That made her swoon. When was the last time she met a man this attractive?
“Where’d you come from, anyway?” he asked, bracing himself to sit up slightly.
“Uh, California,” she answered, without thinking. Then it hit her that he hadn’t meant the question literally. “I just happened to come across you while I was walking.”
“California?” he repeated. “That’s a long way to come just to scoop me out of the street.”
“Alley. I found you near a dumpster.”
“Dumpster?”
“The nurse cleaned you up a little earlier.”
“What were you doing in California?” he continued, seemingly very interested in Rose’s background.
She was slightly wary, but since he was still weak in a hospital bed, she figured she might as well just answer his questions.
“I—I was a technician at an IT firm in Silicon Valley.”
His dark, thick eyebrows arched up. “Silicon Valley is quite a contrast to good ol’ Cleveland. What are you here for?”
“Starting over, basically. With my kids. I’m looking for work right now.”
“You have children?”
“Two girls. Emma and Cassidy. I had to leave California because of… because of personal reasons.” She couldn’t understand why she was so willing to open up to this complete stranger, but something about him put her at ease and made her feel safe.
Like she could trust this man.
The only good thing that came out of her marriage with Brent were the two blessings she had: her young daughters, Emma and Cassidy, and Rose thanked her lucky stars everyday that she’d been able to win full custody of them.
And it was really thanks to Brent’s own failures that she was able to. Because as the years dragged on, he began finding other ways to punish Rose for being better than him. He cheated on her numerous times, with everyone from the office secretary to the busty bartender at the pub around the corner. He surreptitiously funneled money from Rose’s bank account into his own, just so that he could go on fake ‘business trips’ and spend her hard-earned money at strip clubs and casinos. And through all of this, Rose had tried her best to power onward, keeping each equally stressful tenet of her life strung together with loose threads. By that point, she had essentially become a single mother already, balancing her demanding career with the needs of her two small daughters while Brent went AWOL for days at a time, sometimes weeks.
In the end, Brent took away everything that made him hate her. He stole her money, her job, her house, and her spirit, as he dragged her through a nasty divorce. It wasn’t fair. All she’d ever wanted was to build a happy, stable life—despite Brent’s issues. But if he couldn’t have it his way, then he was bound and determined to stop her at every turn.
And what hurt the most was that he had been more than willing to sacrifice custody of the children by acting out impulsively and living selfishly. He had no regard for Emma and Cassidy as he squandered their college funds. Luckily, the girls were young enough to be mostly oblivious to what was going on.
“How old are your girls?” asked the man.
“Emma is seven and Cassidy is four. They’re a handful sometimes, but my parents never complain. My mom babysits them while I look for work.”
“They’re quite young. Did you enroll them in school here?”
She nodded. “To a public school near my parents’ house.” It had been a drastic life changing experience for them but her girls didn’t complain. They were just happy that they lived with their grandma and grandpa now.
The man studied her carefully. “With your quick thinking under duress, you would definitely be a good fit for my business,” he said.
Rose was stunned. Was he offering her a job? “And wh-what is your business?” she asked, suspicious.
He smiled and offered his hand for her to shake. As she took it, he answered, “Nice to meet you, Rose. I’m Joseph Sanford, but you can call me Joe. And I am a private investigator.”
“Oh,” she said simply, taken aback. Now everything kind of made sense. The way he dressed. How he was unconscious in the alleyway. Curiosity got the best of her. Work in a PI office? That would be interesting. Just like in the noir books she read when she was growing up. “And you have an opening…?
Joe laughed and nodded. “Yes. I require an office administrator. Someone who is good with computers, phones, organization, and… discretion.”
“I worked with internet security back in California,” Rose said quickly, her stomach turning in knots. This could not be happening! This insanely hot, mysterious man was not offering her a job while lying in a hospital. Cleveland was turning out to be full of surprises.
“That’s perfect. You’re hired.”