Chasing Red (Chasing Red 1)

“Absolutely.” I handed her a piece of paper with my references.

“Give me a second while I check these out,” she informed me, already heading to the back office for the phone.

When she came back a few minutes later, there was a radiant smile on her face. “I got ahold of two out of three of your references. Before anything else, I have a few questions I need to ask you now.”

“Okay.”

“Do you wear fur?”

“No.”

“Real leather?”

My mouth twitched. “No.”

“Good. I’m an animal lover. Are you vegan or vegetarian?”

“Um…no.”

“That’s too bad.” She let out a sigh before grinning. “You’re hired. Care to start today?”

My heart did a quick dance in my chest, and I felt a grin stretch across my lips, mirroring hers.

“I’d love to.”

“Call me Kar, then. And since I’m probably going to boss the hell out of you at work, want to have lunch with me now and we can discuss the rest?”

I nodded.

“There’s a vegetarian restaurant down the street. Okay with you?”

“Sounds perfect.”

She grabbed her purse and keys from a drawer in her desk, flipped the sign on the door saying that she’d be back in an hour, and locked the office behind us.

Now that I’d found a job, I allowed myself to buy a meal to celebrate, but just this one time. I needed every cent to pay off my loans.

Over fries, mushroom burgers, and milk shakes, we discussed my hourly rate, my responsibilities, and her expectations.

I didn’t warm up to anyone easily, but I couldn’t help it with Kara. She was in college and attending the same university. We just hadn’t met until today. Some people might find her bluntness intimidating, but I really appreciated her no-bullshit attitude.

We were laughing over her methods of dealing with difficult customers when she stopped mid-sentence, staring at something over my shoulder. Her eyes widened in shock, then flashed with hurt, before her shields went up.

“My ex. My ex from hell. He’s here, and he’s with someone. Don’t look!”

But I already had. Kara snarled in dismay, glaring at me. I chuckled at her expression.

A dark-haired guy was seated three tables away, his eyes a startling blue as they drank in Kara’s face. They quickly shifted to me for a second before they went back to Kara.

“He’s staring at you,” I said when I finally turned back to her.

“Fuck him. I hate him. I hope he’s burned alive, flayed alive. Boiled alive.”

“You’re scary.”

She glared at me. “And you suck. He totally saw you checking him out, and now he knows I’m talking about him. His ego is big enough without our help—trust me.” Her eyes narrowed, then gleamed. “Let me deflate it a little. Let’s go,” she commanded, already rising from her seat.

I looked at my burger longingly—wondering if I’d have time to ask the hostess to box it—but one glance at Kara told me that wasn’t going to happen. She was a woman on a mission.