A Heart to Trust, A.L. Brooks [speed reading book TXT] 📗

Table Of Contents

Other Books by A.L. Brooks

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Other Books from Ylva Publishing

About A.L. Brooks

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www.ylva-publishing.com

Other Books by A.L. Brooks

Dare to Love

The Long Shot

Write Your Own Script

One Way or Another

Up on the Roof

Miles Apart

Dark Horse

The Club

Never Too Late for Heroes by A.L. Brooks

(The Superheroines Collection)

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Ylva for all the great work they do to bring each book to fruition! We’re at number ten now, and I never would have believed that to be possible four years ago. Thanks for everything.

My beta readers were awesome, diving deep into the characters’ motivations and reactions to make me really sharpen this one up. Thanks go to Katja, Erin, Amy, and Quinn for a job well done.

Miranda pushed me on the edit, as she should, and I’m so pleased with the result—thank you. And Alexa did a fab job in catching all my misused commas and other little snafus.

Finally, a big thank you to all the readers who have followed my career so far. The level of support I’ve received has really touched me and kept me going when sometimes I felt like stopping. This one is dedicated to each and every one of you!

Chapter 1

“Morning, boss!” Jenny called in the vicinity of Adrienne’s office as she threw her bag onto her own chair Thursday morning.

Adrienne smiled at her when she placed the still-steaming coffee in front of her, along with a bag containing a croissant and a fruit cup. “Good morning. I’m going to miss this level of service after I move to California.” She sipped the coffee, then tapped her chin. “I wonder if I can train Morgan to do this for me every day?”

Jenny snorted. “Hah, good luck with that!” She pursed her lips. “On second thought, she’s so gooey over you, she probably would.”

Adrienne blushed. “Probably.” She sat straighter in her chair. “Anyway, enough of that. You, young lady, are a genius.”

“I am?”

“Yes! That idea you had to change the opening sequence in the WNBA film worked brilliantly.”

“You ran with it?” Jenny’s heart thumped.

“I did.” Adrienne beamed at her. “I saw the first cut last night, and I loved it.”

“Wow.”

“Indeed.” Adrienne leaned onto her elbows. “You have a great mind and great ideas. I wish you’d have a little more faith in yourself.” Her tone was gentle, but her gaze locked on Jenny’s.

Jenny’s face heated and she shuffled her feet. “Thanks. I know you’ve said it a couple times, but…”

“What?”

Jenny shrugged. “I can admit I lack some self-confidence. And…” She blew out a breath. Given Adrienne had opened the subject, maybe it was okay to say it. “And I guess I wasn’t sure of my standing after the mistakes I made with the whole Morgan thing.”

Adrienne sat back once more. “Okay, I can understand that. But, honestly, that was all a blip. Since then, you’ve proved yourself to me time and time again. You can forget that chapter, okay? You should think about what your next steps will be.” A small frown creased her brow. “You know, longer term. You can’t stay a PA forever.” She cleared her throat. “Well, I need to get on with some things.”

The dismissal was a tad abrupt, but Jenny was happy to leave the awkward conversation. She was always a little freaked out by people, especially Adrienne, who told her to push for more. Pushing meant change, and Jenny didn’t like change. In her experience change usually came with big problems and heartache, and she had no desire to add those to her generally happy life. She shuddered as unwanted memories from a decade ago threatened to surface.

No, change was bad, and her happy status quo was good. She was content working for Adrienne and pretty sure she’d be content working for whoever was brought in to replace Adrienne at the end of the month.

She took a step back. “Okay. Any changes to today’s schedule I need to know about?”

Adrienne didn’t meet her eye. “One. Check your inbox—a mandatory company meeting at four this afternoon. Please move whatever you need to so you can attend.” Adrienne’s voice carried a serious tone Jenny didn’t think she’d ever heard from her before.

Jenny’s heart beat faster. She opened her mouth to speak, but Adrienne held up a hand.

“Whatever you’re going to ask, I can’t tell you.” She looked at Jenny, then away again, licked her lips, and ran a hand through her short auburn hair. “Please just make sure you attend, okay?”

Jenny’s gut twisted, but she bit back her words and nodded before exiting Adrienne’s office. When she got to her desk, she took a moment to breathe deeply and tried to calm her racing pulse. Whatever it is, I’ll find out later. There was no sense in worrying over nothing. She hoped.

She booted up her laptop and eased into her chair. While her computer did its thing, she sipped her coffee and nibbled her croissant.

As soon as her email program loaded, the meeting request pinged onto the screen:

All-staff meeting

Conference Room A

4–5 p.m.

Mandatory

Jenny swiveled in her chair and peered through the large glass window separating her workstation from Adrienne’s office. Her boss had turned her chair so she faced away from Jenny toward the external window that looked out onto the Manhattan skyline; her hands gripped the arms of the chair.

What the hell was going on?

They said YES!!!! Meet me and the girls at Limelight tomorrow night for a LOT of alcohol xxx

Carl’s text buzzed in as Jenny scooped up her phone to tuck it in her purse. The all-staff meeting was in two minutes and she shouldn’t be late, so although she was thrilled for her roommate and his big news, an appropriately gushing response would have to wait. It