My cell phone dings, but I don't catch the email before the notification disappears from the screen. Not wanting to unlock my phone I check the company email on my computer in front of me.Bright and early Monday morning a wonderful gentleman from IT staff visited my desk and asked to take my cell phone for an hour. I wasn't going to let him. My cell phone is my life. I wouldn't pass it over like a first child or something. But then he informed me he'd put email on my phone so I could check it easier.I suspect it would also make it easier for Vincent to contact me when he's feeling needy or wants me to show up for work on a weekend with dry cleaning.Now less than thirty minutes later my phone returns the first email.Vincent ValiantSubject: LunchBe ready for a working lunch in fifteen.Vincent ValiantValiant Industries CEOI DON'T HAVE a problem with a working lunch, besides the fact I'll be working during it, but he doesn't give me any more details. Should I bri

"Holy crap. What is that?" The car jostles over a pothole and I twist in my seat to get a better view of the massive moving truck parked in front of our townhouse. It wider than my home. When Vincent said the movers would be here tonight, I didn't realize he planned to hire a semi-truck. How much stuff does he think we own?"That's your moving truck," Davis says, looking in the rearview mirror like I'm a moron.I sigh and rub a hand over my temple, worried about the headache that started around three o'clock today when Vincent made me hand edit a report that came from accounting. And then he made me do it again since I didn't use a red pen the first time. "I know it's a moving truck, but for whom? Does he plan to move the whole complex?"Davis stops the town car and as usual I get out of the backseat before giving him time to open my door. It's a ridiculous gesture. I'm capable of opening my own door. Right now bigger issues are happening in my life.The door to my townhouse is

"Ashley?" I call out into the living room, which separates the hallway from our two bedrooms.The only answer I received is a long snore. I retreat to my room, shaking my head. If you asked her, she'd swear up and down she doesn't snore. At one point in the relationship Jonathan even recorded a playback for her the next morning, but Ashley still refuses to admit the bearlike sounds were coming from her. She accused him of stealing audio from the internet.Memories of their argument clench my heart as I remember the pain and anger associated with Jonathan now. None of us will look back at the last two years the same. And what causes someone you thought you knew so well to become a completely different person overnight?Has Jonathan always possessed the capacity to cheat lingering within him or did something recently set him on a different course? Why is he so angry? If I consider the last two times Ashley's been near Jonathan or his new girlfriend, it's ended in violence. I don't

Another day, another dollar, right? Isn't every day about that? Getting ready for work should not be this mind altering. But when your boss almost kisses you in the apartment he owns the night before, going to work on Tuesday morning is terrifying.Will he remember what happened last night? Will he regret it? What would be worse, a man forgetting your first kiss—even if it was only a brush of lips—or him regretting it?"You're up early," I say sticking my head out of the large walk-in closet when Ashley plops down on my bed.She shakes her head, her eyes still half closed as if she crawled off her air mattress less than a minute ago. "I'm exhausted from the last week. I need to get my shit together today.""It's not like you didn't have an excuse." She spent the last week dealing with an abusive boyfriend. I think the world can cut her slack.She lays back on my bed. "The bar exam waits for no one, Kens.""You don't need to study. You've got this," I say pulling a lilac-col

The sun is already shining brightly as I walk out the front door of my apartment building. Living this close to work has its perks, and even though Vincent drives me insane in every possible way it's the first time since I took this job I truly feel as if I can do it. I'll spend the next few weeks fake smiling while he barks orders at me from his office, and then when it's all said and done, I'll take my position in marketing and have only the fantasies of our one shared almost-kiss.It's a great day, and I'm in a great mood. I've got this.My pleasant mood halts when I spot a large black SUV parked in front of my building. It's blocking an entire lane of traffic and doesn't seem to care. I only know one man with the balls big enough to do such a thing. My biggest worries are confirmed when Davis steps out from the driver's side and holds open the back door. I thought he and I had moved past this.There's a scowl on my face as I stop walking next to the vehicle. "Not this again.