Free Breathless by Emily Snow, Heidi McLaughlin, Aleatha Romig, Tijan, Jessica Wood, Ilsa Madden-Mills, Skyla Madi, J.S. Cooper, Crystal Spears, K.A. Robinson, Kahlen Aymes, Sarah Dosher Page B

from my meeting with Margaret’s attorney.
    But here I was. In Los Angeles, of all places.
    And even though I’d lived in Vegas far longer than anywhere else, as the early October heat beat down on the open sunroof, I realized that L.A. still felt like home.
    Which wasn’t a good thing.
    There was too much attachment associated with that word. Home .
    “Stupid, stupid girl,” I scolded myself over the Black Stone Cherry song pulsing quietly through my tiny car.
    Curling my fingers firmly around the black steering wheel, I turned the candy apple red Mini Cooper into the ground floor of the five-story parking garage attached to Emerson & Taylor, stopping for the attendant on duty. After gaining entrance with the temporary pass I received from human resources last week, I drove to the first free space I could find—a spot on the bottom floor, squeezed between a dented Nissan Juke and a glossy yellow Corvette. As I exited the car, my body trembled like a leaf inside the high-waist beige pencil skirt and tucked-in white blouse I’d confidently donned earlier this morning.
    God, I was in over my head.
    It was one thing to let Pen hack Emerson & Taylor’s security system and get me far enough into the hiring process that they absolutely had to call me in for the job, but it was an entirely different matter to present false identification to the human resources department that would corroborate my new identity.
    And yet, I was seconds away from prancing my ass into that building to do just that. No wonder Pen had driven here from Vegas. She probably wanted to make sure I wouldn’t have a nervous breakdown that would implicate us both.
    I pressed the lock button on the circular key fob with so much force I was surprised it didn’t jam. “When this is all over, I’m so getting her that new laptop she won’t shut up about.” Squaring my shoulders, I dropped my keys into my secondhand black Prada bag and followed the white arrows on the concrete floor.
    This is going to be simple , I promised myself as I stepped inside the elevator and punched the starred button. I just have to be smart.
    “Hey, do you mind?” a slightly accented, feminine voice yelled out, and I reached my hand out to keep the elevator doors from shutting. Several seconds later, a woman no taller than my five-foot-four rushed inside, her caramel skin flushed. She was balancing two drink carriers and a neon pink box emanating a delicious aroma that did a number on my empty stomach.
    Tilting her head back, she shook her bouncy, jet-black curls out and rested in the corner of the elevator to catch her breath. “You’re a lifesaver,” she thanked me as the doors silently closed and we started to move up to the lobby. “I didn’t remember it was my turn to bring coffee until twenty minutes ago when I was already at my desk.”
    “So you rushed out to get them?”
    “Like an idiot,” she laughed, tapping one of her feet, which were clad in strappy, red patent leather wedged sandals. “Nearly twisted my ankle running around in these things.”
    I frowned. “Need some help?”
    Lowering her head, she stared me down with dark, almost black, eyes. She blinked a couple times before moving her head to either side and releasing a throaty laugh that oozed sensuality. “You must be new.” I lifted both eyebrows, and she added, “Helpfulness is dead around here.”
    “It’s my first day,” I admitted. “I’m on my way up to HR now.”
    She snorted. “Figures.” As she held the box out to me, I stepped closer to take it. “Stay golden, okay? This place will suck the life out of you,” she advised.
    Smiling at the reference to one of the books my mother and I had shared a mutual love for, I followed behind her as she departed the elevator car and stepped into the open lobby.
    I had vague memories of coming to this place as a child, but I remembered being just as stunned by it then, too. With its gleaming black granite flooring, tinted floor-to-ceiling