Page 12 of Hers to Love
“Good. No more talk about work. Take in the view. It’s really one of a kind.”
Kori did as she was told and kept her eyes in front, soaking in the sights of Florence in the early morning hours. She could smell bread and pastries from the shops along the river and could hear people’s radios playing music. Everything was truly idyllic.
Perfect.
An illusion.
And one that wouldn’t last.
Chapter 6
Kori caught on quick. That was one thing going for her.
After Marshall introduced her to some of the staff, he showed her to her office, and they spent about an hour going over essentials. He’d been called into an impromptu meeting for something he couldn’t remember, and now he was at his desk going through papers that had been waiting for his signature.
Feeling a hand cramp coming on, he opened his email and found that Kori had nearly cleaned it out. Did he need to answer anything? What had he missed?
Marshall inhaled and slowly exhaled. He was too young to have a heart attack. Then men in his family—other than his father—lived to ripe old ages of eighty and beyond.If I didn’t need to see it, it wasn’t important.He would trust Kori to do her job and keep him in the loop on the crucial stuff.
He checked his voicemail.
Marshall Buchanan? This is Brigham Noland. Heard you hired my ex-assistant. Let me clue you in on something—
Marshall skipped the message. He wasn’t at all interested in what Brigham had to say about Kori. Marshall would come to his own conclusions. How did Brigham get his number anyway? He was a tech guy; probably hacked into their system somehow.
After he finished listening to the last message, someone knocked on his door. It was going to be one of those days where he wasn’t going to catch a break. He’d really lost his endurance during his year of goofing off. Marshall called out for the person to enter.
“Marshall!” Perry entered quickly and shut the door behind him. He rubbed his bald head with a handkerchief. His egg-shaped face drooped with disappointment. “It’s about time.”
“Perry. Yeah, sorry about that. I thought I’d be in sooner, but I was…um, going over some things with Ms. Kaye. I’ll have to introduce you. She’s already jumped in with both feet. I think this relationship is going to work.”
“You should probably pick a different word,” Perry said with a frown.
Marshall leaned back and laced his fingers together. He waited for Perry, a member of the board and a good friend, to settle his lanky frame into a seat across from him. Perry’s expression looked strained, and his frown persisted.
“Perry, what are you talking about? What word? She’s a fast learner. Hasn’t asked me a question in over an hour. My email is practically scrubbed. I’m feeling confident about this—”
“Don’t say relationship.”
“Explain.”
“That’s why she was fired from her last position.”
“Fired?” Sabrina had told him Kori had left the company.Interesting. Sabrina and Kori were best friends, so he understood the loyalty but felt slightly betrayed. He should’ve been told she had been fired. Now he believed the rumors he had heard to be true. Shewasfired.
“You didn’t know?”
“I…I had heard from a reliable source that the rumors of her firing were false.”
Perry stuttered. “Well, your source sucks. It’s all over the place. She’s suing Brigham for wrongful termination.”
“Cause?”
“Sexual assault!”
Marshall sat very still. Sexual assault. Well, the rumors got that one wrong. Kori hadn’t been the instigator of the relationship—Brigham had. And an unwanted one at that. Kori had been harmed? Marshall’s hands fisted. He hadn’t known her long and already he felt a desire to protect her.
“Perry, are you sure?”
