AND DISAPPOINTMENT followed Vivi out of the city and up the stairs to the two-bedroom apartment she shared with her university friends Laura Beth Matthews and Eloise Vaughn. Because she and the Grim Reaper had worked late, she knew her roommates would have already eaten supper. The scent of spaghetti permeated the darkly paneled walls of the hall to their third-floor walkup. But she didn’t care. She was too tired to eat.
Short, sweet, brunette Laura Beth gasped as Vivi entered the apartment. “You look like hell.”
“Thanks.” She walked to the refrigerator, which was only ten feet away from the sofa in their tiny, open-floor-plan living space, and pulled out a bottle of water.
Eloise, a tall blonde beauty whose wealthy parents had spoiled her rotten, laughed. “First day of accounting not fun?”
“I’m not in Accounting.”
Laura Beth patted the couch cushion beside her and motioned for Vivi to sit. “What happened?”
“Tucker Engle’s assistant was in an accident and no one else will work with him. So I have to be his assistant for about eight weeks. But that’s all I can tell you because “the” Tucker Engle might share secrets with me, so I’m not allowed to talk to anyone about anything that goes on in his office. Otherwise, I think it’s an ethics violation.”
Eloise and Laura Beth just stared at her.
Vivi squeezed her eyes shut in misery. “I’m sorry for babbling. I’m tired.”
“You’re freaking out,” Eloise corrected.
“You would be, too, if you spent twelve hours working with a guy you didn’t like, who has visitors who are obnoxious.”
“You didn’t punch anybody did you?”
Vivi took a long drink of water. “No, but I was tempted.”
“Are you going to tell us details or are you going to make us guess?”
“I already told you I can’t reveal anything that goes on in that office. Confidentiality and all that. But I will say this—I haven’t been treated so rudely in three years.”
Eloise and Laura Beth exchanged a look. “Bad things happened to you three years ago.”
“Exactly.”
Laura Beth caught her hand. “Maybe you shouldn’t have taken the assignment.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“So you have to work with a guy who reminds you of the worst time in your life?” Eloise sucked in a breath. “At least tell me he doesn’t look like Cord.”
“No and he doesn’t act like him either.” Cord had always been the life of everybody’s party. Grouchy Tucker Engle barely smiled. “But his one visitor today was exactly like Cord’s mom...Cordelia Dawson. The woman who thinks her son does no wrong.”
“You mean the woman who defended the kid who got you drunk and then attacked you. He would have raped you if you hadn’t gotten away.”
Vivi froze. They’d talked about this before, but never had Eloise been so blunt, so casual. Laura Beth shot her a warning look.
“Well, I’m sorry, but I think it’s better for her to talk about it than to let it fester.” She patted Vivi’s hand. “Right?”
“Actually, yes.” Before that morning, she hadn’t thought about being attacked in at least a year. All because she had friends who believed her. Talking, finding people who didn’t merely believe her but who’d hurt with her until the hurt was gone, had made her whole.
But she was in the big city now, not in Starlight, Kentucky, at their tiny university. She had to make this job work. “I can tolerate Tucker Engle and his obnoxious guests for eight or so weeks. In fact, I’ll do more than tolerate them. I’ll be the best damned assistant he’s ever had. Then when his real assistant returns I’ll go to Accounting where I belong.”
Eloise said, “That’s the spirit.”
Laura Beth patted her hand. “How about if I reheat the leftover spaghetti?”
“No thanks.” Vivi rose from the sofa. “I’m exhausted. I think I’ll just go to bed.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. My past is behind me.” She forced a smile. “Plus, if tomorrow’s anything like today, I’ll need all the rest I can get.”
After washing her face and changing into pajamas, she crawled into her twin bed beside Laura Beth’s, pulled out her cell phone and hit speed dial.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Vivi? What time is it?”
“It’s around ten. Did I wake you?”
“No, but if I don’t get out of bed, I’ll wake your father.” There was a quiet pause and the click of the closing of her mom’s bedroom door. “So what’s up? How was your first day at Inferno?”
“Awful. I’m not working in Accounting. I’m the assistant to the CEO.”
“Oh! That’s exciting!”
Unexpected relief unknotted the tight muscles of her shoulders. If her mom thought this was exciting, then maybe it was. “Really? I should be happy?”
“You’re working with the guy at the top. You should be taking advantage of the opportunity to make a good impression.”
“He’s kind of a grouch.”
“Most older men are.”
“Actually, he’s not older.”
“He isn’t?”
“He’s kind of young.”
Worry filled her mom’s voice. “How young?”
“Thirty-ish.”
“Thirty-ish? And he’s a CEO?”
“He’s the owner of the company. Which is why he’s so bossy. I read online that some of his employees call him the Grim Reaper.”
There was a silence. Then her mom said, “I don’t like this.”
Drat. She should have realized her overprotective mother would be suspicious of any man under fifty. Since her episode with Cord, her parents distrusted every man who looked at her twice. Which was part of the reason she’d moved to New York. She needed some space.
“I’m fine. I’m working for him, not dating him. Plus, his assistant will be back in a few weeks.”
“A lot can happen in a few weeks.”
“Including that I could prove myself to him like you said I should.”
