Unconventional Fling (A Working Girl’s Guide, Book 1) Read Free Page A

head out again. Instead, she’d decided to enjoy that time in a city with a rich culture.
    Except it wasn’t even four, and the bars wouldn’t be worth visiting until at least eight. What was she going to do for the next four hours?
    She pulled on a fitted T-shirt and a pair of jeans. The thin spots in the seat and along the legs were familiar and comfortable. Clothes she’d never dare wear in the office, even on casual Friday.
    She grabbed the remote and sank onto the edge of the bed. She could watch TV. Maybe catch one of the new movies on pay-per-view…maybe find a way to run into Brandon, see if he was still looking for a weekend distraction.
    No. She flipped through channels, not really registering anything. If he was what Blue-hair and Bodysuit implied, he’d already found a replacement. Which was fine. She wasn’t that girl. The only reason she wasn’t attached was because men tended to be put off by how much time she spent on the road.
    But that didn’t mean she slept around. She had seen enough by watching her colleagues make asses of themselves in bars to be interested in being on the receiving end of their tacky pickup lines.
    Then again, none of them are Brandon. Who had probably forgotten about her since that morning.
    She snarled at herself and stood, trying to chase away the circular thoughts. It wouldn’t hurt anyone if she wandered with the crowds for a little while, and the ambient noise might override her teasing thoughts.
    She slipped on her walking shoes, grabbed her key, and left her rambling thoughts behind. As she stepped into the hallway, the crowd gathered in front of the elevator made her wince. Squeezing into a tiny box with that many people looked like a one-way ticket to claustrophobia. She headed for the stairs instead.
    She stepped into the lobby, still not sure what she was doing. The line to see Brandon, and she assumed his co-cast, wasn’t as long as it had been. Before she could talk herself out of it, she took a spot at the back.
    “Excuse me.” A man a few inches shorter than her wearing a black polo shirt stretched over broad shoulders and a round belly stepped in front of her. “Your badge needs to be visible.”
    “My…badge?” Jade stared back, trying to keep her expression neutral. Sure enough, he wore a lanyard with a brightly colored card at the end proclaiming his name was “Death Demon”. Or maybe that was his title? She should have guessed it would be like any other convention in that regard. Even though nothing else was, of course they’d need people to prove they’d registered to get in. “Right. Sorry. I left it in my room.”
    “You’ll have to get it. I can’t let you stand in line without it.”
    “Sure. Totally understand.” She wandered away. It had been a stupid idea anyway. What had she been planning to do? Wait for an hour so she could stop in front of him and say “funny meeting you here”?
    The compulsion wasn’t ready to give up on her as quickly as she wanted to push it aside. She stopped a few feet back from a group of people scattered on couches, chatting and laughing. She only needed a badge for an hour or two…
    “See something you like?” One of the girls looked at her, eyes narrow and lips pursed.
    “Does one of you want to loan me your badge for two hours?” Jade spit the question out before she could have second—or was it third at this point?—thoughts. “I’ll pay you twenty bucks.”
    “It only cost forty to get in,” someone said.
    “I’m not giving you my badge. Total scam.” The way they were grouped, it was difficult to track who was talking without giving herself whiplash.
    “I will.” The first girl crossed the distance between them, holding out her badge.
    “Andie.” Someone’s warning cut through the noise.
    She glared at the guy. “It’s not like we’ve decided what we’re doing next. Besides, now I can afford that plushie in the dealer’s room.”
    Jade had no idea what that meant, but it