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“I do believe in you. You’re good at what you do. You work hard. You’re way ahead of schedule. If there’s anything you’re ever worried about, or anything you see that’s worrying you, please come to me. Day or night.”
Oh, that would go over well with Dawn. But Charlie nodded and blinked the moisture from her eyes. “I will.”
“Promise?”
She smiled. Keith had struck her as uptight and boring, but she suddenly wanted to give him a hug. She wasn’t dumb enough to act on it, but she did take his hand and squeeze it. “I promise. Thank you.”
When she walked away from Keith, she took a wide berth around Walker’s ex-employer, but she’d apparently tried to avoid the wrong woman. Only ten steps into the crowd, she walked right into the claws of Dawn. “What the hell was that?” Dawn hissed, digging her fingers into Charlie’s arm to force her to a stop.
“Excuse me?” Charlie tried to yank her arm free, but Dawn refused to let go.
“You are such a little slut. My God. Don’t you have any shame?”
For a moment, Charlie considered one of the many self-defense moves she could use to break Dawn’s hold on her. She wasn’t an expert, but she’d had some basic training. But tempted as she was to use physical force, she didn’t want to draw attention, so she relaxed her arm until it was limp in Dawn’s hand. Dawn’s grip slowly loosened.
“I just had an interesting conversation with your husband.” Charlie twisted her arm free and stepped back a few inches.
“A conversation? Is that what you call it? Practically fucking a big stud in front of him to get his attention?”
“Oh, my God. There’s something seriously wrong with you.”
Dawn’s eyes went so wide that Charlie could see the whites all around her irises. She’d hit a nerve. “Don’t you speak to me that way! Have you forgotten that I am your last resort? Ha. Literally! I brought you into this job. One word to my husband and you’ll be out.”
“That’s funny. Because Keith just told me that he was the one who insisted on hiring me.”
Her crazy eyes blinked. The smirk disappeared. She shook her head. “No. I hired you.”
“Your husband wanted to hire me and he did it even though you objected, and that’s why you’ve been acting this way.”
“That’s not true!”
“It is true. You would have gotten rid of me by now if you could. That’s why I drive you crazy.”
Dawn’s mouth twisted into a growl. Her finger stabbed Charlie’s breastbone. “I was fine with him hiring you until I found out the whole story! What man wouldn’t want to bring in a slut who sleeps her way to the top?”
Charlie opened her mouth, about to tell this woman off once and for all, but this wasn’t the place. If she got into a screaming match with the owner’s wife and was later fired, that would only add another layer of tarnish to her already rough reputation. So she took a deep breath and spoke calmly. “Listen. I promise you that I have no designs on your husband. Not only that, but he’s never been anything but a complete professional with me. I swear.”
“I don’t need you assuring me of my husband’s fidelity!”
“Fine. He checks out my tits whenever he can and drools over my womanly wiles.”
“You... You...”
Alarmed by the fluorescent shade of pink that took over Dawn’s face, Charlie held up her hands. “God, I was just kidding. I don’t have any breasts to check out, in case you haven’t noticed. At least one thing hasn’t changed since high school. Just calm down, Dawn. He’s never said or done one inappropriate thing. He’s not interested.”
“Then why did he want to hire you? And why has he been so...” She waved a frantic hand.
Charlie didn’t want to know what kind of “so” he’d been. That was above her pay grade.
“And when did you get so...” Another frantic hand wave. Her perfect little nose wrinkled.
“When did I get so what?”
“We had the same ideals when we were young. That’s the only reason I agreed he could hire you. I thought maybe you’d retained some redeeming qualities, but I was wrong. You turned out just like all those other girls.”
“I didn’t turn out any way. I just grew up.”
“Badly.”
