Free Give Me Strength by Kate McCarthy Page B

phone didn’t stop, and it wasn’t until I heard a tap on
the open door that I realised two hours had passed.
    Returning from the printer behind me, I was just
sitting in my chair and glanced up. For a split second I thought it
was Travis and completely missed the seat, falling to the floor
with a hard jolt.
    “Oh shit.” Laughter bubbled out of him, and he
quickly subdued it, taking in the wild flush to my cheeks. “Didn’t
mean to startle you.”
    He strode over and held out a hand to help me
up.
    “That’s okay. Seems I startle easily,” I
replied, taking his hand and stumbling awkwardly to my feet.
    “I’m Jared,” he told me. “You must be Quinn?
Evie said you were starting today.”
    The third brother, I realised. Did the Valentine
men have all women falling to their feet or was it just me? My
backside was still a little bruised from meeting Mitch
yesterday.
    Jared perched on the edge of the desk as I made
a second, more cautious attempt at sitting down, taking in his
subtle differences to Travis. Jared’s hair was golden brown and not
as long, he was a little leaner, and a cheeky glint hovered in his
green eyes.
    “How’s your first day going?”
    “Good.”
    “You worked at Jettison Records before
here?”
    “Uh huh.”
    “Did Mac show you where everything—”
    His phone rang, interrupting the rapid fire
questions, so I focused on the computer screen while he took the
call.
    “Travis. How’d the AFP meeting go this
morning?”
    Just hearing his name was a rush of pleasure
that had my mind losing its train of thought.
    Jared’s eyes widened as he listened. “What?”
    I glanced at him when his eyes slid my way with
a frown. Silently, he mouthed he’d come back, and with the phone
glued to his ear, he strode from the room.
    After about twenty minutes, Jared poked his head
in the door. “Lunch?”
    I hadn’t had time to think about food, but my
stomach gave an angry growl at the mention.
    “Okay. Thanks,” I said with a smile, thinking
that was really nice of him to offer.
    My mistake.
    He came back in with a tuna and mung bean salad
and a small dark brown roll that was riddled with what looked like
bird seed. I didn’t want to offend him after the effort, but tuna
was something that had my stomach churning. I picked at it
carefully, pushing the food around a little as he told me about the
house he’d recently bought in Bondi with Evie.
    “So you’re staying here until the renovations
are done?” I asked.
    He swallowed a mouthful. “No. We’ll be here for
just a couple of weeks. I wanna do most of it while we live
there.”
    I put my fork down gratefully when Mac sent
through a message with their location, telling me to head over when
I was able. With Jared finished, I cleaned up and grabbed my bag.
When my stomach gave another angry growl, I soothed it with
promises of a drive through burger on the way.
    We both left the house at the same time. Jared
told me he wanted to check in with Evie before heading to his own
office. Striding out the door, his eyes raked over Suzi-Q parked
kerbside and offered me a lift.
    Fully prepared to say no—there was burger out
there with my name on it—the beep of a car unlocking drew my
attention to a sexy, vintage black Porsche currently dominating the
driveway. So I arrived on set in style, albeit hungry, just in time
to see everyone break for lunch.
    Mac waltzed over to greet me, taking in my
appearance with a crisp nod. “Look at you, Quinn! That hot pink
lipstick looks fantastic, you lucky bitch. I try to wear shades
like that and it washes me out,” she moaned.
    “Wow, look at the colour of your hair,” Evie
muttered, reaching out to finger a rogue wave that had escaped my
knot. “It was all tucked under a hat yesterday, but that’s your
real colour!”
    Fidgeting under the scrutiny, I snatched up the
phone with relief when it rang. Jared came up behind Evie, sliding
his arms around her waist and they chattered for a moment while I
spoke