Sabrina's Clan Read Free

truthfully about running late. She had a three p.m. committee meeting on policy administration she was chairing and at this time of day it would take thirty minutes to get back to Wall Street from here. Her day didn’t end there. She had a routine medical follow-up at four-thirty for the appendicitis she had suffered through last year, a dinner meeting with some clients and a casual, let’s-have-coffee meeting at Pinocchio’s at nine, with a potential network contact. That was all before she could get back to her desk tonight and finish up some of the paperwork sitting in her in-tray.
    Cory Morse, the overweight and red-faced Chief Financial Officer and her boss, might praise her daily on her management of the three major projects on her desk, but she also knew he would quickly off-load her from his personal team if she back-slid. It took major effort to stay abreast of the other two managers on his team, who were both male and much older than her, with extensive personal networks of their own to call on.
    All the time she had been going through college, she had never properly understood how much business management was about relationships. She had spent all her time studying finance and economics. Sometimes she suspected a few years of charm school and a good social intelligence textbook would have given her better skills to navigate the shark-infested minefield of corporate politics.
    However, she was gaining ground, day by day. She was the youngest senior manager at Wentworth Kumatsu and Cory Morse had spoken once about preparing her for a vice president position in a few years. Just thinking about it made her pulse quicken. Once she made VP, then she could truly say the last ten years of sweat and study and living on beans and toast would have been worth it.
    She hurried through her shower and picked out a suit and shirt that could convert to a business evening outfit with some costume jewelry and a change of shoes. As she did almost weekly, she sighed over the gender differences. Men could go from breakfast to bed wearing the same suit and be perfectly attired for any occasion. Only women had to adjust their clothing and appearance according to the time of day and location, yet never giving any man any reason to think of her in a sexual way, while also appearing attractive.
    She was too rushed to worry about the hypocrisy today.
    She had showered and dressed and was redoing her makeup when she heard footsteps on the iron staircase. She went out to the living room where the stairs wound up to the next floor.
    It was Damian and Nyanther…and Nyanther was carrying a backpack.
    Her heart sank.
    “Can he use your spare room, Sabrina?” Damian asked. “Miguel and his kids will be here by the weekend and we promised our rooms to them.”
    Nyanther’s expression as he climbed down to the floor and hefted his backpack more comfortably on his shoulders was utterly neutral.
    “Of course he can,” Sabrina said stiffly. Damian would never say it and he didn’t need to—her apartment was actually his and Nick’s. She lived rent-free beneath their apartment because of their relationship. Nick and Damian and Riley had adopted Chloe, although they never failed to acknowledge Sabrina was Chloe’s birth mother. The apartment had been part of the deal.
    So Sabrina could not possibly refuse to let Nyanther use one of the two spare bedrooms. It would be churlish at the very least, although she really wanted to tell him to get a damn hotel room. Unlike Miguel, he could probably afford a room at the Four Seasons and it would keep him out of her apartment.
    “You know the way,” she said and stepped aside. “Take your pick. I have to get going.” She went back to her bedroom to finish with her makeup. At least there was a bathroom attached to her room. She wouldn’t have to share a bathroom with him.
    She picked up her briefcase bag and her coat and turned to leave.
    Nyanther was standing at the open door to her bedroom, a