Found (Captive Heart #2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

promoted me to an account executive after more than a year and a half of working my ass off. Stacy comes with the office, and although I have to get on her sometimes about keeping up, she’s pretty good at her job.
    “So do you love them?”
    I look up to see Jackie at my door, her navy wrap dress hugging her curvy body perfectly. Jackie is everything bombshell to my quiet attractiveness. She’s got the blond hair, the big boobs, the killer smile and the fire-engine red lips. She’s bold and brilliant … and a fantastic graphic designer.
    I point to the unopened folder. “Well … I haven’t had a chance to look them over seeing as I haven’t even taken off my coat yet.”
    “Ohhhh! Are we late due to some hanky panky with your hot felon husband?”
    She gives me a smirk and I notice that her cat-eye is extra catty today. But even Jackie can’t pull me out of my Tucker-funk.
    “No, just … running late.” I hang my blazer on the back of my door.
    “Still? Oh, sweetie …” Her face falls and she plops down in one of the beige chairs on the other side of my desk. “And he hasn’t said anything to you?”
    I hate to bitch about my personal life to Jackie, and especially at work. But she’s been here through a lot of it, and she’s like the sister I never had. She gets it, she helps. And right now, I could really use someone to talk to.
    “It’s like he would rather be back in prison. Like he doesn’t even want to be living with me. He’s still sleeping on the couch, and when I tried to get excited about him job searching today, he almost bit my head off with sarcasm.”
    She shrugs, her blond curls fluttering. “Char, you knew he was going to need some time. You can’t possibly understand what he’s going through. You just have to be there for him until he wants to talk.”
    For someone who eschews relationships like they’re virus-covered STDs or something, Jackie knows an awful lot about them. But I know why she’s pledging the “single for life” thing. Four years ago, her boyfriend died in an Air Force accident overseas. She’s never been the same, or so she’s said one night when we had one too many tequila shots.
    “I know I do.” I sigh, giving myself one more second of moping. “Okay, let’s get into these Curio mockups.”
    My day goes by like a blur, one client call or crisis after another. I had no idea, for almost my entire life, that I liked and communicated so well with people. But I am really good at my job, which is dealing with different people all day.
    But no matter how much I buried myself in my work and my clients, all I could think about was how Tucker’s meeting was going.

9
Tucker
    J ane Joval looks like she could be an extra on Sons of Anarchy . A weathered smokers face, the hard glint in her eyes, the over-processed dyed hair, and leather everything. She’s the typical biker’s wife.
    She’s also exactly the type of person I picture when I think parole officer.
    And she takes absolutely no shit.
    “I don’t take any shit.” See, I told you.
    “And I don’t plan to give you any. Listen, I don’t plan on going back to prison. Ever. I want to get my life on track. I want a job.”
    She looks me over, her wise blue eyes seemingly seeing into my soul.
    Then she picks up my file from her overloaded, sagging wood desk. “First thing first, you’ll need to find a local NA chapter.”
    I scoff. “I’m clean. Have been for three years.”
    She counters. “You’re a drug addict. Doesn’t matter if reformed is on the beginning of that phrase or not. The number of convicts that come out of the joint, find the real world is too hard and go running right back to the alley are far too many. I don’t want to see that from you. So, you find a chapter. Find a sponsor.”
    I nod, not wanting to piss her off in our first meeting. And she’s right. There were times in prison that I wanted to shoot up so badly, I almost went to the people I knew I could get it from. But