Working On Love (The Griffin Brothers Book 6) (15 page)

Scott introduced to me
to his mom, Maggie, and her friend, Jane Corrigan. They talked to me
in the C&C Foundation offices. Jane is in charge of the
foundation, which focuses on helping women. They help people put
their lives back together after they suffer something traumatic or
survive domestic violence. I soon learned that they also help in the
rescue of many of those women.

They didn’t tell me
that at first, of course. They talked to me about my work and told me
they knew I had a good job lined up. I listened as they described the
foundation and told me they’d like me to work there instead. Scott
said he thought I’d be a great fit for the company. I said I’d
think about it, and I did. I weighed the pros and cons and decided
that I wanted to make a difference and not just hide behind a
computer screen. Little did I know how much of a difference I’d
really be making.

Scott met me again at
the foundation offices. This time, there were three other women
besides Maggie and Jane in the conference room. I was introduced to
Cyndi Evans, Mallory Daniels, and Helen Wilson. I’d seen pictures
of all the women at events around town, but I wasn’t sure what they
were doing here. Jane started by telling me how glad they were to
have me working for the foundation. She then asked me to sign a
simple document, which stated that everything I was about to be told
was confidential and that I had to pay ten million dollars to the
foundation if I disclosed anything that went on there. It was a
little weird to be doing that for a job at a foundation, but I
signed. I can keep a secret.

It was then that I
found out what the foundation really does. Ten years ago, Jane and
Cyndi decided to do something more than just be socialites. They saw
Maggie at functions frequently, although they didn’t fit in as much
as it looked like they did. They’d gravitated to each other as
women who weren’t just looking for good husbands. They wanted to
make a difference and Maggie suggested bringing her friends, Helen
and Mallory, on as well.

Jane convinced her
husband, one of the richest men in the world, to start a foundation
for her. He agreed to give a significant amount of the profits from
his company every year to help women in need. Jane and her friends
agreed that they needed to actually assist in getting women out of
bad situations and not just help them afterwards. The first women who
worked for them were policewomen and military women who were tired of
dealing with the discrimination they had to face in their jobs. They
had the skill set to help rescue people and the secret part of the
foundation was started.

Over the years, they’ve
expanded and we now always have ten women who take part in missions.
Each founding woman has two recruits working at any time. We’re
paid well and can leave whenever we want. Not all of us have a police
or military background. We have a language expert, fashion stylist
and even a former professional chef on the team. Every one of us had
something that one of the five women, or in my case their son, saw in
me and decided to cultivate. Scott actually helped recruit me for
Jane, who knew she’d need someone to oversee the computer systems
daily.

No matter what we
specialize in, all of us are given weapons and martial arts training
as well as computers, languages, hair and makeup and etiquette. It is
over a year of training before they even think about putting you in
charge of a team. The instructors are current and former team members
and I don’t think any company or government anywhere could rival
the expertise we are given. I did well at languages, weapons, and
martial arts. Not surprisingly, I barely passed the girly lessons. I
did pass, though, because you can’t be here if you fail any of
them.

So now I work behind
the scenes on many missions, offering computer support which includes
hacking into security systems and banking sites. It’s not as
glamorous as some of the missions the other women go on, but I know
I’m making a difference. I can’t even begin to count the number
of women we’ve saved. We cover it all from domestic violence to
human trafficking. We mostly find leads from trusted law enforcement
contacts or even from watching the news. We can’t save everyone,
but we do our best.

One of the most
important things I’ve gotten from the foundation is friends. You
can’t go through the training and missions without becoming tight
with the other women. I even let them dress me up and take me out to
bars and clubs sometimes. Since meeting them, I’ve had my first
kiss and my first sexual experience—neither was very exciting, but
at least I won’t die a spinster. They’ve brought me out of my
shell and I would do anything for any of them.

I get off the elevator
and walk into the conference room, expecting to just see people from
our team. I’m not expecting to see Lindsey Rivers, the wife of the
owner of the Las Vegas Legions football team, sitting at the table.
We take on private jobs occasionally that don’t have to do with
women’s issues. Usually it’s for a friend of one of the women or
a referral from someone we’ve helped before. We obviously keep “The
Society” as we jokingly call it, secret. The agents can tell one
family member if we want—I told my mom—and if we get married, or
are close to that point, we can reveal ourselves to the man, or
woman, we’re involved with once we get permission. The founders can
tell the females in their family and one male relative. That’s how
Scott helped recruit me. He knows, and actually created the software
we currently use. I don’t know where Mrs. Rivers fits in, but as a
football junkie, I’m more than a little excited.

“Thank you for
joining us, Ainsley,” Jane says with a smile. I know she knows I’m
freaking out since I told her last week that I can’t wait for the
regular season and that I have season tickets.

“You can sit down,”
Reina tells me with a chuckle. She’s the most senior of all of us,
and pretty much runs things. Jane’s still the one in charge, but
Reins is her second in command and has authority over everything.

