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Chapter One
Gabrielle Black swore loudly when her alarm clock woke her up. She didn’t even have a real job – she certainly didn’t need to be up first thing, not today anyway.
Grumbling to herself, she rose from bed and turned off the alarm, making sure it was staying off since she didn’t need to be waking up at six a.m. tomorrow either. Until she found a permanent job, she could sleep in every morning. Not that she was complaining, but she did have bills to pay.
There was no way she could go back to bed now. The night had been much too warm, and she felt a little sticky. Deciding she needed a shower, Gabrielle stripped off her night shirt. As she passed by the wall mirror, she reluctantly paused to view her image. She hadn’t been paying much attention to herself lately, but thank goodness she was the low-maintenance type. She had good skin that didn’t need days in the spa to glow. And she didn’t need to spend hours in the gym to keep her nice figure.
But then she had never been too critical of her attributes. If anyone was looking for perfection, they definitely wouldn’t find it in her. She was just happy in herself, though she always gave room for improvement. Long dark hair, brown eyes, and nice face – she especially liked her pointy nose and chin – chocolate skin, nice boobs and ass, and just the right side of five feet to have people pointing out she could have been a model.
Well, that hadn’t happened since she was in her teens. Now, at twenty-six, she’d given up dreams of anything glamorous. She had a degree in English, but judging by her employment history since she left college, she’d never put her degree to much use. She was far from being a success even three years after graduation.
Finally dressed in skinny jeans and a sweatshirt, Gabrielle made for the kitchen. As she walked down the hallway, she passed by her roommate and best friend’s room. Ayana’s door was wide open, and Ayana was bare-ass naked with some dude asleep next to her.
Gabrielle shook her head with a chuckle. She was getting more than a little jealous of Ayana’s carefree exploits. She always had hot guys all over her, mostly from campus where Ayana was getting her Masters – on a full ride, no less. And she still had time to work as a bartender for her day job – just for fun, as Ayana put it.
Some girls had all the luck. Gabrielle sighed as she bit into a banana in the kitchen. Looking around in the fridge, she realized they needed groceries, but Gabrielle couldn’t stretch her current funds that far and would have to ask Ayana for another loan.
To think Gabrielle had believed moving to New York would change everything.
It had always seemed like they big city could offer her so much more than her small town ever could. Her parents had told her she’d never make it on her own in this big place, and she hated to think they may have been right. Just as they’d been right that her English degree would be next to useless in the real world.
They’d never really believed in her, and that only made Gabrielle determined not to give up.
When Ayana finally surfaced, Gabrielle was at her computer in the kitchen, going over her finances. Ayana grabbed a mug of coffee and joined Gabrielle, who looked up with an accusing glance. “I saw your friend leave earlier. Aren’t you picking them much too young this time?”
Ayana’s eyes widened with innocence. “He’s twenty-one. I checked his ID. That makes me six years older, but who’s counting? Age is nothing but a number, baby.”
“Well – I guess you don’t have to be too picky when it’s just a one-night stand,” Gabrielle murmured wryly before turning her attention back to the screen.
“You should try it though. Just once,” Ayana said, taking an appreciative sip of her coffee. “You’ve been single much too long. You need someone to let off some steam, if only for a few hours. Eases a lot of tension; take it from me.”
“Thanks for the advice, but I’m too worried about money to have time for romance.”
“Who’s talking about romance? It’s just sex, Gabrielle. No fancy tags involved. You meet someone hot that you like, and you just do it. No strings attached.”
“I’ll give it a thought once I can find myself doing something tangible,” Gabrielle said. “For now, I just need to sort myself out.”
“You promise to give it a try? I’ll hold you to it, believe me,” warned Ayana with a finger pointed at Gabrielle.
“Yeah, whatever. Right now, I need your help with trying to brainstorm what type of jobs I can try for. Is that bar you work for hiring?”
