Free Once Upon a Dream by Kate Perry

soft metallic clank. He set it back down and got up. “Trudy,” he said, flinging the door open, “I need information on a woman named Summer Welles.”
    “Have you opened your gift yet?” she asked, not turning around from where she was screwing a nail in the wall.
    “Is that a condition for you doing your work?”
    “Of course not.” She smiled sweetly over her shoulder. “The gift is purely to show my appreciation for you.”
    “It’s to bribe me to stay.”
    “That, too.”
    Shaking his head, he went back into his sanctum.
    Half an hour later, Trudy strutted into his office, a manila folder in her hand. “Here you go.”
    Jon took the folder. It was exceptionally thin. He frowned at it, flipping it over and back. “This is it?”
    Trudy shrugged. “Not everyone has a sordid past.”
    Not true. Everyone had skeletons to hide. He had his fair share of bodies buried.
    “You haven’t opened it yet.” She nodded at the present.
    He grunted.
    She put a hand on her hip, tipping her head. “It’s not going to bite. You may even like it.”
    “Doubtful,” he murmured.
    “Fine. Be an unappreciative wanker.” She huffed and strutted out.
    He frowned. He wasn’t unappreciative. He compensated her well. He gave her bonuses every year. He tried to make her take vacations, which she never took. Once he even bought her a ticket, though she never used it. He was a damn fine boss.
    Putting the offending package away in a drawer, he grabbed the file and focused on the information listed in it.
    Summer Welles. Born to Tabitha Welles and Reginald Summerhill, both deceased. Illegitimate. Law school, worked at Orson & Tomlin. Residence in Mayfair. No arrests. No citations, not even traffic tickets.
    Summer Welles was too good to be true.
    Meaning she was.
    Last night, Jon had noticed her the moment she’d walked in. Hair piled high, draping down one bare shoulder. Bright green dress, so opposite from the black he’d always seen her in that it was a slap upside the head. Her mask, purple and gold with a matching green plume. The tall sparkly shoes. He almost hadn’t noticed the jewels she’d worn, and that was saying something.
    Those stones weren’t fake. That was certain by their luster and shine. Were they hers, or had Huber given them to her?
    His door opened and Trudy poked her head in. “I made some coffee if you want some.”
    “Since when do you make coffee?” He got up to get a cup.
    “Since you started talking about retiring. I’m showing you how great it is here.”
    “Trudy, I know you think I’m going to change my mind, but I’m not. I’m moving to Thailand.” He’d already bought the house on Koh Phangan. It was just a matter of this last debt to Bradley.
    “So you’ll keep your island paradise as a raunchy bachelor’s pad where you take ladies for a week of sex in the sun. But you won’t be able to retire.”
    For some reason, he pictured Summer lying naked on his small stretch of private beach. Her hair glinted gold, and her nipples were plump and pink, and they’d turn red when he kissed them, just like her lips had.
    He shifted his weight, shaking his head to make the image dissipate. “I’m retiring, Trudy.”
    She shrugged. “I still have a couple weeks to change your mind.”
    “You can’t change my mind.”
    “Have you opened the present?”
    He glared at her and, taking his coffee, returned to his office. He sat on the couch and reread through Summer’s file, paying attention to the details, making notes.
    None of it added up. Something was off with her—no one was as sweet as her eyes made her out to be, like she was spun of dreams and fairy dust. It had to be an act. What game was she playing?
    Going into his closet, he pulled out a cap, a dark jacket, and glasses. “Start polishing your résumé,” he told Trudy as he walked out of the office.
    “I’m thinking of expanding the office into the space next door,” she called after him. “It’s available, and how