Free Fresh Temptation: Barboza Brothers, Book One by Reeni Austin Page A

anything about work.”
    Cara laughed. “Yeah, I
could tell she’s a gossip. Believe me, I don’t wanna do anything to
risk losing this job. I’ll keep my distance.”
    Gary shrugged. “Just don’t
tell her about anything going on here, at work, with Mr. Barboza.
She’s cool about everything else.”
    “What’d you mean a second
ago when you said it’s gotta be something else? Why’d you come in
here and tell me to watch my back?”
    He breathed deeply and
glanced at the door as if someone were listening. “You and I need
to have this talk. I was gonna wait till tomorrow since he’ll be
out of the office. But oh well.” He squared his shoulders, eyes
perking up. “Since we’ll be working together, we need to get a few
things straight. My first priority is taking care of Mr. Barboza. I
have the best job in the city and I know it. I get paid well. I
have a cool boss who’s not around most of the time.” He smiled.
“And also, I want a job like his someday. He’s given me much more
responsibility lately along with extra training. He’s amazing.” He
sighed. “So anyway, I will not jeopardize any of it by running my
mouth with the hens over there in acquisitions.”
    She giggled at his hen
comment. “I understand. You think he’d fire you for
that?”
    “Not necessarily, but I
know he hates that sort of thing. If he had reason to believe I was
leaking any kind of information from his clients he’d probably have
me transferred down to the mail room. That’s like dying and going
to hell around here.” He groaned. “But anyway, back to the reason I
came in here. I received a disturbing phone call a few minutes ago.
It was from his ex-fiancee.” His mouth formed a distinct frown.
“She’s bad news.”
    “What’s her
name?”
    “Alexis Whitt. Of the
Whitt Foundation.”
    “Whitt Foundation? The
same people who hosted the dinner where I got fired?” Cara’s jaw
dropped. She already knew Alexis’s name but hadn’t made the
connection until now. “Was she the woman he was sitting
with?”
    Gary raised a brow. “They
were sitting together?”
    “Yeah. Beautiful woman
with red hair. Really snooty.”
    Gary nodded. “That’s
her.”
    “That witch got me
fired.”
    “Doesn’t surprise me.
Apparently, she saw you two at lunch together. She called while you
were gone, acting like she had inside information on the person he
was with. You .”
    Cara brought her hand to
her chest. “Is she trying to get me fired? Again? What the heck did
I ever do to her?”
    Gary shook his head.
“Don’t worry. She’s jealous. Grasping at straws.”
    “She’s rich and she has
everything! Why would someone like that try to ruin my
life?”
    “Oh, honey.” Gary smirked.
“Rich people don’t have everything. Trust me. I deal with hundreds
of them, daily. Seems like the more money you have, the crazier you
are.”
    “Is Victor
crazy?”
    “Maybe. But not in a bad
way.” He laughed.
    Cara let out a sad sigh.
“So, he really did hire me as a charity case. He felt bad because
his fiancee got me fired.”
    “Ex-fiancee.” Just then,
the phone rang and Gary stood up. He walked over to Cara and gave
her shoulder a friendly pat. “And I think your hiring involved a
little more than that.” Gary moved the mouthpiece down to his lips
and hurried to the door. “Good afternoon, Monarch Enterprises…” He
left her office and walked to his desk as he spoke to a
client.
    I’m even more confused
than I was before , Cara
thought.
    To clear her mind, she
took a moment to check her personal email on her phone.
    “Huh?” She blinked,
disbelieving the message she had just received. It was from her
former manager in Chicago. The subject read, “Need a job?” The body
of the email simply said, “Call me when you get this.”
    Cara closed her office
door before dialing.
    “Cara? Is that
you? ”
    “Justine? How are you? I
just got your email and—”
    Justine’s voice was
hushed. “ I’m great. Don’t have