Read The 5-Year Plan (Friends to Lovers Romance Book 1) for Free Online

be busy with work. Will call later. In town. Wanted to hook up. Got something important to say. Cheerios, Bob.
    Cheerios—agh! Why did he want to meet? There was nothing left to say. They’d broken up months ago. She deleted the message and sat back on the couch, the phone clutched in her hands. She pinched the bridge of her nose. A headache had started and it went with the emptiness eating away at her stomach right now. Bob was the least of her worries. She should do a budget, go online and check her personal email, research if she could file for unemployment, maybe start thinking about a new career—try to figure out who really had stolen that data. 
    Her doorbell rang. She sat up. If this was Bob, she was calling the police. She glanced at the clock and a shock jolted her—it wasn’t still afternoon. The time had slipped past and it was already five past seven in the evening. How time flew when you were wallowing in misery. The bell rang again. Folding her arms, she ignored it and considered turning up the TV volume. There was no way she could see someone and act normal right now. Whoever it was would have to come back at another time.
    “Victoria! I know you’re in there. Open up.”
    Trent’s voice jolted her. How dare he show up at her place? The man had some nerve. Face hot and her temper soaring, she threw herself off the couch and marched to the door. She yanked it open. “You bastard!” She lashed out with a kick. He jumped back just in time and her foot only brushed his crotch instead of connecting.
    She’d taken karate classes for five years, and Trent knew that well enough. “Stop it! Have you lost your mind?”
    “Damn right.” He’d stepped out of range, so she stepped inside and started to slam the door.
    He slapped his hand on the door edge. “I need to talk to you.”
    “Go away!”
    “You might as well hear me out.”
    Arms crossed, she debated calling the cops on him—intruder arrested. That had a nice satisfying ring to it. But she sniffed. Was that ginger? And garlic? She glanced down and saw the brown grocery bag with the oil stains spreading. “Is that China Palace? Are you trying to bribe me?”
    He held up the bag. “Dim sum? Moo shu? Pineapple curry rice? And your absolute favorite—kung pao shrimp.”
    Her mouth watered, but she narrowed her eyes. “How dare you assume that I’d be willing to sit across the table and share a meal with you! Don’t you have any decency? Any shame, you asshole!”
    “Of course I don’t. But I do have dinner. Just give me one chance to explain. Okay?” And I brought your bear.” He pulled it out of the bag and wiggled it.
    For an instant a smile tugged. It faded fast. “You do know I want to kill you.”
    “Yeah, do it after we eat.”
    Giving a sigh, she opened the door and stepped aside.
    Trent edged inside, bear held in front of him, staying well out of her reach. He headed straight to the square dining table that stood in the middle of her kitchen and put down the food. “I didn’t create those emails out of thin air.”
    She stared at him.
    Leaning his hands on the table, he said, his voice strained with patience, “I know you didn’t steal anything, but Roger knew. I couldn’t sit on those emails, even if I wanted to.”
    She sniffed and a fraction of her anger dropped away. “You could have told me first.”
    “I would’ve. That was my plan, but Roger pushed, and called in Frank and suddenly if everything didn’t go straight to the top we were all going to fry. And then I wouldn’t be able to help you.”
    Cautious now, she sniffed. Her place now smelled like garlic and ginger. “So?”
    “So I plan to stay on this to clear your name. For that, Peter has to trust me.”
    She licked her bottom lip. “You know, this morning I’d have scoffed at anyone who suggested that you might be trying to sabotage my career.”
    “I know—not funny now.”
    She let out a breath. “I want to trust you—I really do.” She slumped