After witnessing two brutal murders, a woman is given a new identity and whisked away to a depressing remote location. When the male agent she'd known for the past two years is suddenly replaced by a beautiful female agent it doesn't take long for her to realize everything else that's been missing from her life. She's determined to force the agent to see that protection is not all she needs. Will her physical needs jeopardize her safety?
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Behind Closed Doors
Copyright © 2011 Kira Chase
ISBN: 978-1-55487-813-0
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Smashwords Edition
Behind Closed Doors
By
Kira Chase
Chapter One
Kera smiled brightly at the two women who walked into Annette’s Shoes. Instead of looking at the various displays, they headed for chairs and were now seating themselves at the far end of one of the rows. Elaborate displays of shoes covered the center of the room and separated the two long rows of black imitation leather chairs. Full-length mirrors strategically placed at the ends of the displays gave the customers plenty of room to turn and see their shoe clad feet from all angles. The carpeting was a gaudy brown pattern, which almost made Kera’s eyes cross if she stared at it for too long. The walls were painted a pale yellow and filled with the newest styles. An eye-catching display of casual and dressy winter boots greeted the customers as they entered, but the women had passed by them without even a backward glance.
Kera had spent all morning organizing the display and was proud of her efforts. She followed the women’s gaze to the backroom. By their professional attire and the way they suspiciously stole glances at the backroom door, she assumed they were here to see the store’s owner and Kera’s boss, Annette. One of the women, a tall dark haired beauty kept her fingers securely wrapped around a briefcase. Kera’s eyes shifted to the briefcase. The well-dressed women who came and went several times a week were just your ordinary sales representatives making their usual rounds to entice the store owners to try their product. To the outside world, that’s what it looked like, but to Kera, she knew what the briefcases really held, and it made her extremely uneasy every time the women arrived. Usually she was good at distinguishing the real reps from the phony ones, but there were times she wasn’t certain. She didn’t recognize these women so maybe they’d seated themselves there away from the main part of the store and really were reps.
Kera waited for a couple of minutes and when Annette didn’t appear to usher them into the backroom, she started to move in their direction. At that instant, Annette, beaming, appeared in the doorway of the backroom. Kera caught her eye and Annette whispered something to the women before she walked over to Kera.
Kera eyed her suspiciously. She threw her thin shoulders back as the tall, gray haired, big boned and grossly overweight woman approached. She wasn’t in the mood for any crap from Annette today. She’d had an unsettling night with little sleep. Most of her nights were like that, but last night had been worse. Maybe it was the Christmas season fast approaching. Thanksgiving had been rough and she’d been relieved when that weekend had ended. She had nothing to be thankful for. In the past, she’d had everything to be thankful for, but two years ago, incidents in her life abruptly turned it upside down. She was bitter and she had every right to be. In less than four weeks, Christmas would be here and it would take every ounce of willpower to force her to live through it while memories of beautiful past Christmases flooded her mind.
“You can hold down the fort for a little while. This shouldn’t take long,” Annette said in a wheezy voice.
“I’m always holding down the fort,” Kera snapped.
“Better watch that attitude if you know what’s good for you.” Annette squeezed Kera’s shoulder in a threatening manner before hurrying over to the women.
Kera scowled as she watched Annette waddle back to the women and then hurriedly lead them into the backroom. She knew all too well that Annette had the power to make her life even more miserable than it already was.
She busied herself straightening the displays and organizing the boxes of shoes that always seemed to end up in the wrong slots when the browsers pulled the boxes out and then shoved them into any available slot when they were finished. Of the few customers who came into the store, some of them preferred to select their own choices and try the shoes on without help, while others chose salesclerks to help measure and choose their selections from the more pricey shoes that were kept in a side room.
The bottom line was that none of them could usually afford anything and Kera surmised that they only liked to live out some kind of strange fantasy where they believed they could afford the simple luxuries in life. The truth was, they could barely afford the roofs over their heads. Still, she treated them like she would any customer. She refused to take away what little pride they had left. She knew that was all some of them had left in the world. Living in the poorest section of Boon, Wisconsin had opened her eyes to how the rest of the world really lived. She’d lived a life of luxury as a buyer for one of the largest stores in Manhattan and had resided in a lavish apartment, but fate had a way of stepping in when one least expected it. She was ripped from everything she’d known and plunked down here.
She ran a hand through her blonde hair as she turned to look toward the backroom. Sometimes Annette’s associates stayed for only a few minutes and other times they might stay for over half an hour. The longer they stayed, the uglier Annette’s mood when they retreated. Annette had a vile evil temper and Kera usually took the brunt of it. The backroom contained Annette’s large desk, apartment-sized refrigerator, microwave and coffeemaker. In the very back of the room, through a narrow unused space was a secret door that Annette had once told her had been boarded up. Annette had removed the boards and found a small dark dusty room. Secretly, she’d painted and decorated the room and had a heavy soundproof door installed. Kera had never seen the room and didn’t care to, but she knew what went on in that pink room, yet she could do nothing about it.