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Her heart exploded. Her body melted. Her nipples hardened. Fresh wetness soaked her already-drenched panties.
Yeah no.
She quickly brushed all that aside and turned up her Ice-Maiden setting.
Indeed, she was going to die a virgin.
Chapter Three
Determined to carry on as normal, as soon as she could, Kensley escaped back to her office immediately after saying her goodbyes to Ellis, who was already packed for Alaska. She was going to miss her old boss and tried very hard not to cry when he gave them a final salute and disappeared.
Sandra assumed her role as Hunter McLeod’s groupie and assistant and was soon ushering everyone back to work while fawning over their new boss.
Kensley closed her office door, exercising a Herculean amount of control not to pull out her knitting, and got to work instead.
She had a corporate newsletter to compose, and she also had to follow up with a potential client about the details of their manufacturing process. Her job was to make sure all the products associated with High Cloud adhered to environmental standards.
She was glad for her work, or her brain would have eaten itself by now. And maybe, everything was going to be all right after all. Maybe, Hunter McLeod hadn’t heard anything after all, and she was just adding unnecessary worry to her list of actual stuff to worry about. Like the plight which involved her grandparents for example, the two people she loved the most in the world, and who had spent more time raising her than her own parents.
The building in which they had lived all their lives, Everry Place, had been sold to some greedy, nameless investors, six months ago, just when Kensley had been in the middle of her breakup with Hugh. Was it any wonder she had self-soothed by taking up knitting around the same time?
All the residents of Everry Place, mostly older people, who had retired already, were just waiting for eviction notices.
That wasn’t going to happen, not while she was on the job. Her gran had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about three years ago and their little apartment with its pretty balcony garden was the only thing that brought her peace and comfort.
Kensley promised her grandfather that she would handle the situation. He certainly didn’t need the added anxiety of wondering whether their home was going to be demolished or not.
Kensley wasn’t afraid to go to battle with the investors, whoever they were, since all that had been kept confidential. No one was going to kick her grandparents out of the only home they had ever lived in. Her gran would not survive if they had to be relocated elsewhere.
So far, her hundreds of calls to get to the head honcho of the company that had bought Everry Place had been deflected, but that wasn’t going to deter her one bit. She could be a force—
“Oh, my word, have you heard?” Marcy stumbled into her office, her cheeks as red as her hair, the aroma of food wafting from the bags in her hands.
Was it lunchtime already?
“Heard what?”
“Of course, you wouldn't have heard anything. You've been holed up here, actually working like some abnormal person while everyone out there has been crapping in their hands.” Marcy handed her a turkey on rye sandwich, keeping a chicken salad for herself. She sat down opposite Kensley.
“Would you just tell me what happened?” Kensley opened her sandwich and realized how hungry she had been.
“Ron Allard and Sam Davis got fired.”
“What?” Sandwich forgotten, she leaped from her chair. Oh god, it was happening, despite Ellis’ assurances that it would be business as usual for everyone at High Cloud.
“The new boss fired them just like that, Kensley.” Marcy clicked her fingers before she dug her fork into her salad again. “But here's the real thing. Only three people received emails directly fromThe Hunterbecause that’s what we now call him. Ron Allard, Sam Davis, and, minutes before lunch, Cynthia Hampstead received one. She's in there with him right now, and I think we all know how that's going to end for her.”
Kensley added up the facts quickly. Of all the people at High Cloud, Ron, Sam, and Cynthia were probably the three people Ellis should have fired but never seemed to have the guts to do so. Ron and Sam were condescending assholes to everyone around them. And as a marketing manager, Cynthia was famous for stealing and selling other people's ideas as her own. She was that shameless.
“Yup. I can see your brain working. The Hunter is getting rid of all the bad potatoes. Wait,” Marcy said, picking up her phone, which she had laid on Kensley’s desk. “That's Moira. Cynthia is packing up her office right this minute. Well, they all deserved to be fired. I hate Ron; he made me cry on my first day here, and Sam—”
The ping of an incoming email snagged Kensley’s attention away from Marcy. The sandwich slipped from her hand as she sat down again. Her heart jumped into her throat, suffocating her. She started to feel sick.
Why would Hunter McLeod be sending her an email?
No. No. No.
“Marcy,” she said softly, interrupting what had become her friend’s monologue as she clicked on the email.
