Read Too Close to Touch for Free Online Page B

sweet and kind and soft-spoken, and Gretchen had made an example of the poor girl. It hadn’t been pretty.
    “I think she’s still in the bathroom Þ xing her mascara.” Sarah shook her head. “Jim would never have treated us like this, Kylie. You know that.”
    Kylie nodded. It was the truth.
    “We’re not children,” Jason stated matter-of-factly. “We don’t need to be scolded like that, and certainly not in front of an entire room of reps. I didn’t appreciate being told that my numbers suck.”
    Kylie pressed her lips together tightly. Those had been Gretchen’s exact words, and she was right. Jason was the most demanding of the reps, calling Kylie two or three times a day needing one thing or another, so she’d felt a small tingle of satisfaction over Gretchen shredding him the way she had. Now, she wanted to grin at his indignation. She managed to keep a straight face.
    “Can’t you do something?” Jeff asked.
    And there it was, the request she’d known had been coming. These reps depended on her for everything. She was their most solid link to the company; she was like their mother. Of course they’d ask for her help.
    • 40 •
    TOO CLOSE TO TOUCH
    She chose her words carefully. “I’m not sure what I can do, guys.
    She’s the boss.”
    “You need to tell her that we’re the top-selling region on the East Coast,” Jason said, determination and anger coloring his gaze. “Doesn’t she know that? We make a lot of money for this company. Tell her that .”
    Jason was right, but it didn’t make him sound any less obnoxious.
    Kylie kept her eyes on her uneaten food.
    “Can’t you just talk to her?” Sarah’s voice was softer, less demanding. Sarah’s blond hair, light blue eyes, and knockout Þ gure served her well in the sales Þ eld. They also served her well with Kylie.
    This time was no exception, as she held Kylie’s gaze and sweetly urged,
    “Please. Just ask her to ease up a bit.”
    Kylie couldn’t help but relent. “I’ll try,” she answered with a sigh, and murmurs of relief could be heard coming from all three tables.
    Kylie had forgotten that the occupants of the other two were probably tuned in to the conversation. “But no promises. Remember, she’s new to me, too, and I have to see her every day. You guys don’t.”
    “Sucks to be you,” somebody commented and Kylie pretended not to hear.
    “But you’ll talk to her,” Jason conÞ rmed.
    “I’ll talk to her.” Kylie looked at her chicken salad, suddenly Þ nding she had no appetite. She sipped her Coke and noted with worry that all three tables were extremely quiet, a very unusual thing for a group of salespeople who liked nothing better than to chatter on endlessly.
    Gretchen had certainly done a number on them.
    v
    It was nearly six thirty when Kylie glanced at the doghouse-shaped clock on her desk. “Jesus,” she muttered. She hadn’t noticed the ofÞ ce quieting down or the phones becoming silent.
    In the distance, she could hear a vacuum cleaner running—the cleaning staff tidying the conference room. She blinked and rubbed at her tired eyes, thinking not for the Þ rst time that she might need to get glasses as a result of all the time she spent staring at the computer monitor. Glancing over her shoulder, through the hallway windows into Gretchen’s ofÞ ce, she could see Gretchen staring at her computer.
    • 41 •
    GEORGIA BEERS
    Kylie wasn’t surprised. They deÞ nitely seemed to be of like minds when it came to working hours. She was already familiar with the routines of her new boss after only a week and a half working with her, and she was beginning to wonder if Gretchen ever did anything besides work. The majority of the time, she was in her ofÞ ce when Kylie arrived in the morning and still in her ofÞ ce when she went home at night. Taking in the dark hair, dark eyes, and alabaster skin seemingly untouched by the sun, Kylie smirked. Maybe she’s a vampire .
    She’d spent much of the