Page 5 of Burn for Me
“What?” she grinned back unrepentantly. “You can’t tell me he doesn’t have the same effect on you! There’s something seriously off about that dude!”
Sighing, she replied, “He’s always been a little... different, shall we say? His parents did him no favours with that name. And the lisp sure as hell doesn’t help. Life was unbearable for him when we were at school. As he’s grown older, he’s gotten worse.”
The doorbell on the front door chimed, saving Kitty from having to say anything more on the topic. Jazz headed for the front, and Kitty got back to work. The rest of the day whizzed by in a blur.
* * *
With the bakeryput to rights, Kitty locked the front door. Letting herself out the back, she locked the door behind her and made her way to the car, rolling tired shoulders. A prickle of the ever-present feeling of eyes on her made its way down her spine. Looking around, she didn’t see anything out of place, but the feeling wouldn’t abate.
She was sure somebody was out there in the dark recesses somewhere, watching her. Her imagination ran wild as fear gripped her. She disliked feeling this way. Rushing over to her car, Kitty fumbled with the fob to unlock, scrambling into the safety of the interior when she finally managed to get it open. She slammed the door and locked it, glanced around one last time before starting the engine.
To distract herself from the dread, she connected her phone to the car’s Bluetooth system. First, she dialled her friend Morgan’s number. When she got no answer, she dialled Lee’s number. While she waited for her to answer, Kitty started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. She couldn’t wait to get home.
“Hey gorgeous. How goes?” Lee answered.
“Hi yourself. Just headed for home, so I thought I’d check in. How’s your day been?”
The mindless chatter helped calm her jangling nerves and made the drive home more palatable.
* * *
Summertime traffic was the worst,especially over the weekends. Everybody was either headed for the beach to enjoy the sun or the mall to enjoy the air conditioning. Eventually, Kitty pulled into her parking space at home, heaving a sigh of relief. Sitting bumper to bumper scarcely moving for kilometres on end wasn’t her favourite way to spend her time. It had been a long day, but nothing that a hot soak, a good book, and a glass of wine couldn’t cure. Not necessarily in that order. And at least she’d had Leyla’s rapier wit to keep her company on the irritating drive.
Usually Kitty came home earlier in the day, but today she’d stayed until closing so she could try out some new ideas. So, she was definitely looking forward to relaxing.
Life, it seemed, had other ideas, as the downstairs buzzer sounded. It looked like her much-anticipated soak wasn’t to be.
“Hello?” she said.
“Hi, open up,” a voice replied.
Smiling, she pressed the door release to let Morgan Preston in. Their mothers were childhood friends. Even after getting married and having children of their own, their friendship had endured. And, of course, they were thrilled when their girls had become best friends almost since birth. Kitty stood by the open door waiting for the lift to arrive.
“Hiya, precious. I saw you were looking for me earlier, so I thought I’d pop by. How was your day?” Morgan queried as she made her way into the apartment.
“Crazy busy, but good. Yours?” Kitty reached out to give Morgan a big hug.
“Urgh! The day from hell. Somehow, the dick managed to corrupt the document file he needs for a meeting on Monday, and guess who has to ride to the rescue yet again? And on a Saturday,” she pouted. Throwing herself down on the nearest sofa, she continued, “I don’t get paid enough for this crap. Even the side benefits don’t make up for that frustration.”
Kitty laughed at her friend.
“Don’t let Greg hear you calling him a dick!” she teased, referring to Morgan’s boss.
“I’m not sure what the hell I was thinking going to work for him. God, he’s a terrible boss.”
“Come on, Morgs. Surely he can’t be that bad.”
“Yes. Yes, he can. And he is,” Morgan replied before continuing. “How about a super big glass of wine to unwind?” She grinned hopefully.
Shaking her head at her friend, Kitty replied, “My thoughts exactly. I had intended to have that super big glass of wine in the bath, but since you’ve nixed that idea, what did you have in mind?”
“A nice girly night in with lots of that wine? Greg’s out tonight, so I thought we could just hang out. I miss our girl time.”
Something in Morgan’s tone didn’t quite sit right, and Kitty tried to get a read on her without making it obvious. She and her boss, Greg, had gotten together one night while out of town on business, but theirs had not been an easy relationship.
There was a vulnerable light in Morgan’s eyes that Kitty didn’t like. It was so unlike her. Kitty had tried to warn Morgan that getting involved with her married boss was not a good idea. She had worried about an eventuality like this. Unfortunately, Morgan caught her look. Her eyes shuttered immediately, and she smiled.
Not wanting to upset her friend by pressing, Kitty simply replied, “Sounds like a perfect evening.”
