Free All For You by Kate Perry

Chapter One
    Anna Godwin stared at the man sitting across the restaurant table from her. There was something about her date that wasn’t quite right.
    Only there was nothing really wrong, either. Kevin was pleasant in every way: attractive enough and presentable. He had a decent job, and he showed her the right amount of interest for a first date. She should have been into him, but she’d been fighting a yawn since she’d arrived.
    He was like white bread.
    Not that white bread was bad. It was tasty in the moment. Familiar, if innocuous.
    Anna picked at her food. The thing was, she wasn’t a white bread kind of woman. She liked exotic, rich bread that was a little salty, a little sweet.
    What bothered her was that Megan, her colleague and friend, thought she was plain enough to match Kevin. When had that happened?
    To be fair to Megan, Anna had been working a lot lately.
    Fine—to be honest, she’d been working hard for the past several years. First law school, and now as legal counsel at Mackenzie Wright, a venture capital firm in the city.
    She’d always thought that she wanted to work in malpractice, but right before the end of law school her brother-in-law had told her about this firm. Mackenzie Wright funded a lot of Internet ventures, but the partners were also angel investors, helping small business dreams get off the ground.
    She liked that. She liked knowing her work helped people.
    She especially liked the security of her paycheck. Money had been tight growing up, with her sister Freya supporting her after their parents’ death. Now she was paid well, and she appreciated every dime of it.
    But had she been working so hard that her job defined her? Was her life that out of balance?
    Yes . The answer was swift and unequivocal. Not even she could deny it. And it had been for a long time.
    It was why she and Max had broken up.
    Her heart skipped a beat, just like it always did when she thought of Max Corazao. They’d stopped seeing each other her first year in law school by mutual consent, because their schedules had been at odds. He’d moved to the Mission, all the way across town. With his hours as a chef and hers in law school, it’d been impossible. When he’d suggested it, she’d agreed. It made sense. She needed to work hard to set the foundation for her life.
    It didn’t mean that sometimes she didn’t wonder what if …
    Max hadn’t been white bread. Max had been… Well—heaven.
    Kevin was no Max. No one would ever be like Max.
    She sighed and pushed the plate away from her. “This isn’t going to work, Kevin.”
    “What?” Her date frowned at the plate. “Is something wrong?”
    “I don’t like white bread.”
    “I can ask for a different type of bread.” He looked up in search of the waitress. “I don’t know what they have, but—”
    “No.” She tossed her napkin on the table and reached for her purse. “It’s nice of you to try, but bread is bread. You can disguise it with cinnamon and sugar, or spread jalapeño jam all over it, but in the end, it doesn’t change the taste. It’s bland to my tastebuds.”
    Brow furrowed, Kevin shook his head. “If you don’t like the bread, I can order you something else.”
    “I like the bread,” she protested, pushing her chair back and standing. “It’s just not the kind I want to eat for the rest of my life. I’m sure you understand.”
    “No, I don’t.”
    “You’re a nice man. You deserve someone who’s going to appreciate that.” She smiled apologetically at him and held out her hand. “It’s been real.”
    He shook his head dazedly. “I—”
    Since he didn’t take her hand, she patted his shoulder. “Trust me. It’s better this way.”
    “I—”
    Before he could finish his thought, she strode out the restaurant. She felt his eyes on her, tracking her all the way out the door, and winced with guilt. But it was better this way than to chance him growing attached to her.
    The second she was outside she felt like