Fresh Temptation: Barboza Brothers, Book One (9 page)

And then she
called.

“Good afternoon, Monarch
Enterprises. How may I assist you?
” Gary’s
voice was chipper as usual.

“Hello, Gary. I’d like to
speak with Victor Barboza, please.”

“Oh.”
He let out a disgusted sigh. Under his breath, but loud
enough for her to hear, he said, “
I
obviously should’ve looked at the number first.”
His voice got louder.
“To what is this pertaining, Ms. Whitt? Do you have an
appointment?”

“I don’t need a meeting. I
just need to speak with him. We have some important business to
discuss.”

“Oh, I’m sure. Give me the
details and I’ll be sure to give him the message.”

“Can you put me through to
his voicemail?”

“No, I cannot.”

She wanted to scream at
him but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of getting her riled
up. In a deliberately calm voice, she said, “Well, I have some
information he’ll need. It’s about a woman I saw him with at lunch.
I’ve known her for years and she’s trouble. He needs to
know.”

Gary chuckled
sarcastically. “
Really? You’re already
trying to get her fired again?
”

“What do you mean,
again?”

He sighed loudly.
“
Have a lovely afternoon, Ms.
Whitt.
”
And then
he hung up.

Fired…again? Confused,
Alexis put her phone in her purse and looked at the deli. Seconds
later, she saw them exit, both of them smiling, but Victor doing
most of the talking.

She shrank back, watching,
studying the portly blonde who only seemed vaguely familiar. As if
Alexis was meant to hear it, a hint of the strange woman’s voice
floated her way, just loud enough to bring back a recent
memory.

No, it couldn’t be her—the
girl from the catering company?

She took her phone from
her purse and held it up to take a few pictures. She said to
herself, quietly, “Oh Victor, have you really stooped to this
level? Or maybe you’re just hard up.” She groaned. “No, it must be
more than that.”

She was instantly flooded
with theories. Maybe he’d known her all along. Maybe that’s why
there was such a familiarity that night when they were joking at
the table.

Alexis felt her blood
pressure rising. Had she been played that night? Was this his
pathetic way of trying to pay her back for cheating on him while
they were engaged?

It didn’t matter. Alexis
had enough information to pass along to a private investigator who
could get this straightened out. No, Victor couldn’t possibly be
interested in this cow who looked like she’d given up on herself
long ago. She would get this woman out of his life just as easily
as swatting a fly.

* * *

Cara’s new outfit now felt
too heavy for such a warm day, especially outside in the hot sun
with a sexy man by her side.

She tried to resist it,
but how could she not be attracted to Victor? He was tall, dark and
gorgeous, and unless she was hallucinating, she swore he was giving
her signals that he was interested in her, too.

Maybe Marcy was
right
, she thought.
Maybe he really was checking me out in the interview last
week
.

And she knew darn well he
was checking her out today.

At least she was starting
to feel more comfortable around him. The conversation flowed
easily, and Cara was surprised by how humble and tender he
portrayed himself.

But she’d been fooled in
the past. She wasn’t so naive. There absolutely had to be another
reason for his kindness.

Cara and Victor chatted as
they entered the building and took the private elevator to their
floor. Thankfully, the elevator moved fast and she didn’t have more
than a minute to fantasize about him pinning her to the corner. She
took a few slow, calming breaths and went on with their friendly
banter. When they exited the elevator he gave her one last smile
before opening his office door.

Clutching her purse to
have something else to focus on, she rushed to her own office. Her
immediate plan was to resume her Internet stalking.

She had just shoved her
purse in a drawer when Gary appeared in front of her
desk.

“Hey.” He looked over his
shoulder then shut the door behind him. “We need to
talk.”

“Okay.”

Gary took a seat in a
chair against the wall, his elbows on his knees. He leaned forward
as he pushed a button on his headset and shoved the mouthpiece
away. “Watch your back around here.”

Cara’s stomach knotted.
“Is this about my talk with Rhonda?”

“Oh God.” He winced a
little. “Rhonda in acquisitions?”

“Yeah. But she said you’re
friends. Did I say too much?”

Gary winced in pain for
only a split second. “What’d you tell her?”

“That I worked here for
Mr. Barboza. Nothing else, really. She told me I needed to lie to
people and say I’m a consultant or everyone in the office will
start talking because he has a new employee.”

“That’s all?”

“Yes, I swear.”

“Hmm.” Gary clucked his
tongue against the roof of his mouth. “It’s gotta be something else
then. And by the way, Rhonda and I
are
friends, in a way, but I never
tell her 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 much time
though. I just stepped out of a meeting to take your
call
.” Her voice became slightly louder.
“
Any chance you want your old job
back?
”

“You’ve got to be kidding
me. I just started a brand new job today.”

“Oh, shoot! I thought you
were a sure thing.
”

“What happened? I thought
the company was on its way out.”

“Apparently not. We were
acquired by Emilieu Global
.”

“No!” Cara walked to her
chair and sat down.

“Yes. There were rumors
for a long time but it just became official today. They work very
fast. They already had new operating budgets waiting when they met
with senior level management today. They added fifty new positions
to the headcount with more on the way. I was
so
hoping to bring you
back
.”

Cara whined to herself and
pressed her palm against her forehead. “I can’t believe this. Of
course it would happen the day I start a new job.”

“I’m sure you can still
quit the new job.
”

The logical side of Cara
told her to take the job in Chicago. She and Isaac were stable
there. And she loved working with Justine. But when she thought
about Victor, her answer was clear. “I’m sorry. I can’t do it. If
this had happened a week ago or even a few days ago, I’d probably
already be packing boxes. I have to stay here. I need to see what
develops.”

With a dramatic sigh,
Justine said, “
Fine. But if you change
your mind in the next…I don’t know…couple weeks? Month? You let me
know.
”

“I will.”

Cara opened the front door
on Friday evening and entered the house with a sigh of relief. Her
feet hurt and she was dying to slip out of her body shaper and into
some comfy sweatpants. “I’m home!”

Isaac ran to her from the
kitchen. “Mommy Mommy Mommy!”

She picked him up and gave
him a kiss. “Were you a good boy for Grandma today?”

He gave her a mischievous
grin and said, “Yes,” then threw his face against her
neck.

Cara had a feeling he was
lying, but she was quickly distracted by rich aromas wafting from
the kitchen. She gently lowered Isaac to the floor and he ran off
to the living room. “Mom, what are you making?”

Patty’s eyes brightened
when she saw her daughter appear. She reached for a potholder and
opened the oven. “Nothing much. Lasagna. Garlic bread.”

A glance around the room
piqued Cara’s curiosity. On the kitchen counter, she saw some of
her mother’s recipes that were only used for holidays and special
occasions. Homemade garlic bread, Grandma Sylvia’s special red
sauce, among others.

When Patty saw Cara touch
the recipes, she snatched them from her hand. “I need
those.”

“What’s going on? Is it
someone’s birthday I don’t know about?”

“No.” Patty smiled.
“We’re…um…just celebrating your first week at your new
job.”

“Oh.” Cara returned her
smile. “That’s sweet. I hadn’t thought of that. Is Marcy coming
over?”

“No.”

“Well, I’ll invite her. I
don’t think she’s working tonight.”

“No!”

“Why not?”