Still on her hands and knees, she headed back to the kitchen and rounded the corner to go down the stairs. She stopped only when she realized going down the steep steps on her hands and knees would inevitably result in her rolling down like a bowling ball.
As Carrie stood up, the phone rang. Startled, she screamed and scrambled down into the basement. Upon a frantic search for a hiding place, she squeezed into a tiny corner cabinet.
Pounding thundered on the door. A minute later, someone tested the metal basement doors that opened to the backyard.
She stared up at the cobwebbed top of the small cabinet she hid in and prayed to God.
Please let me have locked it. Please. Please. Please. I regret wishing I was dead earlier today. Now I have my job back, I absolutely don’t want to die. Please, I’m not saying you owe me for this horrible week, but I’m due something good. Just let me live!”
She sighed with relief when the intruder stopped pulling on the basement door. God heard her. They’ll go away now and all will be well.
Then the boards creaked from someone walking in her living room. She trembled in fear. Don’t come down to the basement. Don’t come down.
A soft groan escaped her when she heard thumps on the basement steps. I’m going to die!
“She’s not here.”
“I’m telling you, I heard her scream.”
“Well, then she doesn’t want to talk to you and she’s hiding.”
“Why would she hide? I sent her an email telling her I hadn’t fired her.”
“And you think that makes it all okay?”
Finally, the voices and words worked their way through the fog of fear surrounding her. “Trent?” she called out.
“Carrie? Where are you?”
“Hiding from the Russian mafia.”
The door to the cabinet opened and her boss knelt down on the other side. He gently tugged her from her tiny hiding spot.
“They would’ve never looked for you there. No one should be able to fit in such a miniscule space.”
He gathered her in his arms and hugged her, then picked her up so her feet dangled above the ground. “Did you get my email?”
He pressed her face into the crook of his neck, muffling her response. “Yes.”
“Sam, go back outside and study the plants in Carrie’s garden so you don’t mistake them for weeds ever again.”
“The garden didn’t look a thing like it does now,” Sam grumbled and stomped up the basement steps.
Trent carried her upstairs, and wandered about her first floor. “Where do you sleep?”
“Upstairs?”
He sighed in exasperation. “For a little house this place sure has a lot of steps.”
“You don’t have to carry me. I have legs.”
“I’ll verify your legs in one moment.” Trent stopped at the landing of the second floor. “Left or right?”
“Left.” Relief overwhelmed her. The mafia hadn’t come and, even better, Trent had. Still, she could barely make sense of her life.
He laid her down in the center of her bed and joined her.
Petting her clean hair, he studied her with concern. “I’m sorry you thought I’d fired you. I sent you an email. Did you read it?” He beamed with pride as he asked his question.
She smiled and nodded.
His look of adoration sent tingles of delight down her spine. Then he saddened. “Sorry about Coco being such a bitch.” He sighed. “I gather from your comment about betrayal I didn’t shield you well enough.”
Not wanting to ruin this lovely moment, she remained mute.
He sighed and dipped his head. “About five years ago, my father decided I should grow up and become a real man, so he arranged my marriage to Coco Tyler.”
Carrie’s eyes rounded in horror. “You’re married? To her?”
“No! I hadn’t known the viper an hour before I knew I’d rather be dead than married to that she-devil. She’s like my father with breasts. However, no one else could see the woman I saw. Everybody kept calling me a lucky bastard.”
Carrie saw nothing charming about the woman.
He pressed his forehead to hers. “You saw the real Coco, but most people don’t. I’m pretty sure all the potential employees we interviewed today thought her the nicest woman they’d ever met.” He paused. “They probably wouldn’t care for what she thought of them after they left.”
“Did you like them?” Getting good employees remained the key objective.
“Honestly, I would’ve hired them all on the spot.”
“What positions did they come for?”
He shrugged.
She laughed softly, now understanding how she’d gotten the job two years ago. His desperate need for better employees meant he’d hire anyone who actually wanted to work, qualifications be damned.
“Did you hire anybody?”
He sighed. “No, Coco wouldn’t let me. She goes on about a process and if I don’t comply, she’ll walk.”
“Would that be such a bad thing?” Carrie asked.
“You should’ve seen these people. They impressed me. With them, we could become the best furniture manufacturer in the world.”
“In your email, you said I was promoted…”
He rolled to his back and pulled her onto his chest. “We’ll get to that, but I need to finish my story about Coco and me.”
She grimaced. “You really don’t have to. It’s better if I don’t dislike her more than I do now.”
“Doesn’t matter. She can’t fire you and she’s just temporary. Once we have our new staff, I give you my solemn word she’s gone.”
