Secret Indiscretions (Carson Cove Scandals 2)

Considering that you’re engaged to marry your best friend’s dad, I would say that’s an understatement.

“I haven’t been able to tell anyone.” I pulled Taylor towards the corner of the hallway to make sure nobody could hear us. “He’s amazing. If you hadn’t introduced us…”

“I think that’s my first successful attempt at matchmaking.” She raised an eyebrow. “Wow—I didn’t see that coming.”

“It’s still new, but he’s technically my date for the wedding—or I’m technically his. He was the one that asked me.” I shrugged.

No reason to tell her why since we’re not going to be pretending that we’re dating anymore—it’s a real one.

“That’s so freaking awesome.” Taylor smiled. “Jon’s a great guy. I know his divorce has been hard on him, and he deserves to be happy—so do you.”

“I am.” A huge smile spread across my lips. “It’s still new, obviously, but I don’t know—there’s just something about him...”

“You don’t have to explain it to me.” She leaned forward. “When you know, you just know.”

It was nice to tell Taylor about Jon. She was someone I could trust, and I didn’t have to worry about her telling anyone. She might mention it to Bryant, but I didn’t think he would have a problem with his best friend being happy. They certainly wouldn’t be able to judge us for the age difference—considering that it was a challenge they had to overcome when they started dating. It didn’t feel like a challenge with Jon. I had my fill of guys my own age—and I hadn’t met a single one of them that I trusted enough to meet my daughter—including her own father. Jon had the maturity and stability I needed in my life. We just had to make sure that our budding romance didn’t turn into an old-fashioned Carson Cove scandal.

As happy as Jon makes me, I still have to stay on my toes—just in case Jackson shows up again and tries to ruin everything.

I finished my last class for the day, and as I walked to my car, a sense of excitement began to run through my veins. I wasn’t going to Moretti’s to wait tables until I was dead on my feet. I was going to Alcott Inc., where I would get paid to learn my new job on a part-time basis. The final stretch until graduation was going to hurt a little bit financially, but Alcott Inc. was being very generous considering that I was only going to be there a few hours every day. My day would be over when it was daylight, and I would get to sit down for dinner with Charley and my mom. It was an incredible feeling. I drove to Alcott Inc., found a parking spot in the employees’ section—because I was actually an employee and walked into the lobby.

“Ms. Monroe?” A woman motioned to me.

“Yes!” I walked over to her.

“Hi, I’m Nancy Salinger. I work in HR.” She shook my hand. “If you’ll follow me; we’ll get you all set up for your first day!”

“Awesome, thank you so much.” I nodded and followed her to the elevator—and after a quick trip to the second floor, I was in HR.

There was a lot of paperwork to fill out. I basically had to give them everything except for my blood type, and I even had to pee in a cup so that they could do a routine drug test. I spent two hours taking care of everything in HR; then I was escorted to security so that I could get my ID badge. I wouldn’t have to enter through the lobby anymore. There was a back door with a badge scanner, and it would take me to an elevator that was for employees only. My job was in the Distribution Marketing, which was on the fifth floor, so after I finished taking care of everything with human resources, it was time see where I would be spending my time while I was an employee of Alcott Inc.

“Alright, so I’m going to introduce you to your boss...” Nancy looked over at me while we rode the elevator to the fifth floor. “His name is Damien Sinn, and I have to warn you, some people do think he’s a bit intense when they first meet him—but he’s quite nice once you get to know him a little better.”

That seems ominous…

“Wait? Sinn?” I raised an eyebrow. “Is he related to—Gordon Sinn?”

That’s a rather unique last name—hard to forget for sure.

“Yep, he’s Gordon Sinn’s grandson,” Nancy confirmed.

Nancy didn’t explain why Gordon Sinn’s grandson was working at Alcott Inc. instead of his family’s company, and I didn’t get a chance to ask before the elevator came to a stop. If I hadn’t already met the hottest guy on the planet, I would have prematurely assigned that label to Damien. He was intense. He had a presence to him, much like Jon, and it was very clear why he was in charge of the Distribution Marketing department. The other employees leaned forward to stare at their screens—typed faster—and just generally looked like they were terrified of not working hard enough when we passed by them while Damien gave me a tour of my new department. We finally arrived at a set of four cubicles—and one of them had my name on it—which brought the sense of excitement back to the surface all over again.

“You’re here.” Damien pointed at my desk. “You’ll be sitting next to Lisa—she’s your mentor. If you need anything, I already showed you where my office is.”

“Thank you.” I turned towards him and smiled.

“Try not to fuck anything up,” Damien growled. “If I get called to Jon’s office because of something you did, it’ll be the last day you work here.”

Wow—yeah, he’s intense.

“I’ll—do my best.” I looked down at the floor and felt a lump rising in my throat.

“No, you’ll be better than your best.” Damien narrowed his eyes and stared me down before he walked back to his office.

I guess Jon isn’t the only person at Alcott Inc. I must impress if I want to keep my job…

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