Free Love Found Me (A City Love Novel, Book 1) by Nina Amari

could swing with the gentleman. She had her ways of moving to the top, with her bottle-ginger highlighting her auburn hair artfully swooped over one cheek, and full lips painting a tantalizing tart crimson.
    She wore a scarlet shantung suit that shellacked the roundness of her curves, and the slim skirt sported a slit at the side to the middle of her shapely thigh. This was not the first time she'd sported her outrageously sky-high glittering stilettos either, that boosted her eye-to-eye with clients.
    But Danielle never resorted to the disgusting lengths Amanda had the audacity to defy in order to make a living. Unfortunately, Amanda envied Danielle's success, zest and rebel determination. Suddenly, this woman had amazingly increased her status in the office as Director of New Accounts and Client Discovery . Whatever that was--surely meant that she'd have an excuse to hobnob with the elite and frequently married prospects.
    Holding her by the arm, Josh waded right in. "So, what's the word on Danielle's job?" he asked, needing confirmation.
    "There's word that Finch's second pick's up for it," Amanda said, but again stopped short of the question.
    "And who might that be?" Josh rallied.
    "Beckham," she said. "I'm pretty sure it's you Josh. But, we'll know in a few days." Smoothing a crease from her sleeve, "That figures. Finch finally came to his senses." Amanda's lips swept her grin into an audacious smirk. She poised a hand to her hip and waved a phantom goodbye with the other. Good riddance .
    Glancing over the crowd, Josh wondered what had become of the lanky young man who nearly shuddered his spectacles.
    A few seconds after Roman bolted down the hall toward the boardroom, the door flung open, "What's the meaning of this?" Roman said, as Finch looked up and yawned from his doodling.
    Finch sloped in his chair, threading his fingers behind his head saying, "Procedure--just procedure. We've got to follow protocol," he insisted. Finch swiveled toward the empty seats, despite Roman's outburst.
    "That's it. That's all you have to say for yourself. You can simply move on after what just happened?" Roman's sharp eyes skewered Finch again, as Finch's crinkly stare braced listlessly for the inevitable.
    Finch gazed up at Roman's towering profile in silent answer with a half-lidded expression and yawned again before saying, "Listen. If you're going to work for me, you're going to have to roll with the big boys and stop playing it soft."
    Roman's eyes daggered as Finch spirited his resolve.
    Suddenly, Finch gave the table a pat, and then he stared at his watch. His impassive eyes narrowed, as he paused on a buoyant note.
    "Now, for the next order of business."

Chapter Five
    The weather defied its familiar February bleakness. Shattering leafless trees and spiny shrubs. Coursing thick dark emeralds, silvery evergreens and shiny bronzes.
    Danielle navigated midday's tangled web through a sea of yellow cabs and brazen pedestrians, with the breeze curling the hairs on the back of her neck. Along with something that still had her twitching her toes in her anklet boots. A resolve and spirited determination to right the wrongs--heed her mistakes--and live life differently.
    As she meandered the streets in a keyed up huff, sirens sang rhapsody to horns blaring in a sea of urban sprawl and frenzy, quickening the rise of a sprawling metropolis. The more she'd kept moving, the more she'd kept herself from playing into that mind game of nerves--and the more she'd kept herself from focusing on what had just happened.
    But why shouldn't she let her hair down. She'd worked way too hard for too many years to allow embarrassment to strangle her senses into a searing panic. Why shouldn't she enjoy a little unemployment bliss in the making?
    Stretching her arms from the core, as she walked, she forced herself to unclench her jaw, rolling her shoulders as she pounded the pavement. Her shoulders were hunched and her back stiffened with every step of her