Chapter One

Cheryl’s POV

It was another winter in the South Texas Plains region, and even though most people believed that the weather was fairly mild in this part of Texas compared to the northeastern part of the United States, grabbing a cup of coffee and a snack just before heading out to work wasn't unusual. The thick whir of frothing machines, the airy slurp of empty whipping cream canisters, the clicking sound of coins in a tip jar, and the chiming sound of the door sure portended that the day couldn't get any busier.

The scent of espresso, freshly brewed coffee, ground beans, freshly baked cookies and muffins, vanilla and chocolate aroma wafted in the air, strong enough to cause stomachs to rumble.

Warm smiles plastered on customers' faces who had different orders of whipped cream laced with chocolate drizzle, hearty sandwiches with the zing of mustard, nutty cookies, chocolate chunk waffles, cinnamon buns, and coffee cake among several others.

"Mmm...this tastes heavenly. I'll certainly drop by more often." The bald sturdy potbellied old man whom I had served a little earlier commented with a warm smile. "Here." He slipped an extra twenty dollar bill into my hand, flashing me a grin.

"Thank you for this." I raised my hand a little awkwardly, and my lips curved in a sheepish smile. With one last wave of the hand, he disappeared. 

Some customers hummed to the music playing in the background withdrawing cookies and danishes while some others laughed in between murmurs and chatter.

"I'll have..."

My phone chimed just before another customer could walk up to me at the counter and I glanced at Bobby Wilson. "Can you attend to the next customer, please? It's a very important call." My lips contorted in a pleading smile, and I didn't miss Bobby's frosty glare just before I dashed out of the coffeehouse through the exit door behind me. 

"Kathleen Martin, I could purr for a straight ten minutes about how much a lifesaver you are. The day has barely begun, and I'm completely exhausted." My fingers found their way to my temple, rubbing it a little hard and a deep sigh escaped from my lips.

"Let me take a guess, Bobby Wilson is attending to customers with clenched teeth and a red face right now." Swirling, I caught sight of a frustrated Bobby and my lips curled in a rueful smile.

"He's definitely insulting me mentally right now. I can spot a vein throbbing in his forehead. And of course, there's the clenched teeth and red face." A chuckle escaped from my lips and Kathleen joined in from the other end of the phone.

About thirty seconds after our laughing spree, Kathleen cleared her throat briefly before speaking, "Remember that you called me a lifesaver a little while ago?"

"I did?" My face scrunched up a bit.

"I just might have something that will save you completely and take you out of the mess you're in right now."

"If this about applying again to Tyler and Walker Corporation-" Kathleen didn't let me finish before cutting me short.

"Of course not, Cheryl. I know how much depression that has caused you and I'm everything but insensitive. It has nothing to do with that," Kathleen reiterated and my brows quirked on reflex. "It does have something to do with Tyler and Walker Corporation but-"

"I'm not interested." My clipped voice did nothing to frustrate Kathleen.

"Look, Cheryl Moore, if you still consider me your best friend, you have to trust me. I can't see any other way you'd avoid the charges being pressed against you, and I need not remind you that you have just one month to pay up the huge sum of money Scorp Enterprise is demanding. Except you have a choice, you'll listen to me."

Exhaling, my shoulders slumped. "Fine, let's hear your million-dollar idea." My muscles tensed a little and one of my eyebrows arched. "It'd better be worth it."

"Remember Beverly Rodriguez?"

"The garrulous friend you made when you used to work as an intern at Tyler and Walker Corporation?" A picture of Kathleen quirking her brows to my question registered in my head.

"Now, that's some retentive memory you have. That's her. Except that she isn't garrulous," she ground out. "She's just...observant." Kathleen sure expected the huff that escaped my lips.

"What about her? I hope that this has nothing to do with me working with her because if that's the case, you can as well forget that you mentioned her to me."

"You're jumping to conclusions again. Hear me out, will you?" She snapped, something Kathleen did whenever my obstinacy kicked in.

"So, I found out something quite exciting from Beverly, and trust me, if you weren't in this mess, I would have kicked at the can. You know that I would kill to catch a glimpse of Russell Walker, and this is way more than taking a sneak peek at his sexy face. It does have something to do with seeing the hot son of Jeffrey Walker every single-"

"Can you stop cutting through the corners? What is this about?"

"Alright, I know that this might sound very ridiculous to you, perhaps because unlike me, you don't have a huge crush on Russell Walker- something I would never understand, but that's beside the point." Kathleen cleared her throat. "So, I'm saying that this might not make sense superficially, but I assure you that it would make so much sense when you-"

"Kathleen. What. Does. This. Job. Entail?" I was already getting impatient.

"Alright." A resigned sigh escaped from her lips. Drawing a deep breath, she said, "It's not a job per se. I don't have all the details about it, and I think that we would have to see Russell Walker. He alone can explain what this is about. All I know is that..." Kathleen trailed off for a while and she gulped down saliva just one second from my imminent snap.

"...Russell Walker is desperate for a wife. I don't know why, but my instincts tell me that it has something to do with Jeffrey Walker. Maybe it's something that relates to Mr. Walker giving Russell Walker a condition to emerge as the CEO of Tyler and Walker Corporation, which in this case is that he finds a wife in the space of one month. This is crazy right?"