to exploit that weakness as often as I can."