Redemption Series Boxed Set, Books 1-4

by Sandi Lynn

  “God, I love the women at the Skybar. I’m going to go home and take a nap first.”

  “Sweet dreams, bro. I’ll pick you up around eight o’clock,” I spoke.

  Chapter 5

  Kinsley

  For the first time in my life, I woke up feeling free. Free from the bondage that kept me tied to Berkshire. I lay in bed as my mind woke up and started going crazy with everything that I had to do. I pulled a pad of paper and pen out of the drawer in the nightstand and began to write down my goals and my tasks. I’d always found that if I had everything in my head written down, I could complete each to do item with ease and no stress.

  Go to bank and open an account.

  Go to phone store and buy a new phone.

  Look for an apartment.

  Look for a job.

  Look for a car.

  Go to the beach and let the water sweep over my feet.

  I tore the paper from the pad and put it in my purse. After I showered and got dressed, I opened the curtains to let the beautiful California sun into my room. A smile swept over my face as I stood there and stared at the palm trees that gracefully danced as the light wind took its lead.

  I left my room and walked across the street to a coffee house and grabbed a coffee and a scone to kick off my day. I walked the couple blocks, found a phone store, and got myself a brand new iPhone and a new number. Because I was a new customer to the provider, I only had to pay forty dollars for the phone. Things were already starting to look up. I pulled Reece’s card from my purse and dialed his number.

  “Reece here,” he answered.

  “Hi, Reece, it’s Kinsley.”

  “Kinsley, my girl. How was your first night in California?”

  “It was good. Thanks. You said to call you if I needed a cab. Well, I need a cab. Are you available?”

  “I’m just dropping off someone now. Are you at the motel?”

  “Yes.”

  “I can be there in about twenty minutes. Hang tight.”

  “Thanks, Reece.”

  I ended the call, walked back to the motel, and sipped my coffee and ate my scone while I waited for him. It had been twenty minutes on the dot when he pulled up to the curb.

  “Where to, Kinsley?” He smiled.

  “Well, I need to buy a car. Are the dealerships open on Saturdays?”

  “Yep. They’re open until two o’clock, so you have plenty of time. There’s a used car dealership not too far from here. Wanna check it out?”

  “Yeah, I do.” I nodded.

  I glanced on his dashboard and saw a picture of a beautiful woman with long dark hair and three children, all boys. A picture I didn’t notice yesterday.

  “Is that your family?” I asked as I pointed to the picture.

  “They sure are.” He proudly grinned. “That’s my wife Nadia and our boys, Samuel, Jacob, and Luke.”

  “Names from the Bible.” I smiled.

  “Yes. That’s right. They are my world. Samuel is ten, Jacob is eight, and Luke is four. We planned on stopping after Jacob, but God had other plans for us.”

  “They’re beautiful.”

  “Thanks. What about you? Do you have any family?” he asked.

  “Not really. I have a mom back in Indiana. That’s about it.”

  Reece could hear the somberness in my voice, and as much as he wanted to know why I suddenly hopped on a plane and moved here, he didn’t ask. He was a nice guy. Early forties, short black hair, brown eyes, and an overall good attitude about life.

  “Hey, Reece, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure, Kinsley. You can ask me anything.”

  “Why do you drive a cab?”

  He let out a laugh and looked at me through his rearview mirror.

  “I drive a cab because it’s in my blood. It’s my company. My father handed it over to me when he retired. Plus, I love people. Everyone has a different story to tell, but in the end, we’re all the same.”

  “Nice.” I smiled.

  He pulled into the used car lot and walked around with me while I looked at cars.

  “Hello there.” A jolly older man approached us. “Looking for a car?”

  “I am. My name is Kinsley.” I held out my hand.

  “Nice to meet you, Kinsley. I’m Bill. So, tell me what you’re looking for?”

  “Anything that is reliable and will cost me no more than four thousand dollars out the door.”

  “Okay. I have just the car for you.” He grinned. “Follow me.”

