Free Finding The One (Meadowview Heroes 1; The Meadowview Series 5) by Rochelle French

Botox by the time you’re twenty,” he teased.
    “Now who’s changing the subject? Besides, I don’t buy it. You’ll call her—you have to. I’ve never seen you like this over a woman before.” She looked at him, quizzically. “Seriously, Mac, what are you planning to do?”
    “I’ll give her what she really wants,” he said simply. “I’ll award her the contract. She’ll be my new live model.”
    Doe’s eyes narrowed. “I’m assuming you’ll tell her who you are first, right?”
    Of course he’d let Trudy know who he was, but he did so love needling his little sister. “Letting her think Dad is the one offering the job would be rather disingenuous.”
    “Ya think?” Doe snorted.
    He added, laying on the fake levity, “But if I don’t, I’d be guaranteed of seeing her that way.”
    “Mac, you seriously—”
    “Although, if she did sign the contract, would it be ethical to sleep with her while she’s my employee?”
    “You cannot seriously be considering not telling her who you are, right?” Doe shoved her hands on her hips.
    He hefted the apple’s weight in his hand and stared out the window, pretending to be deep in contemplation. “But what if she never wants to see me again? What then?”
    “I swear to God,” Doe snapped, “if you don’t tell her who you are before she signs that contract, I’ll disown you as my brother.”
    He turned to grin at his sister. “I was just teasing you. Besides, you’d never do disown me. You need me too much.”
    Doe’s chin wobbled and he promptly let go of trying to get a rise out of her. Christ. Sometimes he forgot she’d just turned eighteen—still a kid, really. And she did need him. As hard as their mother’s death had hit him, Doe had completely unraveled. In every way that mattered, he was her family, and she couldn’t raise Aaron without his help, even as much as she tried to help by assisting him and his father in their work.
    Still, he shouldn’t have said what he did.
    “I promise, Doe. I’ll make sure she knows who I am. That the contract is with Mac Johns, not Gregor Johansson. And , I’ll be a gentleman and let her come to me instead of chasing her.”
    And then he’d have to wait and see if Trudy would want anything to do with him. But he didn’t plan to wait long.

T wo days later , Trudy clung to her cell phone, relief flowing through her. Phew! She’d been awarded the contract with Gregor Johansson. She could keep her loft. She wouldn’t end up defaulting on the massive debt she’d accrued from her medical bills. She’d been saved.
    Her agent, Lisa, had been in a rush when she spoke with her, but had added that Gregor had been incessant that he hire nobody else but Gertrude Prendergast. Lisa mentioned Gregor had seen her at the gallery event and had apparently been amazed. And Lisa thought by Gregor’s reaction that Trudy would be all but guaranteed the contract extension—the three-month job would extend to three years. Woot!
    Her new job would start bright and early Monday at the Johansson place in the small town of Meadowview, about two hours away. Trudy was to be there by eight Monday morning, ready to pose for a series of nudes.
    The contract was to be messengered to her later in the day for her signature. Trudy was to sign both copies, keep one, and send the other back to her agent, who’d in turn would get it to the artist’s assistant. The girl with the multiple piercings and the cute little baby with the grabby hands.
    Mac’s little sister, Doe.
    She figured she couldn’t hide from the guy the rest of her life, but she wasn’t going to make it easy for him to find her—not that he wanted to. The events of the other night spoke quite clearly a second do-over would never happen. She hoped he hadn’t mentioned the infamous night of bad sex to his sister.
    Of course he hadn’t, she argued with herself. Who would tell their sibling they’d had horrid sex?
    Uh, yeah, so she’d told Milla. But that was