Instead of making her feel better, his words cultivated a field of worry within her.
“Exactly what am I promoted to?”
“It’s just temporary,” he promised.
“And what is it?”
“You are our Change Specialist.”
She'd never heard of the position. Before she could object, he pressed his fingers to her lips. “I googled it.”
Trent learned a new skill?
He smiled. “Yes, I googled and did very well. I had over a million responses.”
Patting his silk shirt, she asked, “So what is it?”
His brow furrowed. “I’m not clear on that. However, I found a training facility on the West Coast, which promises after their two-week course, you’ll have all the skills needed to do your job.”
She’d research it later, but right now she needed to make sure Trent hadn’t sent her further into debt.
“When is this training?”
“Starts Monday.”
“Trent! I’ve told you—”
“Your cards are maxed out and you have no money. I’ve nearly put you in bankruptcy,” he said.
His response confused her. “I never told you the last part?”
“But I have, haven’t I?”
She answered with the shrug he always used when he didn’t want to admit the truth.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight to his chest. “David said I nearly got myself and you into trouble with the FBI today. He told me to tell you to send the money back to avoid serious tax consequences. I assured him you already had. My banker said you probably incurred a fee as well.”
She nodded.
He released her and ran his hand through his perfect hair. “Great! So not only did I not help, but I actually worsened your situation.”
She patted his cheek. “You meant well.”
He captured her hand and pressed his lips to it. “I always mean to do good, but things only work out when you’re with me.”
She lifted her head and stared at him in disbelief then pulled away her hand, since she didn’t deserve his fine compliment. “I haven’t kept you out of trouble this week. In fact, I’ve been the cause of most of your trouble.
He smiled. “It’s been one horrible week, I’ll grant you. However, no one but you could have gotten me through it.” His focus went to her s
kylight. “Interesting. Does it leak?”
She softly laughed. “Not yet.”
Gathering her into his arms, he sighed with happiness. “I’m glad we got this misunderstanding cleared up.”
She agreed on so many levels. She got to keep her job, her best friend, and the man she loved. “Me, too.”
“Let’s make a pact. We’ll always talk an issue out before we play the betrayal card.”
“Deal.”
Smiling, he reached into his shirt pocket and extracted a credit card. “This is the first Lancaster credit card in existence. According to the man I spoke to today, my most valuable employee can submit expense reports as often as she wants. Then all I have to do is electronically approve them and it’s forwarded to accounting where they'll pay the credit card company direct from a Lancaster account.”
“You mean I don’t have to pay the provider and get reimbursed?”
“That’s correct. In the situation that you buy something not allowed on your expenses, you’ll have to reimburse Lancaster, but I promise to be very patient.”
He handed over the card. “And it has unlimited credit.”
Carrie stared at her new car in amazement. It symbolized how much Trent had changed. A month ago he’d refused to even consider a company card and now, on the worst week ever, he manage to locate a vender and get her a card all on his own. And her name was even spelled correctly. “How did you do this?”
“Without you?”
She grimaced, knowing he hated when people treated him like an idiot. “I didn’t mean…”
Trent chuckled and stroked her cheek. “David put me in touch with the guy, after yelling at me for hiring a FBI agent to commit a crime.”
Given his lawyer had taught Trent never to talk to police, asking the FBI to break the law must have outraged Mr. Sedita a great deal. “Why did you do that?”
Trent sighed and pulled her into a tight spooning. “Five years ago, when I lost faith in my personal accountant, I hired the guy as an investigator and he not only figured out how the fellow ripped me off, but helped the FBI put the cretin in jail. Turned out his work impressed them enough they hired him as an agent.”
“And he failed to mention his change of profession when you called him?”
“Yeah. In retrospect, he gave me a major hint when he repeated my request while making a big deal that what I wanted done was illegal. At the time, I thought him a drama queen, trying to justify his price. Now, I realize he was taping the conversation so I couldn’t claim I didn’t know it was illegal later.” He leaned in and nuzzled her neck. “Thank God, you didn’t sign that document.” He paused. “Why didn’t you sign it? You tend to do whatever cops tell you.”
She turned and faced him. “Because when I explained your good intentions when you sent me the money, and what a wonderful person you were, Agent Troy got angry and demanded I sign a page of print so tiny that I couldn’t read it. So I declared the need of the toilet, grabbed a phone and a magnifying glass then locked myself in the bathroom while I called your lawyer.”
Trent frowned. “How’d you get David’s number?”
“I remembered it.”
His eyes sparkled as he caressed her face. “You’re amazing in so many ways. You are vital, not just for my company, but for me. You’ve changed me, Carrie.”
