Haze(13)

Cicely is a Liore lifer. It's obvious that she plans on building her career here so I shouldn't fault her for doing her job well. I need to check my attitude if I'm going to chart a new course. I want this job for the foreseeable future so I need to do what's necessary and that includes obeying her rules. She is, after all, my boss.

"What are you doing the last Wednesday of the month?" Her words halt me just as I'm about to round the counter to walk towards a customer who is giving a display of silk panties a second glance.

"What? You mean on the 30th?" I turn back so I'm facing her.

She nods softly. "You're only scheduled until three that afternoon. I'm supposed to work until store closing but I need to switch."

I study her face, wondering if she's testing me. It doesn't matter if she is or not, I'm busy that night. "I'm sorry, Cicely. I can't. I have plans. "

I see something flash across her expression. I can't place it since it disappears too quickly. "I have plans too. Mine are with Mr. Foster."

If she's expecting any reaction out of me, I'm not going to give it to her. I stand stoic even though my mind is racing. Gabriel Foster is into Cicely? If I'd bet money on that, I would have lost. She doesn't strike me as his type, but what do I know?

"I'll ask someone else." She looks over my shoulder. "I don't want to disappoint Mr. Foster. He's looking forward to it."

I'm sure he is. I have no idea why he'd be looking forward to it, but to each his own, as they say.

"You should get out on the floor, Isla." Her fingers wave past my head. "There are customers waiting."

I glance in the direction of her hand towards a middle-aged man holding a bra at arm's length, his Rolex peeking out from under the arm of his suit jacket. I smile as I walk straight towards him knowing that by the time he leaves the store, I'll have made half my month's rent.



-Uploaded by Em's Emporium ORD -VK-

If you're not getting this book from Em's Emporium then the person who uploaded this book didn't care for this group. Such an ignorant person who gain benefit for her own purposes

Why do you support this person?





CHAPTER EIGHT


Gabriel




"Who are you screwing these days?"

I don’t need to look up to know who is standing in the doorway of my office. It's the same question he's asked me since we were teenagers living in a cramped brownstone. He was as brash and unreserved then as he is now. The fact that he recently got married hasn't muted him at all. Caleb, my younger brother, will never change.

"Close the door." My eyes stay trained on my tablet.

"It's not that woman in accounting, is it?" he asks brusquely as he slams the doors behind him. "When I was down there last week I caught a glimpse of her computer and you, my dear brother, are her screen saver."

"I'm what?" I finally look up. "Who?"

"I don't know her name." He lowers himself into one of the chairs in front of my desk. "She's a redhead with squirrely eyes. She's in the cubicle near the elevator on the third floor."

"I'm not familiar," I say through a grin. "I'm her screensaver?"

He nods. "It's a picture of you dressed in a tux. She must have lifted it off the corporate website. You're looking good in it. I bet she trips the switch looking at that when everyone else in her department leaves for the day."

"Trips the switch?" I cock a brow.

"You know, she flicks the bean, double clicks the mouse. You're her man candy when she's …"

"Shut up." I literally shudder at the thought. I don't have a clue which employee he's referring to but I'm not oblivious to the glances that some of the women who work in the building throw me when I walk into the lobby every morning. Beyond that, it's not uncommon to have a woman press her body into mine during a crowded elevator ride.

I was witness to the same thing happening with Caleb. It still does, to a degree, but a lot has changed since he married Rowan Bell, my second-in-charge within the Liore division.

"How's Bell?" I ask, not only because she's been in Europe for almost a month, but the truth is I adore her. I view her as a younger sister. It makes sense given the fact that she lived next door to us when we were all children.

"Miserable without me." A broad smile takes over his mouth. "You need to tell her to get her ass back here, Gabriel. I miss her."

I miss her too. I can count my close friends on one hand and Bell is near the top of the list. I shield her from the things I don't want the world to know about me but beyond that I'm close to her. I was thrilled when she agreed to leave her last job to come work for me. She's as determined as I am to make Liore a success which is the main reason she's so skilled at handling the day-to-day operations.

"She'll be back at the end of the week. I assume she already told you that."

"She did." He leans back in the chair, crossing his legs. "You didn't answer my question."

"What question?"

"Who are you hooking up with lately?" He taps his fingers along the arm of the chair. "I heard you're bringing someone to the benefit at the end of the month."