Collide Into You: A Romantic Gender Swap Love Story by Kelly Washington Read Free Book Online

longer seemed to appeal to each other, and one of us had to end it. Granted, I wish now that Abigail had taken that lead, but she let me do the “breaking up,” and Johnson Brookshire, already angry that his daughter had been taken advantage of— I entirely disagreed with that assessment —had it out for me ever since.
    Perhaps attaching me to Joy Fromm Acquisitions was a way to fire me. Knowing what I know—that the company probably won’t survive—if I’m on the team to restore the troubled company, Brookshire could use it against LouAnn and her bid to replace him. Or he could just be a vindictive son of a bitch and will enjoy watching me fail. It’s not as if Abigail is around anymore. After the internship, she and her adorable ass returned to her Ivy League university, and I haven’t seen her since.  
    Sighing, I take a look at the roster of Brookshire Mierkle employees working the case. Something is wrong here. I squint my eyes, but it doesn’t change that my name is the only name on the list. I lift the paper, hoping another list is behind it.
    Nope.
    So LouAnn pimped me out on an impossible task that Johnson Brookshire probably wanted me to fail on. Talk about a challenge. The thought reminds me of Ellen’s statement, which makes me think of Keira. I still have to think of a good surprise for her lying to me.
    I look at the clock. It is late afternoon, and I can take work home with me.
    I wonder if she’d be interested in going out tonight. Not like a date. I’d be showing her some of DC’s highlights, and a good restaurant served a useful purpose. Everyone had to eat at some point.
    Knowing what I know about Keira and her intelligence background, I doubt she can leave early and bring anything back to the apartment to work on, and I don’t have her work number. It’s not like I can call her up or even visit her office. No doubt the Pentagon is guarded like a fortress.
    Not that I would force my way in just to ask a girl if she wanted to eat at a restaurant with me. Romantic, yes. Legal, no.
    I pack up my work, tell LouAnn that I’m leaving to write up my last will and testament, and head home.

Chapter Seven

    Keira

    M Y HEAD SWIMS IN OVERLY worded personal letters. General MacWilliams’ windowless, secure office, while well-appointed with gorgeous, dark wood furniture, is on the small side. It’s made smaller by the two large boxes stacked against a wall.
    Boxes that I have to go through in this office. Nowhere else.
    I suddenly feel like I need more coffee from Ellen’s. Too bad the Pentagon doesn’t have a satellite office for Ellen’s Corner Bakery.  
    I stare at the boxes and I can see the future for the next seven days: me reading every single document contained therein. Sometimes I wish secrets would remain secret.
    After the plane hit the Pentagon in 2001, a renovation team came together to revamp the entire Pentagon, one wedge at a time. Unbeknownst to anyone but a select few within the Department of Defense, during the last stage of renovation, a construction worker found an unassuming trunk hidden inside the walls along one of the corridors.
    Why no one seemed to question why someone hid a trunk in a wall was beyond me. However, the trunk was locked, and the renovation team, who happened to have a tight deadline, stored it in the nearest secure storage room—the Chief of Staff of the Army’s storage room.
    And there the trunk lay dormant for several years. Someone would see it, wonder about it, but never take action. Everyone was busy in those days and no one had time for a trunk that probably contained nothing but old manuals.
    Two months ago, a renovation official remembered the trunk just before his retirement and informed the general, who told Staff Sergeant Justin Hauten to find a pair of bolt cutters and open the “darned thing.”
    Inside, it contained letters between an Army officer and a woman, whom I could only describe as a young German woman. Years of letters, dated