Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,8

she just stepped off the cover of Vogue. Strike that, not Vogue, more like Cosmo. Yeah, Cosmo.

“Kind of.” I hold my bag in front of me with both hands clasped to the handles.

“I’m Chelsea. I started working on the twenty-first floor with a non-profit a couple months ago. What floor do you work on?”

I smile. “Twenty-first.”

She points. “The assistant?”

I nod.

She adjusts her bag up onto her shoulder and extends her arm out toward me. “Hi. I’m the marketing manager. Chelsea Walsh.”

I shake her hand. “Victoria Clarke.”

“Nice to meet you. Hannah hired me two months ago and we’ve been trying to do a lot of it ourselves, but I’m so happy you’ll be joining us. I’ve been busier than a five-dollar hooker.”

I smile, not sure what to make of her comment when the elevator dings open and we file in. She presses the button and we wait.

She checks out my hands. “No ring. Single?”

“Divorced.”

She nods. “Me, too. Not the best club to be a member of, but more often than not, it’s a happy club. Am I right?” She elbows me like we’re a bunch of guys razzing each other about who will win the super bowl.

I smile.

“Isn’t dating a let down? I went out with this guy recently because he had a motorcycle. Yeah, I love the bad boys. You’d think my ex would’ve ruined that for me. Sadly, still think I can change them.” She waves off her last comments like they’re nothing important. “So…this guy picks me up on his motorcycle and yeah, I know it’s Chicago and cold but what am I going to say? Pick me up in your Honda? No way.” She inhales a breath and I can see where she might be lightheaded with the way she’s talking so much. “I thought we’d go along the lakefront or something, but he drives me to some upscale bar in the suburbs to hang around outside with his other wannabe bad boy biker gang, minus any SOA vibes.”

“Bummer.” I’m not sure what else to say. I’ve never met anyone as open as this woman is with a practical stranger.

“Bummer’s right. It turns out the bike wasn’t even his. It was his dad’s. Can you believe that? The kid—and I say kid because he lied about his age. He was twenty-one.” She holds up her hand. “I’m all about dating a younger guy, but there’s no way this kid who stole his daddy’s bike was going to know his way around the erogenous zones. Am I right?”

“You’re right.” I look up to the elevator buttons. Thankfully, it lands on twenty-one and the doors open.

“I wanted to ask him for his daddy’s number.”

She laughs and we both step off the elevator into what is our new office.

Small is right, but it’s quaint and cute. There’s a small reception area for guests to wait with leather chairs and a couch. Magazines are fanned out on a coffee table with a cooler full of water bottles in the corner in case they’re thirsty.

“What are you talking about?” The woman I’ve only seen through a video appears from down the hall. “Victoria!” she exclaims like I’m some long-lost sorority sister.

“Good morning, Ms. Crowley,” I say, and she stops dead in her tracks. Her arms falling to her sides and her exuberant expression falling.

“No, no, no. Call me Hannah. You need to forget everything Jagger ever taught you.” Her arms stretch and embrace me in a hug that I lightly reciprocate with a few pats on the back. She pulls away probably sensing my timidness. “Welcome.” A soft smile crosses her face. “What are you carrying on about?” she directs her question to Chelsea.

“Well, it’s Monday,” she singsongs, her head bobbing back and forth.

“Oh yes, divorcee dating recap?” Hannah rolls her eyes in a cute, playful manner to say she secretly enjoys them.

“You guessed right.”

“You’ll have to fill me in in a bit.” Hannah says, leading me over to a desk situated near a window. “Here’s your desk.”

My desk is gray and has a large screen monitor on it, a holder full of pens, notebooks and a phone. Everything looks all set for me to start.

“Looks great. Thank you so much.”

Chelsea smiles on from across the desk. “Hannah, did you know she’s divorced, too?”

Hannah nods “And she’s got a daughter. Jade, right?”

“Yeah.” I take out the picture frame from my bag and place it on my desk. Whether or not I get fired, this time I’m not ashamed to be a single