A Heart to Trust by A.L. Brooks (romantic books to read txt) 📗

she found herself mesmerized by the play of those muscles as Olivia typed or moved her mouse.

I bet those arms would hold you really tight if you let them.

An M&M caught in her throat, and she began to choke. She thumped her own chest to try to dislodge the candy.

Olivia leaped up from her desk. “Are you okay? Do you need me to slap your back?”

Jenny flailed her arms, her face becoming hotter by the second as air became hard to come by.

Olivia leaned in and whacked soundly on Jenny’s back, once, twice, and—

The M&M broke free and shot out of Jenny’s mouth to hit her laptop screen before it ricocheted onto the desk itself.

Jenny coughed and spluttered, gasping air into her lungs.

Olivia rubbed a soothing hand up and down Jenny’s back, then seemed to realize what she was doing and stepped backward. “Better?” Her voice was quiet.

Jenny grabbed her water bottle and swallowed down two or three mouthfuls. “Much,” she croaked. “Thanks.” Her back was still warm where Olivia had rubbed it.

“You’re welcome.” Olivia smiled at her when Jenny looked up. Then her gaze moved to the soggy mess of the M&M on the desk, and she smirked. “Dangerous things, M&Ms. Maybe I should confiscate them, for your own safety.”

There was a twinkle in Olivia’s eyes, and Jenny marveled at the transformation in her face. She looked so open and amused, and…fun. “No way. I know what your game is.” Jenny hugged the M&Ms dispenser. “All mine.” She threw Olivia a mock glare.

Olivia’s laugh, so open and carefree, shot tingles all the way down to Jenny’s toes. She laughed with her.

“What’s so funny?” Chrissy asked in a snide tone as she walked up to her desk.

Jenny stopped laughing.

Olivia walked back to her desk and sat. “Nothing.”

Chrissy stared at Jenny and mouthed the words, “What the fuck?”

Jenny sighed. “I’ll tell you later,” she whispered, purely for Chrissy’s ears. “Wanna do lunch?”

“Sure.” Chrissy’s expression was suspicious. “One o’clock?”

Jenny nodded, uncomfortable and unsure of why. She turned back to her screen.

“Well, I suppose it’s great she didn’t let you die.” Chrissy folded up her sandwich wrapper. Her voice was icy.

“Yeah, what she did was actually nice. I was in real trouble there for a second.”

Chrissy waved a hand. “Sure. I understand. It’s just…” She looked away, then sighed heavily and turned to meet Jenny’s gaze. “Be careful with her, okay? Just because she did something nice this morning doesn’t mean she’s still nice overall. You know what she’s done to you already.”

Jenny shifted in her seat. “I know. But I wonder if we’re being too hard on her. That there’s more goodness to her than we realize.” I know there is. I’ve seen it, up close and personal. But she wouldn’t say that to Chrissy. She’d promised Olivia, despite all the problems between them at work, and she’d keep that promise.

Chrissy snorted. “I doubt that. You should hear some of the stories I’ve heard about her from Friday night. For a married woman she doesn’t seem to have any issues with hitting on guys when her husband’s not around.”

Jenny blinked, her stomach free falling toward her knees. “What?”

Chrissy looked around. They were in the small park nearest the office, and many people from C&V used it for their lunches. Seemingly satisfied that no one was in earshot, Chrissy leaned in. “She was flirting with some guy from accounts, then some other guy from marketing. They looked real close, if you know what I mean.”

“But he’s some friend of her husband’s,” Jenny blurted before thinking about what she said.

“How do you know?”

“She told me. I chatted to her a little, at the start of the evening, and this guy came over to join us. She introduced him. It seemed, you know, pretty innocent to me.” Why did she feel the need to defend Olivia? And why was she fearful of Chrissy’s reaction by doing so?

“Well.” Chrissy’s tone was breezy, but her eyes were still cold. “Maybe. But she was definitely all over the guy from accounts.”

“She was? I mean, you saw that?”

“No, I heard it, but from a very reliable source. Worse for her, Derek saw it.” Chrissy smirked. “And he was not impressed, believe me.”

And there she goes, gossiping again. Just like Tamara had pointed out. Jenny shifted in her seat, not liking this side of Chrissy at all. She had a real vendetta against Olivia, but Jenny didn’t know why. And she also seems to know a lot about what Derek thinks. “Hey, that reminds me.” Jenny’s mind worked a mile a minute. “I’ve been meaning to ask you. Do you and Derek know each other from somewhere before C&V?”

Chrissy paused with her soda bottle halfway to her lips. “Why do you ask?”

“I saw you talking on Friday and you looked more at ease with each other than just boss and employee, you know?”

Chrissy hesitated, just for a fraction of a second, but it was there. “Oh yeah. We have mutual friends outside of work.” She spoke with a finality that told Jenny the subject was definitely closed.

“Oh. Okay.”

“I think I need to get back.” Chrissy capped her soda, then stood.

Jenny startled. “Um, sure. I’ll come with you.”

Wondering about the abrupt end to their conversation—and the way she’d been brushed off when asking about Derek—Jenny followed her colleague back across the park.

The first Friday in October was gray and gloomy, and it perfectly suited Jenny’s mood as she stared at the latest update to the Catwalk notes that had just landed on their SharePoint site. Derek had shared details of the models who would parade down the runway.

She rolled her eyes as she looked at the pictures. “Could we be any more sexist, people?”

Twelve women in the skimpiest of outfits, which showed the most flesh possible, were displayed on her screen. The fact all the models were women was annoying in itself, but it infuriated her that they had to reveal so much of themselves for the