Trouble in High Heels Read Online Free PDF Page B

me before I had a chance to stop him.”
    “That’s okay,” Hollingsworth said, studying Jackson for a few seconds. “This time,” he added. “Come on in, Jackson. You can close the door behind you. Hold my calls.”
    Jackson closed the door and walked to his boss’s desk. He cleared his throat. “Mr. Hollingsworth, I’ll put my accounting background against anyone’s in the firm, but I can’t fulfill Lori Granger’s latest request,” he said with a bitter taste filling his mouth.
    “Have a seat,” Hollingsworth said, motioning to the leather chair in front of his desk.
    Jackson reluctantly sat. He was still stifling the urge to scream.
    “Did she ask you to commit a crime?”
    Jackson blinked and shook his head. “No, no,” he said.
    Hollingsworth stood and walked to the side of his desk. He lifted the lid of his humidor. “You see what’s in this humidor?”
    Jackson looked inside. “It’s empty.”
    “Right. I hate cigars. They’re nasty, and the odor clings to everything. But Friday this humidor will be filled with the finest Jamaicans money can buy, because a client with a multimillion-dollar account will be walking through that door. He’ll light a cigar, and so will I-even though I hate them. Dealing with top clients means you’re willing to work with their eccentricities. If these people weren’t rich, they’d be called freaking weirdos instead of eccentrics. Now, I’m not going to ask what Lori Granger wants you to do. I’m just going to tell you that this is part of playing with a big fish.” He leaned forward and clapped Jackson on the shoulder. “We believe you can handle this account.” With a smile reminiscent of Jack Nicholson’s I-couldn’t-care-less grin, he waved the hand toward the door. “Now have a nice day.”
    Nodding, Jackson rose and strode from the office to his vehicle. He got inside and felt himself boil with frustration. At least he understood the rules. He could expect zero backup from the partners, and he was expected to fulfill Lori Granger’s most insane wish as if he had a magic wand. Hey, he’d dodged a roaring, snorting bull, mad with the urge to kill, before. He should be able to manage a female mad with the urge to marry.
    Swearing under his breath, he started the vehicle and shifted it into gear. Who was he kidding? This job was going to be a bitch if ever there was one.
    Needing silence and sense, he drove to his house and walked inside. His black Lab, Sadie, greeted him by rising and walking toward him. “How ya doing, girl?” he asked, petting her silky coat. He really hadn’t had room in his life for a pet, but when he’d found Sadie abandoned and emaciated from lack of food, he hadn’t been able to leave her. After they’d come to an agreement on her chewing habits, she’d become an easygoing buddy for him.
    Hanging his suit coat on the back of a chair, Jackson lifted his phone and checked his voice mail. One message from his mother, another from his brother, another from a tenant. The tenant needed a faucet. No problem. Jackson could take care of that tonight. His mother and brother needed money, he suspected. Whenever both of them called, they didn’t come out and ask for money, but they needed it. Since his father came and went as he pleased, Jackson sent money to fill in the gaps, with the understanding that his mother use it strictly for herself or his teenage brother, Adam.
    Grabbing a beer from the refrigerator, he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled off his tie. He sat down in a wooden kitchen chair, put his feet on the chair across from him, and looked out the window. The view wasn’t anything to scream about, just a couple of trees and brown grass singed from the unrelenting hot sun, along with the back of a neighbor’s house. It soothed him because it was normal. He could use a lot of normal after the last few days.
    He took another long drink from the can and let the silence and sanity seep inside him. He took a deep breath and