“Oh yeah.” I go to
sit next to Stella, who is looking like she just walked off a runway.
She was a fashion major when she was recruited and she sighs as she
takes in my baggy sweatshirt and jeans.

“Ladies, this is
Lindsey Rivers. We helped one of her friends several years ago and
she needs our help now. The other women and I have agreed to take on
her case. There is someone who is trying to sabotage the football
team her husband owns. They’re going to have their first regular
season home game in six weeks. This is important to Las Vegas as well
as Lindsey and her husband. The city has been trying to get a
professional sports team for years. My husband wanted a team for his
hometown and was instrumental in the creation of the Legions before
he passed away.” Jane pauses for a moment to collect herself.
“Lindsey, can you let us know what’s been going on and where you
think we can get someone in under cover?”

“Yes. Of course.
Thank you again for agreeing to help. Over the past two months,
things have been happening that I can longer brush off as
coincidences. There have been damaged cleats, medicines switched out,
parts of our playbook ending up in the hands of other teams, and then
this week, a rack of equipment was pushed at one of our running
backs, Zack Taylor. He managed to jump out of the way, but it was
close.”

Zack Taylor almost got
crushed? That would have been devastating for the team. And him of
course. Plus, the few women in the city he hasn’t slept with would
have missed out on that hot body of his. I’m lost in thoughts of
his dark hair and sexy eyes and almost miss the rest of the
conversation.

“Yes. There’s seems
to be too much going on for it to be a coincidence,” Reina says.

“I need your help and
I think the easiest way is to have someone date a player. I was
thinking of Kevin Donaldson. He’s our quarterback and a complete
sweetheart. I think if I told him I had a nice woman for him to meet,
he’d take her out. Once they were dating, she’d have access to
the players and staff. It has to be someone on the inside doing these
things.”

“We’re not a dating
service, Mrs. Rivers, but I think your idea has merit. Are you okay
with that, Ainsley?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. You know
more about football than most men. You’re the perfect choice.”

I look at Jane and then
to Lindsey Rivers. She looks a little horrified at the thought of it
being me. I can understand why. I’m not exactly looking like
someone a quarterback would date. Now I know why Stella’s here.
She’s going to transform me. The thought scares me, but excites me
at the same time. I’ll never admit it out loud, but I kind of liked
it when I let the other women dress me up to go out. I felt powerful
when I saw guys actually looking at me as something more than a
teammate. A mission that involves football and being a girl—yeah,
I’m totally into this one.

“I’d love to help.”
I turn to Mrs. Rivers. “I know how to be a girl when I have to. You
don’t need to worry. Stella will get me all set with clothes and
things.”

“I will. She’s a
knockout when we get her into real clothes.”

“I’m not worried,”
she tells me with a smile. I cock an eyebrow at her and she laughs.
“Okay, well maybe I
was
a little worried. I trust Jane, though. If she thinks you’re the
right choice, then so do I.”

We go over a few more
details and agree that I’ll be introduced as the daughter of one of
her college friends who just moved to town and is looking for a job.
Lindsey—as she asked me to call her—tells me that she’d like me
to attend a cocktail party at her home on Friday to meet everyone and
get things started. I’ll have two days to transform into a
socialite. I hope it’s enough time.

I spend the rest of the
day doing profiles on all the players and staff. I know who they are
since I’m a fan, but this is the more in-depth stuff. I’m looking
for a reason that one of them would want to sabotage the team.
Nothing jumps out at me right away and I plan on taking everything
home with me to continue working.

Stella has other plans.
She brings our friend Darcy to my office, and the two of them insist
on taking me shopping. I balk a little, but I know it’s necessary
and I
do
want to go.
I just can’t give up my tomboy image, even in front of my friends.
I let them take me to the mall and I end up with some very fancy and
very
sexy dresses. I
insisted on some jeans and casual clothes, because I can’t always
be dressed up, especially if I attend pre-season games. They
relented, although the casual clothes are all designer as well.

I fall asleep thinking
about which dress I’ll wear. I can’t remember ever doing that
before in my life. Of course, I‘ve never gone to a party with Zack
Taylor before. I know he’s way out of my league and I’ve got to
date Kevin Donaldson. That doesn’t stop me from dreaming of the man
with dark hair and eyes once I close my eyes.

Crystal Perkins
has always been a big reader, but she never thought she would write
her own book, until she did. She lives in Las Vegas, where you can
find her running author events and selling books at conventions when
she isn’t reading, buying too many Sherlock t-shirts online or
finding a place to put all of her Pop! figurines. A mac and cheese
connoisseur, she travels the country looking for the perfect version,
while attending book conventions and signings as a cover for her
research. The Griffin Brothers series are all International Best
Sellers, and she’s thankful to all the readers who made that
happen!

Find
her here:

crystalperkinsauthor.com

facebook.com/crystalperkinsauthor

@wondermomlv

[email protected]