Free All the Right Places (RILEY O'BRIEN & CO #1) by Jenna Sutton Page A

siblings were heirs to a significant fortune, and they had probably grown up surrounded by luxury.
    She had no doubt his childhood home and the place where she had grown up had only one thing in common: they were both located on the planet Earth. Beyond that fact, she couldn’t imagine any other similarities.
    Before Amelia had moved in with Ava Grace, she and her mother had shared a one-bedroom apartment in a rundown duplex. She’d slept on the sofa with one eye always open in case one of her mother’s boyfriends ventured from the bedroom to “explore.”
    “What about your parents?” he asked. “Do they still live in Texas?”
    Nausea churned in her stomach. Her background embarrassed her, and she didn’t want to share it with someone of Quinn’s privileged existence. He was everything she wasn’t—wealthy, educated, successful, good-looking, and from a good family.
    “No,” she answered curtly, hoping he would get a clue that she didn’t want to talk about her family.
    He tilted his head. “Where do they live?”
    “My mother is dead, and I don’t know where my father is.”
    Her voice was hard, unfriendly. She didn’t want to invite more questions because if she were honest, she’d have to admit she didn’t know
who
her father was.
    “I’m sorry to hear about your mom,” Quinn replied quietly, his eyes dark despite the sun reflecting off the bay.
    She shrugged off his condolences. Her mother had caused Amelia more pain in life than she had in death. Maybe it made her unfeeling, maybe it made her a monster, but when she’d received the call that her mother was dead, she had been relieved.
    When she had moved in with Ava Grace, she had tried so hard to distance herself from her mother. When Janna had died, she had finally obtained the distance she needed.
    At the time, she and Ava Grace had saved every penny so they could move to Nashville, and Amelia had been angry, so very angry that she’d been forced to use that money to bury her mother. When she thought about it now, her earlier anger caused her such shame she could barely stand to look in the mirror.
    She realized she had a lot of unresolved emotional issuesstemming from her childhood. She knew this because she watched Dr. Phil occasionally and she read a lot of self-help books. Together, they were a cheap therapist.
    Quinn cleared his throat, and she realized she’d been staring into space, who knew for how long. She focused on his handsome face, and not for the first time, she wished she could be proud of the person she was today.
    Proud enough to share the details with someone like Quinn.



Chapter 9
    Amelia made it back from lunch with Quinn just moments before Deda walked into the conference room with two other people, a woman and a man, both in their fifties.
    “Diana, Vandy, this is Amelia.”
    Deda provided a little bit of background on both of them, and she did her best to commit the details to memory because she didn’t want to offend them. Diana Stanton was the chief financial officer, and Karl Vandenberg, known to everyone as Vandy, headed up the women’s division.
    Diana had worked for Riley O’Brien & Co. since the mid-eighties, starting out as a secretary for Mr. O’Brien. She reported directly to the president and CEO, and since Quinn currently filled that position, she answered to him. Vandy, meanwhile, had been childhood pals with Mr. O’Brien and joined the company in 1989. He also reported directly to Quinn.
    As soon as Deda finished the introductions, Diana took control of the meeting. Amelia found her demeanor very abrasive, and she wondered if it was because Diana was part of the generation responsible for advancing women in the workplace and breaking the glass ceiling.
    “Quinn directed me to share some very specific financial information with you.” Diana sniffed, as if the very ideaoffended her sensibilities. “I can’t imagine why he’d want to do so since you won’t be fronting any of the costs related