All He Really Needs by Emily McKay

The hardcore kind. Panic spiked through Griffin.
This company did the kind of background check that would reveal a VP’s
involvement with an international charity. Did Dalton know about Hope 2 O? If he
did, then why the hell had he left Griffin in charge of Cain Enterprises?
    In the bottom drawer, he found a jar of almonds and he poured a
few out into his hand before opening the manila folder and pulling out the pages
it contained. It took him several minutes of staring at the file before he
realized what it contained—that was how surprised he was by the envelope’s
contents.
    It wasn’t a file on him. It was information about Sydney.
    Dalton must have subcontracted the work when he’d decided to
hire her full-time. Yeah, HR would handle all the reference checks and job
recommendations, but it wasn’t uncommon for Dalton to hire out a more in-depth
background search for someone in a position of authority at the company. And now
that Griffin thought about it, that certainly described Sydney’s position. She
knew everything about the company and had access to some very high-level stuff.
She had more influence than most of the junior VPs. Certainly more than he had.
So it only made sense. Still, he hadn’t been expecting it, so seeing the file
surprised the hell out of him.
    He mindlessly popped a few almonds into his mouth as he flipped
through the pages. He hadn’t meant to read it. If he hadn’t been hungry and
tired and just drunk two shots of Scotch in quick succession, he would have had
the foresight to shove the pages back into the envelope and let it go.
    Instead, his gaze scanned the pages almost without realizing he
was doing it. And once he’d read some of it, he couldn’t stop. In fact, he had
to read parts a second time, just because it all seemed so damn hard to believe.
So completely out of character with the woman he knew.
    Finally, he shoved the pages back into the envelope and buried
it at the back of the drawer. He ate more nuts, hoping the salt would quell the
queasy feeling in his stomach. It didn’t.
    If he hadn’t felt like a total jackass before, he certainly did
now. Here he’d been bitching about his sad childhood as the poor, ignored rich
boy, and Sydney had real tragedy in her background. She was one bowl of porridge
short of being a character in a Dickens novel. And he’d had the gall to complain
to her.
    He was surprised she hadn’t thrown his drink in his face and
walked out on him right then.
    Naturally, his first impulse was to apologize. But to do so
he’d have to admit what he’d done, which would relieve his own guilt, but she
wouldn’t be happy about it. Somehow, he didn’t think this was the kind of
information she’d share with just everyone. After all, they’d been sleeping
together for months and she hadn’t mentioned that she’d been a foster child.
That Child Protective Services had removed her from her birth mother when she
was six. Of course, before this morning, he hadn’t trotted out his pathetic
tortured past, either. He hated being the object of pity and he suspected that
Sydney felt the same way. No. It would be much better if he didn’t tell her at
all. If he just buried the information in the nether regions of his brain and
forgot all about it.
    Which still left him with the issue of how to make it up to her
for acting like an ass earlier. But that was an issue easily resolved.
    He pushed back his chair and dropped the now empty almond
container in the trash. On his way out of the office, he stopped back by the
conference room. Sydney looked up as he stuck his head in the door, her
expression wary.
    Before she could ask, he said, “I’m going to follow your advice
and go talk to my mother. See what she knows.”
    Surprise flickered over Sydney’s face. “You are?”
    “Yeah. I figure maybe you’re right about her. Maybe she can
help.”
    “Do you think she will?” Sydney closed the file in front of her
and leaned forward eagerly. “I mean,