  He led us over to a silver Ford Focus.

  “This here is a 2010 Focus. It’s the cheapest car I have on the lot and probably one of the most reliable. It has a hundred and eight thousand miles on it. But don’t let that scare you.” He put up his hand. “Under the hood is all pretty much new parts. It runs like a charm.”

  “How much?” I arched my brow at him.

  “This one is fifty-five hundred, but since you seem like such a sweet girl, I’ll give it to you for five grand. Like I said, it’s the cheapest car I have.”

  “And like I said, no more than four grand out the door. Did I mention I was paying for the car in cash?” I cocked my head innocently at him.

  “Cash? Do you have four grand with you now?” His brow raised.

  “Yes.” I grinned.

  “Congratulations on your new vehicle, Kinsley.” The corners of his mouth curved into a wide smile. “Step inside my office and we can fill out the paperwork.”

  I gave Reece a hug and thanked him for being so kind.

  “Thank you for everything, Reece. This truly is the city of Angels.” I smiled.

  “You’re welcome, Kinsley. Now that you have that car, don’t be a stranger. I’d like to have you over for a barbeque to meet my wife and kids.”

  “I’d love that.”

  “I’ll text you, okay?”

  “Okay.” I smiled.

  After signing the papers, Bill handed me the keys to my car. I climbed inside and ran my hand over the soft black cloth seats with a smile on my face. Pulling out the paper from my purse, I checked off three items on my list. The bank would have to wait until Monday since they closed at noon and it was already one thirty. I punched in the address to the motel into google maps and followed the directions back, missing a turn and ending up in downtown Los Angeles. I was starving, so I decided to grab a bite to eat before attempting to find my way back to the motel. After pulling into a parking space, I got out of my car and walked along the street, stumbling across a restaurant called Cabbage Patch. It sounded interesting, so I stepped inside and ordered a BLTA sandwich and an order of fries. While I was eating, I finished setting up my phone, and as I connected my new email address to it, I received one from the temp agency I applied to last night, asking me to call them as soon as possible.

  “TeamOne staffing agency. How can I help you?” A friendly voice answered.

  “Hi, this is Kinsley Davis. I just received an email asking me to call you as soon as possible.”

  “Just one moment, Miss Davis. Let me see who is handling your application. That would be Miss Johnson. Hold please and I’ll put you through to her.”

  “Miss Davis, this is Charlotte Johnson speaking. Thank you for your prompt response. Is it possible for you to come in for an interview right now?”

  “Umm. I’m out at the moment and I’m afraid I’m not dressed appropriately for an interview.”

  “Well, what are you wearing?” she asked.

  “A maxi dress,” I replied.

  “Good enough for me. How soon can you get here?”

  “I don’t know. Where are you located?”

  “2999 Overland Avenue, Suite 212, Los Angeles.”

  I hurried and typed the address into google maps while she rattled it off to me.

  “According to my GPS, I can be there in fifteen minutes,” I spoke.

  “Perfect. I’ll be waiting.”

  I hurried and finished the last of my sandwich, got in my car, and carefully foll
owed the directions to the TeamOne office. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Pulling into a parking space, I climbed out of my car and walked through the large glass double doors.

  “Miss Davis?” A dark-haired older woman smiled at me.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m Charlotte Johnson. Follow me up to my office.”

  Once we reached her office, I took the seat across from her desk as she took hers behind it.

  “I was impressed with your resume and we would like you as part of TeamOne. We have a job available for you to start on Monday if you’re interested.”

  “I’m very interested. Thank you. I didn’t think temp agencies worked over the weekends.”

  “Normally, we don’t. But when we have very important clients, we do anything we can to accommodate them. I will text you the address to the office building you’ll be working at. The job will only be available for about eight weeks. When your time is close to expiring at that job, we will be working hard to place you somewhere else.”

  “Okay. Don’t you need to interview me? Ask me my skills or any questions?”

  “No. No. Trust me. Just by looking at you, I can already tell you’re perfect for the job.”

