“Audrey!” Mr. Brown’s voice was closer now, his footfalls heavy as he thundered down the corridor towards the board room. I looked at the mess on the floor, debated my chances of clearing it up before he got here, calculated I had less than zero chance, and figured I shouldn’t even bother. I was going to get roasted with a capital R. Especially when Mr. Brown got an eyeful of the princess, a big wet stain spreading across the front of her silk blouse. Sucking in a deep breath, I let it fill my lungs before slowly breathing it out, waiting for the inevitable explosion. It came seconds later, the door slamming back so hard it hit the wall behind it and chipped the plaster.
I pointed to it. “That wasn’t me!”
Mr. Brown’s eyes bulged, his ruddy cheeks and bulbous nose became even redder, and his wide girth jiggled as rage built inside him. His hand clenched into a fist, relaxed, then clenched again and I just knew he wanted to punch me in the face. Literally. Thankfully he had more sense than to risk a potential lawsuit.
“Out!” He pointed at the door. “Get out and don’t come back. You’re fired!”
I skirted around him, keeping out of reach just in case he forgot himself and decided to give me a clip around the ears as a farewell present. Hurrying back to my cubicle, I quickly gathered up my belongings.
“Oh no.” Joey poked his head over the divider between our cubicles and watched as I shoved my lip balm, phone, and a pad of Post-it notes into my bag.
“Yep.” I nodded. “I warned you not to get attached.” Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I beamed at him. “See ya, Joey. Thanks for everything. Good luck with the presentation today. I’m sorry I left such a mess for you to clean up.”
“Audrey, wait.” Joey hurried after me. Stopping at the elevator, I jabbed at the button, keen to be gone before Mr. Brown re-appeared. I didn’t want to be responsible for him having a heart attack and I feared that was the only possible outcome if he laid eyes on me again.
“Let me talk to him,” Joey pleaded. “Give him time to calm down. Maybe he’ll give you a second chance.”
I patted Joey’s cheek. “Bless you.” I smiled sweetly, knowing he meant well. “But please don’t. To be fair, my assignment was almost up. Lee comes back from vacation in two days.”
“Oh.” Joey’s face was crestfallen. “Well, maybe we could meet up for drinks after work? A proper farewell?”
“Yeah sure, that’d be cool.” The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Stepping inside, I turned. “Text me the deets.”
God, I thought Joey was about to cry. His eyes welled up and his chin wobbled. The doors closed and I heard him call out, “See you, Audrey.” Leaning back, I waited for the elevator to deposit me on the ground floor. It didn’t have far to travel since Mr. Brown’s offices were on the third floor, but experience told me I was safer to take the elevator rather than the stairs.
The elevator arrived in the foyer and I hurried across to the rotating doors, concentrating hard on not getting squashed, smiling when I successfully navigated the moving doors to step out onto the sidewalk outside. I’d left my car a couple of blocks away, where the parking was free. I headed toward it, keeping a close eye on the people around me to avoid any further collisions. One unfortunate incident a day was quite enough.
Boss. You’ve got a message! My phone announced. Probably Joey with details of the after-work meet-up. Digging in my bag, I pulled out my phone and squinted through the broken screen to see Joey's smiling face.
Six o’clock at the Crown and Anchor.
I started to text back when it happened. It wasn’t my fault, I swear. I was jostled from behind. From. Behind. But of course, that jostling had a snowball effect and I sort of cannoned into the person in front and then shot off at a sideways angle, twisting my ankle as I stumbled over the curb—and looked up in time to see a bus bearing down on me.
2
Hard fingers wrapped around my arm and yanked me back. The bus whizzed past, whipping my hair back from my face, only I’d now gathered momentum and with those fingers still wrapped around my arm, I swung around and hit my rescuer fair in the nuts.
“Oooof.” He dropped my arm to clutch at his crotch instead. “Son of a…” he groaned.
“I’m so sorry!” He was bent over, so all I could really see were his denim-clad legs—black denim, my favorite—and his dark hair as he dragged in a pained breath. I reached forward to offer a consoling pat on his shoulder when he suddenly straightened and our heads collided with a loud crack.
“Ow!” Pain ricocheted through my skull and I staggered backward, raising a hand to the egg already forming on my forehead.
“Jesus Christ,” my rescuer cursed. “Just stand still and don’t move.”
I did as I was told, watching as the dark-haired stranger straightened and I finally got a good look at him. My, oh my! Red and black checkered shirt over a black T-shirt, the dark denim I loved, boots, five o’clock shadow to die for. A red mark forming on his square jaw where we’d connected. His grey eyes—surrounded by long, thick lashes—narrowed as he studied me in turn.
“Audrey, you really do need a keeper.” Ben Delaney, my bestie, stepped around the man, shaking his head at me. Launching myself at him, I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed him tight.
“It’s good to see you!” I declared, turning my head to drop a kiss on his bristled cheek.
His chest rumbled as he laughed. “Still getting yourself into trouble I see. You’re a menace.” He disentangled himself from my embrace and slapped the other man on the back.
“You okay?” he asked.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome eyed me distrustfully, but nodded. “I’ll live.” His voice was deep and gravelly and did funny things to my insides.
Ben grinned. “This walking disaster zone is my best friend, Audrey Fitzgerald. Audrey, meet Kade Galloway. Detective Kade Galloway.”
My heart sank. He was one of them. A cop. My eyes darted between Ben and the detective. Ben gave a slight nod as if to reassure me that I could trust this one, that he was okay. Tentatively I held out a hand.
“Pleased to meet you,” I offered.
He looked at my hand and with what I could only call reluctance, gave it a quick shake, then slid his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.
“Pleased to meet you too, Audrey,” he smiled and I blinked in surprise. The smile was genuine and revealed a drool-worthy dimple. He was the best thing I’d seen in forever…why did he have to be a cop? Ben used to be on the force. He’d had a promising career ahead of him. Until he didn’t. Until they turned their backs on him and shunned him and forced him out. Now he ran his own PI business—one I helped set up.
But I’d learned something from Ben’s time on the force. Cops couldn’t be trusted. They twisted things to suit themselves, and they weren’t above bending the law to cover their own asses. I sighed wistfully. Such a shame.
“What are you doing out here anyway? Get off early today?” Ben asked. Then he looked me up and down, eyes narrowed, and he snorted.
“What?” I did a quick inventory, checking I hadn’t spilled lunch on my T-shirt or had my skirt on backward or anything else equally mortifying.