Just For Now (A Flirting With Trouble Novel) Read Online Free

resignation letter in my head. I don’t particularly want to be unemployed, but I will not work in a place that upholds any kind of bullshit prejudice against anyone. Not when that’s what we’re trying so hard not to perpetuate in the kids in our care.
    “No, I just got transferred,” Remy says quietly. “I’m on my office phone now during my lunch break. They’ve got me in an adult recreation center—apparently I’ll be working with senior citizen groups now. I guess that’s where my replacement came from. Oscar? Was that his name?”
    “Owen.”
    And like destiny, or something far less dramatic, Owen walks through the office door. He smiles broadly at everyone as he heads for the break room.
    “Pizza’s here!”
    We all silently watch him go. I close my eyes.
    “Remy . . . I need to go. I’ll call you back after work.”
    I gently set the receiver back in its cradle, then look up at the rest of my coworkers. I know they’re reading my face, my expression. They can see I’m barely holding it together without screaming at the top of my lungs or throwing something really hard at the wall.
    “What happened?” Derrick asks. His fists are clenching on either side of his body, which tells me that I can’t possibly tell him the truth right now. I might want to channel the Incredible Hulk, but Derrick might actually do it.
    “I need to talk to Owen first,” I say slowly. “You guys totally deserve to hear about what happened, but I kind of need to talk to him about it first.”
    “Why?” Shannon asks, frowning.
    I exhale as I stand up, then smooth a hand over my uniform shirt.
    “Because I want to know his side. I want to know what he knows.”
    I take slow, purposeful strides from my desk to the door. I’m not usually one to relish dramatics, although I appreciate them now and again. For a morning like this one, I decide I can relish in a little over-the-top drama.
    “Because if I find out that Owen was a part of what happened to Remy,” I say in a low voice, “then today is my last day at BYC.”
    I swing my ponytail over one shoulder, then walk with purpose, and feigned confidence, toward the break room.

Chapter Three
    “I need to talk to you.”
    Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m nervous when I say it and I’m nervous for Owen’s reaction. This is because of multiple reasons: I am fucking pissed. Like, really, legitimately furious. The fact that anyone could be moved from their job because of one complaint is ridiculous. But the fact that it’s because of someone’s personal life—any part of their personal life—is utter bullshit.
    If I find out that my new boss, who I met all of four hours ago, was a part of the decision to “out” Remy, then I have to quit. I’ve never quit anything in my life and I’m not sure I’ll be that good at it—especially when it’s over principles and not, say, a pay raise.
    Worst of all, Owen went out and changed out of his dress shirt and into his uniform polo, which makes me realize that he’s actually completely cut from marble and far more muscular than I realized. Between that and his face, he looks like an earnest and hardworking Greek god, like the kind of guy who brings his mom dinner when she’s sick, then heads off to a UFC tournament.
    Dammit. I can’t let myself be distracted. I have to stay vigilant.
    Owen, in the meantime, is looking at me expectantly as he lays out the cheap white paper plates that we’ve been storing on top of the fridge.
    “What’s up? Where is everyone?”
    I drop down into one of the plastic chairs and brace my hands on both my knees.
    “I need to ask you a question,” I say carefully, forcing myself to temper my anger with something like professionalism.
    Owen senses the seriousness in my tone or my body language, or both. He pulls a chair out and swings it around to straddle it backwards. The move is so unexpectedly sexy that I almost forget what I’m about to say.
    “I spoke with Remy on the phone a bit