  “Oh. Well, thank you.”

  “All of our other temps who would be perfect as well are already placed elsewhere, so we are kind of in a pickle and we can’t afford to upset our client.”

  Chapter 6

  Chase

  My alarm was going off, and I sighed as I opened my eyes, grabbed my phone, and shut it down. If I didn’t love the waves so much, I would be sleeping in for another two hours before heading into the office. The weekend was crazy fun but exhausting. Saturday night with Steven at the Skybar landed me in a hotel room with Sophie and last night’s escapades didn’t get me home until two a.m.

  It was six a.m. before I officially climbed out of bed, grabbed my surfboard, and headed into the water. The number of sexy women that were already on the beach doing yoga in their tight as fuck pants and skimpy sports bras was enough to wake anybody up.

  “Hello.” I smiled as I passed by each one of them. “Beautiful way to start the day.” I grinned as I stared at their perfectly shaped asses.

  I threw my board into the water and paddled out, waiting for the waves to hit. The sun was rising as I sat on my board and stared at the beauty of it. The only real place I felt any kind of peace was out here, in the middle of the open water, letting the waves break over me. It wasn’t too long before I was joined by others who felt the same way I did. A lot of people went to the gym to get their morning exercise in before starting their day, but not me. I got in my morning exercise by surfing and having sex. I saved the gym time for either midday or early evening after the office, depending on what my plans were. I surfed for about an hour and then headed back up to the house to shower and get ready for work.

  “Good morning, Lexi.” I grinned as I walked past her desk and into my office.

  “Good morning, Chase,” she spoke as she set my coffee down on the desk.

  “How was your weekend?” I asked.

  “It was good. Ben and I spent a couple of days in Napa.”

  “Ah. Got filthy drunk on all that wine?” I smirked.

  “I wouldn’t say filthy drunk.” She grinned. “Don’t forget you have a meeting with John Koppelinger at eleven o’clock.”

  “Thanks. I did forget. Is my father in yet?”

  “Your father’s been here since six a.m., and he wanted me to tell you that you are to be in his office the minute you get in.”

  “He and Penelope must be fighting again.” I smiled. “One can only hope. I can’t stand that wretched woman.”

  “That wretched woman is going to be your stepmother.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe not. I think dear old Dad is finally seeing her for who she really is. Anyway, thanks for the coffee. I’m going to head over to his office.”

  As I was walking down the hallway, I noticed a beautiful blonde sitting at the desk outside his office.

  “Well.” I smiled brightly as I stopped. “You aren’t Isabella.”

  She looked up and her blue eyes pierced me.

  “No. I’m Kinsley.” She smiled.

  “Kinsley.” I gave a cunning grin. “What a beautiful name for an extraordinarily beautiful woman.”

  “Chase, get your ass in here!” my father shouted.

  “As soon as I’m finished, I’ll be back to properly introduce myself.” I winked as I headed into his office and closed the door behind me. “Good morning, Dad. You seem a little on edge this morning. Everything okay?”

  “No, Chase, everything is not okay. What was the one thing I told you to do?” he spoke in a stern authoritative voice.

  “I don’t know. You ask me to do a lot of things.”

  “For fucks sake. I specifically told you to stay away from the temp! Didn’t I?”

  “Oh. You mean Isabella?” I smiled.

  “She quit, and I know you had something to do with it! You slept with her, didn’t you?”

  “Listen, Dad. I took her to the fundraiser. The one you,” I pointed at him, “made me attend because you didn’t want to. I didn’t want to go alone, so I asked her to tag along. There was drinking involved and one thing led to another. I politely told her the next morning that it was a one-time thing. It’s not my fault she couldn’t handle it.”

  “You have a million women you could have asked! She was actually a very good temp.”

  “Please.” I rolled my eyes. “She worked for you for one day. How could you possibly know if she was any good? Wait a minute. You two didn’t—” I wiggled my fingers.

  “Of course not! I’m engaged to Penelope!”