She smiled, enjoying this conversation immensely. “How so?”
“I’ve learned to thank people and appreciate their efforts. Also, that fixing a problem is often easier and certainly more effective than yelling at those responsible. But most importantly, I’ve learned neither myself nor my company can survive without you. If I had my way, you’d never leave my sight.”
Trent tilted her face up to his. “However, your happiness comes before mine, so on Monday, you go to San Fran to become the world’s best Change Specialist. The second we hire a finance manager I will make his or her top priority the reimbursement of your expense report, which we will wire directly into your account and call you the moment it’s done.”
She rewarded him with a loving smile.
He pulled her close to him. “I’ve been forcing myself to wait until we got our new employees to do this, but now I’m thinking the waiting has caused our recent misunderstandings.”
Her brow furrowed. “I’m not following.”
“Hopefully, you will be soon.” He pressed his lips to hers. She opened her lips to him and he deepened his kiss, plundering the sweetest mouth he’d ever tasted. When she groaned, he pulled back to get a read on whether he’d just done something brilliant or the stupidest thing in his life. Her radiant smile put him at ease.
He pulled her onto his chest. His cock wanted to get to the finish line right away, but Trent intended to ignore it. They’d been slowly edging to this point for two years, but it took one month without her for Trent to realize just how important to his happiness she’d become. She was his best friend, his trusted ally, his confidant and, all too often, his partner in accidental crime.
No one understood him better or fought for him harder. With Carrie beside him, he would become the man he wished to be, a man with no resemblance to his father at all, a man worthy of such an adorable and admirable human.
Carrie was too important for him to screw this up. He needed to take his time and lay a foundation that would hold, regardless of future storms. But he had to stake his claim now. He couldn’t risk Carrie not fully understanding his commitment to their relationship, in all its parts.
He met her happy gaze and spoke words he’d never before said to anyone. “Carrie…I love you. I have for a very long time.”
Her eyes rounded and sparkled. “Since when?”
He laughed at her detailed oriented mind. “I don’t know. Maybe from the day I hired you.”
Her brow furrowed.
“I understand if you don’t yet love me…You’re easy to love, but I’m—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips. “You have become the kindest, most generous man I know and I am hopelessly in love with you, but—.”
He shook his head. “No buts. We’ll make this work. In fact, consider it one of your new tasks to solve as Change Specialist. How can we balance both our life and work partnerships so we can have it all?”
She bit her lower lip.
He couldn’t let her refuse this task. Too much was at stake. “Carrie, we can do this. With you, I can do this. Together we are an insurmountable team. Say you agree.”
****
Carrie looked down as she gave the matter thought. Basking in his love was a heady experience that threatened to scramble her brains. But she had to be rational.
How would the new employees react if they knew she and Trent were a couple? Would it be better if they were open about it from the start? And what about his rich friends? Should they and could they keep it a secret from them?
“Carrie, if you aren’t ready…we can just forget what I said.”
She met his worried eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “No. I’m more than ready for love. But you do realize this is going to be complicated?”
He chuckled. “Good thing I’ve a change specialist that’s so good at solving complicated problems. Until then, we’ll just take it slow. Deal?”
“Deal.”
His mouth devoured hers like a man consuming a feast after starving his whole life. The passion and hunger in kiss overwhelmed her. Even her toes tingled in excitement. For the first time in her life, someone truly loved her and that magically meant her worst week ever had ended with the finest moment of her life.
If you enjoyed this book,
Please review it on Amazon
Don’t miss Book 2 in the series of Carrie Hanson’s A Long Road to True Love
Coming Early 2014
Oh Stupid Heart
Carrie Hanson is in love with a different species: Trent Lancaster, a pampered, uber-rich socialite who’s also her boss. Everyone keeps telling her it’s a train wreck looking to happen, but
her heart wants what it wants. So despite the billion and one reasons not to, Carrie commits to this inter-species relationship. But while Carrie is away getting trained for her new position, Trent’s ex-fiancée is trying her hardest to get Trent back and destroy his company.
Also Available at Amazon
Saving Casey
by Liza O'Connor
Eighty-year-old Cass wakes up in the body of a troubled seventeen-year-old girl named Casey, which all believe has survived a suicide attempt. Cass intends to turn the girl’s life around, only it’s harder than she expects. All Casey’s troubles have now become Cass’s and someone wants her dead.
Table of Contents
Note from Author
—The Friday Before—
—Sunday—
Chapter 1
—Monday—
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
—Tuesday—
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
—Wednesday—
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
—Thursday—
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
—Friday—
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
—Saturday—
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Worst Week Ever (A Long Road to Love) Page 33
