Nara

“Hey, Nara, can I come in?”

Without waiting for an answer, Michael, the company’s accounting guy, invited himself into my cube. He took the seat opposite my desk, like everyone did.

“What’s up?” I’d been immersed in our software development schedule. Talking about money was about the last thing I was interested in at that moment. Although seeing him made my heart speed up. Just a smidge. His close-cropped blond hair and beard made him cute but rugged. The kind of guy you want to take home to mom. And yeah, I’ll admit it—we’d kissed before. And other things. But that had been a while ago.

“I’m fine, Nara, thank you for asking.”

Oops. I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry, Michael. I was in the middle of the dev schedule.”

He leaned forward. “I wanted to go over the payroll with you. But first, I thought I’d tell you how hot you look today.”

Oh, cripes.

“Michael.” I stood to look over the cubicle wall, to ensure no one was close enough to have heard him and lowered my voice. “Not in the office, okay?”

As I sat back down, I realized his gaze was wandering all over me.

Was he really in here to talk about payroll? The folder on his lap just sat there, unopened.

“Hey.” He lowered his voice, too. “When can we go out again?”

Okay. Now I knew what this was about.

“I don’t know. I’m pretty busy, and you know Joi’s wedding is coming up, and I’m the maid of honor.” Sure, we’d messed around a couple times in the past after a few too many drinks. But I didn’t see myself dating someone like him and he probably didn’t see himself dating me, either. He just wanted to get his rocks off.

“Why don’t we go to the wedding as dates?” he asked with a smarmy grin. He’d been invited just like everyone in the office had. But I didn’t need a date.

“Let’s just meet there. I’ll save you a dance, okay?”

His back stiffened, and he huffed a laugh. “You don’t have to patronize me. You didn’t seem to mind spending time together when I was licking your pussy, did you?”

Asshole.

“Jesus, Michael,” I hissed. “Shut up!”

Mimi stuck her head around the corner of my cube wall. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were in a meeting. I’ll come back.” She turned to leave.

“Wait, Mimi. What’s up?” Maybe she could help me get rid of him.

She glanced at her watch. “It’s almost time for the dev meeting. Folks are gathering in the conference room.”

“Right!” I popped up from my desk. “Was there anything else you needed, Michael? Could we finish the payroll stuff later?”

He smirked, clearly undone at having been rebuffed. For heaven’s sake. New York was full of women. Go find another.

Michael glared at me and filed out, followed by Mimi.

“Be there in a sec,” I called after them.

I reached for my buzzing phone.

Well, I’ll be darned. It was a text from Brodie.

you free for a drink?

Hmmm. I’d have to give that one some thought. I hustled to the conference room.

* * *

The development meeting went about as well as it always did, which meant not well at all. The two head developers—the guys who worked tirelessly to make the Mommy Knows app come to life in line with my vision for it—hated each other. I didn’t know why. And I didn’t care why. All I wanted was for the app to be ready for the next round of beta-testing moms. We’d been experiencing some “false positives” where the app was notifying users of a dirty diaper when it was still clean. That was bad. Really bad.

When I had filled out those high school aptitude tests, I never suspected I’d be thinking about pee and poop all day long.

I turned to look at my ringing phone. It was Simon. I imagined for a sec blowing off the asshole, but he was unpredictable, and I didn’t want to mess with him. Especially while I was trying to get him to divorce me. I ran back to my desk.

“Hello.” I hated being civil to him.

“Nara, darling! How’s my little wifey doing?” Best friends we were, yup.

“What’s up, Simon?” There went the sour stomach churn. Again.

He sucked in his breath. “You know what I’m calling about. Have you made any progress?”

“Simon, I think you might have a hearing problem. Or maybe it’s a listening problem. So let me tell you again. I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn’t have ten grand.” An image of strangling him with my bare hands flashed through my thoughts. At least then I wouldn’t have to divorce him.

“Stop fucking with me, Nara.” His voice had lowered, transforming into something like a growl. I didn’t know he had it in him. But I didn’t know he had it in him to extort ten grand from me, either. “I want my goddamn money, and I want it now.”

Okay.

I was done.

“Look, you little creep. You got your citizenship. You are entitled to nothing else.”

“You’re wrong there. Thanks to me and my investment in you, you’ve accomplished quite a lot. Like creating your own software firm. And I want a return on my investment.”

“Simon?”

“Yes?”

“If you expose me, you’ll be exposed, too. I will have to pay a steep fine. But you—you’ll be deported.”

He guffawed. “No, I won’t darling. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because they’ll never catch me. I already have another identity to assume when the time is right.”

His cold words gave me goosebumps. “Just like you, always figuring out a way to cheat the system.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t talk, my little friend. You are guilty of the same.”

My hands fisted, and my back went rigid. “I broke the same law you did. But I will never, ever be the disgraceful scumbag you are.”

I swiped my phone closed as best I could with a wildly shaking hand. I wasn’t sure if my upset was from being pissed off, afraid, or both. I’d never felt true hatred before, and a shiver ran down my spine. Nausea settled in my stomach. I had a feeling it’d be there for a while.

* * *

My heels clicking on the lobby’s marble floor, I crossed to the huge doors leading from my office building to the hectic New York street scene.

“Good night, Miss Kincaid.”

I waved at the front desk guard.

Just before I reached the doors, my phone vibrated. I considered ignoring it, which I almost never did. Curiosity always got the better of me.

It was Brodie again.

hey. join me for a drink?

Hmmm.

i’m out front of your building.

Shit. Was I dealing with a stalker?

If he was in front of my building, it was too late to hide. I’d just exited the front doors. It was dark, but I was still under the building’s lights. Most likely, he could see me—and I couldn’t see him.

I looked around, checking out the pedestrians walking by and the cars parked at the curb. A limo window rolled down, and he leaned out. He looked terribly sexy with his open-collar dress shirt and suit jacket.

“Nara. Over here.”

Why was I not surprised this guy traveled around in a limo? Anyway, I guess I was committed. Maybe he’d be a welcome diversion from my crummy day. I hoisted a heavy tote over my shoulder and started toward the shiny black town car, conscious that he was watching my every step.

“This is a surprise,” I said as he got out of the car and held the door for me. But I wasn’t about to jump right in.

“Are we going somewhere?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

He laughed and bowed as if I were royalty. “It’s a beautiful evening. I thought I’d try to catch you on the way home from work. I remember your saying you leave between eight and nine every night, just like I do.”

Oh, what the hell.

“Okay. Let’s go.” I slipped into the back seat of the car with a quick hello to the driver.

Brodie pulled the door closed behind us with a smooth swoop.

“Where we going?” I asked.

I had to admit, a drink sounded nice. And he sure was handsome, with that dark, brooding thing going on. So different from Michael at work. And the creep Simon.

“What do you think about stopping by The Speakeasy in Brooklyn? That’s where you live, right?”

Oh! “I’ve always wanted to go there. To The Speakeasy, not Brooklyn.”

He laughed at my lame joke.

“Cool, let’s check it out.” He leaned forward to give the driver directions.

I’d made a mistake with Michael at work. I’d made a colossal mistake with Simon. I couldn’t afford to make any more.