  “Well, Dad, that never seemed to stop you before.” I cocked my head.

  He glared at me as he rested his hands on his desk and then shook his finger at me without saying a word. I could see the anger splayed across his face.

  “Don’t even try, Dad. You’re the one who set specifications on who you want sitting outside your office, and now look, Kinsley out there is even more beautiful than Isabella. So actually, you can thank me.”

  “Thank you? For what?!” he loudly voiced.

  “For the departure of Isabella. You’re welcome.”

  “You literally have two seconds to get out of my sight before I disown you!”

  “Fine.” I put my hands up and walked out of his office, shutting the door behind me.

  I looked at Kinsley, who sat there looking down with a grin on her face.

  “You heard all of that?” I asked.

  “Really only the part where he said he was going to disown you if you didn’t get out of his office.” She began to laugh.

  “Don’t mind him. He tends to get wound up over nothing. Anyway.” I smiled as I extended my hand. “I’m Chase Calloway, son of Dean Calloway.”

  “Kinsley Davis. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Calloway.” She smiled back as she placed her hand in mine, sending my cock twitching beyond control.

  “Trust me.” I cocked my head. “The pleasure is all mine.”

  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work,” she spoke as she got up from her seat, grabbed some files, and headed into my father’s office.

  “Of course. Enjoy your day.”

  I swallowed hard and placed my hand in my pocket as I walked back to my office. She stood about five feet eight with legs that were long and lean. Her hair was blonde, naturally blonde with loose waves at the ends that flowed perfectly over her shoulders. Her eyes were heightened by the arch of her perfectly manicured brows. The color of them wasn’t your typical blue. They were more of an aquamarine color, the perfect mix of blue and green. Her slender jawline and perfectly shaped lips and nose made her face pure perfection. She captivated me and left me momentarily at a loss for words.

  I let out a deep breath as I took a seat behind my desk.

  “Hey, Chase,” Steven spoke as he walked into my office. “I
have—hey, are you okay?”

  “I don’t know. I think I just saw an angel.”

  He chuckled. “Who is it this time?”

  “My dad’s new temp. Her name is Kinsley Davis.”

  “Wait a minute. I thought your dad’s new temp was Isabella?”

  “She quit.” I waved my hand.

  He rolled his eyes. “And I’m sure that had nothing to do with your rejection of her.”

  “Who cares. We’re talking about Kinsley here. I want to go out with her. No, I take that back, I NEED to go out with her.”

  “You mean you NEED to fuck her,” he spoke.

  “Yeah. That too. Dad wasn’t too happy about Isabella quitting. He just laid into me a few minutes ago.”

  “Then you better back off of Kinsley.”

  “No can do, man. I’ll figure out a way to get to know her without compromising her job here. Plus, how long is she really going to be here? I’m sure Audrey will be back in a couple of days. I’ll just wait until she gets back and Kinsley is no longer working here.”

  “Hey, Lexi, can you come in here for a minute?” Steven yelled from my office.

  “Yes, Steven?”

  “What’s going on with Audrey? Does she have the flu or something?”

  “No. They found some suspicious tumors on her uterus. She had to have a hysterectomy. It really happened so fast.”

  “So how long will she be out of the office?” I asked with great concern for my getting to know Kinsley.

  “About eight weeks.”

  “For fucks sake.” I shook my head.

  “I don’t understand?” Lexi narrowed her eye at me.

  “I feel bad for my dad. I mean look, Isabella already quit after one day and now there’s another new temp. God knows how long she’ll last.”

  “Stay away from her and I’m sure she’ll last the whole eight weeks.” She smiled.

  Steven let out a laugh.

  “Don’t you have work to do, Lexi?”

  “Yes. Actually, I do.”

  “Great, now what am I supposed to do? There’s no way in hell I’m waiting eight weeks,” I spoke as I looked at Steven.

  “I don’t know, bro.” He sighed. “Good luck with that one. By the way, I finished the Lexington program. Take a double look and let me know your thoughts.”