After One Reckless Night

in New York, she was barefoot, pr

lim portfolio, and doing everything sh

a subtle makeup. The cheap-but-decent blazer borrowed from her friend.

g doors into the dazzling lobby

e from air conditioning. It was the kind of co

y in expensive shoes, looking bored, like coming to one of th

ipped her b

dn't worn anything but mom jeans and Keira'

ust her dreams at stake. It was rent and groceries.

to the recept

th such elegance, sharp red lips and a f

using at the fraying seam on her blazer sl

am

erly

mputer for a second

others are already waiting.

u," Kimbe

She just returned to her screen

the silver doors, her heels echoing on the glassy floors. She

ssed man standing a few feet away. He didn't glance at her. He was on the phon

verted her ga

ith a soft ding, and

oor was like stepping onto a c

or room where other candidates wa

only one chasin

tight black dresses, impossibly high heels, and

d of the six years she'd

ently praying the others couldn't he

even sized her up from head to toe with a smirk, like she already knew K

looked away quickly

rooms. Given birth alone in a hospital, faced rejection

oing this

nutes

isper when a tall woman

. Harrington will be joining us shortly. He'l

een pretending to be calm sat straighter, fixed their ha

er hand, frowned up

arrin

bably in one of those business articles or on the side of a high-ri

hat mattered to her most, was getting

n, and they all hear

owned the world, wh

breathing through the sudden weight in her chest. But th

voice stepped in, Kimb

it, with gray eyes that s

n. The man from

s almost

aking to his assistant, walking past the

anded on Kimberly,

s, the whispers, the excitement. It

st the tw

ar