Fresh Temptation

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