“What has you all turned around, boss?” Hunter crossed his arms over his thin chest and tilted his head. We weren’t close, but he was a great employee—the best. Maybe I needed to branch out beyond my grieving mother and my clueless college friends and seek help somewhere else. I didn’t have any girls that I could call that I hadn’t dicked over—literally.

“My sister’s kid is under my legal custody and he’s almost six months old. He cries all the damn time, and I’m honestly out of options. I don’t know how to care for him or what to do. My mom isn’t willing to step in because she’s grieving, but I’m at the end of my fucking rope.” I ran my hands through my hair as the pain of another sleepless night bore down on me.

“Oh man, that sucks so bad.” He shook his head. “What about a nanny?”

“Yeah, I’ve had several girls who babysat for me, but none of them are classy enough to call back.” Telling the guy that I’d boned all of them wasn’t in the cards. I had enough of a reputation to overcome in the office. “Tried a few agencies, but those nannies were scary.” I shivered, remembering how the two I’d tried looked down their nose at me.

“I can recommend someone. Friend of a friend, but she would never take advantage of you or the kid. She’s not the type to sleep around or go looking for gold either, if you catch my drift.” Hunter moved to pull a business card out of his pocket. “Here. Check her out. She’s a good girl.”

“Why would her sleeping habits be of concern to me?” I smirked as realization rolled over me. These people knew I was a playboy. I wasn’t fooling anyone, and could honestly care less. I was who I was.

“This is what you need, boss. Give her a call.”

I turned the card over, wanting to ask about the sewing business the card represented, but figured that might be a good conversation piece with the girl.

“Thanks. I’ll do just that.”

2 - Kendra

“You want bacon or sausage?” Brian glanced over his shoulder as I looked up from the table. He was far too good to me and making breakfast was only one of the many ways he showed it.

“Whatever you want. I’m getting up to do the toast in just a minute.” I glanced back down and let out a sigh. Brian had been my roommate for the last few years, and had carried my part of the rent a few too many times as of late. Why he put up with me was beyond me.

“I already started the toast,” he mumbled and walked toward the living room.

I ignored him and continued to Google options for my current dilemma. The website for my business had been hacked yet again. All that sat on the site was a large ‘fuck you’ of sorts in the form of a dancing clown and a creepy song playing in the background.

“Do people seriously not have anything better to do with their time? I’m a seamstress for crying out loud. What good does it do anyone to disable my site? Did I piss someone off by the size or structure of my last dress design?” I glanced up, but Brian was gone.

“Kendra, come see this,” he called from the living room.

“Not now. I’m reading through the instructions on how to disable a hacker. They think they’re so brilliant, but a simple girl like me is about to take them out.” I lifted my arm in victory as I finished typing the commands suggested by kickahack.com. The screen blinked twice and died completely.

“No!” I yelled and got up, slamming the top to the computer and walking to the toaster as the bread popped up. “I thought I was making toast.”

“You were. I told you I got it because you were taking forever.” Brian glanced over at me, the look on his face pensive at best. He was a cute guy, dyed black hair and beautiful grey eyes. Too bad his boyfriend was even more adorable.

“What are you watching? Your sausage is burning.” I moved to the stove and flipped it before letting out an exasperated groan. Where I couldn’t make a penny to save my soul if I had to, Brian was fully funded, but had attention deficit so bad that he couldn’t concentrate on anything for too long. The food being a prime example. The number of times we’d thrown away a great meal thanks to the char on it was countless.

“That’s what he said.” Brian moved up beside me, chuckling as he took the spatula. “So you emerge from your drama and criticize my cooking?”

“What was so interesting on TV?” I had no choice but to ignore his bantering. He wasn’t a sensitive type of guy at all and only played one to get me started on a rant. It wasn’t happening. I needed all of my emotional energy to get my site back up and running.

Not like it’s made you any money anyway. It will!

“Just a follow up story on that plane crash that happened a month back. The one where the rich family that runs half of the state took a hit? Killed the daughter and her husband. Remember that shit?”

“I guess. Sad.” I shrugged and pulled the toast from the contraption that held it. “I can’t understand why my site keeps getting hit. I’ve been working so hard on my designs and finally have most of them loaded and Bam!”

“Speaking of your business...” Brian glanced over at me and I avoided his stare. I knew all too well where the conversation was headed. I was broke and rent was due.

“Yeah, speaking of my business. Did I tell you what happened last night just before the hacker attacked?”

Brian let out a painful sounding sigh and turned toward me, pressing his hand on his hip. “No. Do tell.”

I tucked a long strand of blond hair behind my ears and licked the butter from my fingers before fixing my gaze on him. “I was uploading a new design and no matter how many times I did it, the computer screen blinked and ate the damn file. I realized that something was off when it wouldn’t let me load anything.”

His expression softened a little as he turned and flipped the sausage again. “Keep going.”

“So I started to poke around and realized that there was an http site listed at the bottom of the page. I followed it and came to another designer site from Taiwan. Guess whose designs were on their site?”

“No fucking way.” He sat the spatula down and turned to me. “They were stealing your designs?”

“Exactly.” I pushed the need to cry like a lost child back and shrugged. “I need to get an IT guy to help me.”

“And a lawyer it would seem. Have you reported them stealing your designs?”

“No. Who do I report that to? NATO?”

He chuckled and worked to pull the sausage from the pan to a waiting plate. “Well, I know my timing is shitty, but rents due again.”

Heat rushed up my chest and coated my neck and cheeks as I carried the toast to the table. “I know. I keep thinking I’ll have the money, and the minute I do... it’s yours. Things just keep happening to me. Like this stuff this morning.”

There was no excuse for my lack of income other than my incessant need to make my clothing line work. I couldn’t imagine being given such a cool gift and not being able to use it in my everyday living.

“I understand that, Kendra, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been paying the rent for the last two months. I don’t mind carrying you because you’re my best friend, but you need to think about getting a real job.” He sat the plate of sausage and potatoes down in front of me.

“I know, but if I get a full time job, there will be no time for me to design the clothes and work on the website that will eventually sell them.”

“How many have you sold?” He sat down and reached for my hand, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles.

“None.” I glanced down at my empty plate as tears filled my eyes. “I just keep thinking that...”

“Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you. I hate that I’m forced to have this conversation, but I am. I’m trying to save up for a ring for Billy and I can’t because I’m paying too much in rent.”