Fresh Temptation

offended that he didn’t make time to see her on her first day. It meant she was right all along. This job was an act of pity, and nothing more.
    I told you so , she said to herself.
    And for once, she wished she hadn’t been right. Unfortunately, there was a shred of hope within her that allowed her to entertain fantasies of the tall, dark, handsome dream man. A man who was so far out of her league, he wasn’t even in her universe. Surely he spent his weekends chasing young, flighty debutantes who were barely legal. The sort of women who were bred to be trophy wives. That life definitely wasn’t for her. It was Cara and Isaac against the world. Maybe soon she’d have enough money saved to move them into a nice apartment in the city and send him to a good pre-school. That’s all that mattered.
    Bored with filling out yet another set of new hire paperwork, Cara went to the break room Gary had shown her earlier. If she didn’t have any real work to do yet, at least she could figure out how to use the space age-looking digital coffee machine.
    As she took a small paper cup from the counter, a woman in a blue dress entered the room. She had sandy brown hair and looked to be in her late twenties, about Cara’s age. She gave Cara a smile and said, “I don’t think we’ve met. Are you new here?”
    “Yes, I’m new. My name’s Cara Green.”
    “Rhonda Flint. Mr. Noonan’s assistant. Nice to meet you.” Rhonda opened the refrigerator door. “So, you the new assistant, here in acquisitions?”
    “Um…no?” Cara stopped to consider the question. She knew so little about her new job, she had no idea if Victor’s department was casually referred to as “acquisitions.” “I report to Mr. Barboza. My title is Public Relations Liaison.”
    Rhonda abruptly closed the refrigerator door and gave her a wide-eyed glance. “What?”
    Oh no . “Is that a bad thing?”
    Rhonda’s high heels clopped along the floor as she walked up to Cara. She looked over her shoulder as if someone were eavesdropping. “You might not wanna talk about that too loudly. Barboza doesn’t hire people. The whole company’s under a pretty tight hiring freeze unless it’s urgent.”
    “So, what do I tell people if they ask?” Cara chuckled. “I can’t exactly lie and say I’m somewhere else.”
    “Hmm. That’s true.” Rhonda’s lips puckered as she thought about it. “I know. You tell ‘em you’re a consultant, working on a project for Barboza. And if anyone asks about the project, you tell ‘em you can’t talk about it.
    “Okay.” Cara was skeptical.
    “Gary.” Rhonda simultaneously rolled her eyes and blew her bangs out of her face. “He should’ve warned you.” She smirked. “He’s gay, you know.”
    Cara nodded. “Yeah, I got that.” She’d noticed some pictures on Gary’s screen saver that morning of him with another man in a position that was slightly more than friendly. But then she had a thought. “Oh wait, you mean Gary, not Mr. Barboza, right?”
    Rhonda tossed her head back, laughing hard. “Yes, Gary. Barboza…hell no.”
    Cara didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean?”
    Rhonda stopped laughing. “Oh, nothing. Your boss is the most eligible bachelor in the building. Hell, in the whole city. At least he is now. He was engaged for a long time.” Rhonda cleared her throat and changed the subject, her eyes flickering as if she knew she shouldn’t be confiding so much gossip in the new girl. “So anyway, Gary probably should’ve told you to keep your new job a little private around here. We just had lunch last week. Wonder why he didn’t tell me there was a new hire?”
    “What’s the big deal? People come and go all the time.”
    “That’s not it. People don’t come and go in Barboza’s group. It’s just him and Gary.”
    “Is that strange?”
    “For this place, yeah. He’s the only partner who doesn’t oversee a whole staff. All we know is, he knows his shit and he brings in a lot of business.” Her eyes were huge. “And we don’t know anything else.”
    Cara gasped, thinking about the unsavory owner of Doyle Construction, where she sensed all along that something wasn’t right. “Is he doing something illegal? Please tell me he’s not.”
    “Oh no. Nothing like that. He’s a good guy. Keeps to himself.” She shrugged. “And really friendly when you see him around.” Her voice got quiet. “But I hear he’s a playboy.”
    Cara’s heart sank. “Really?