Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
He smirked. “Thought so.”
“She quits.”
Linc’s voice wound around her, providing her a blanket of support she didn’t know how much she’d craved until just then.
He was on her left side and Tully appeared on her right. Both men leveled glares of death at her boss.
She knew Mr. Perry wasn’t happy, but he was nervous by both large men standing there. “You sure? Think about this, Emma. No one is going to hire a girl who couldn’t even finish high school. You’re lucky you got this job. Unless you’re planning on something a bit more horizontal with them.”
Cheeks flushing with equal parts embarrassment and anger, she clenched her fists. “I—”
“Quit.” Linc didn’t lower his voice even though his touch on the small of her back was gentle. “And I’ll come with you when you get your final paycheck.”
Mr. Perry swore at her but stomped off inside.
“What did you just do?” Heart pounding within her chest, she began to get lightheaded.
“Stopped you from missing your daughter’s first game.” He shook his head.
“I need that job. I can’t keep a roof over our heads without that job.”
“You’ll get another one.”
“You heard him. I didn’t fucking graduate high school, and I don’t have my GED. Who will hire me?” She couldn’t even comprehend becoming a hooker, but her daughter’s care took top priority.
Linc shrugged those wide shoulders. “I will.”
Tully stood observing, amusement dancing in his gaze as it bounced between the two of them.
“You?” She put her hands on her hips for all of three seconds, then poked him in that rock-hard chest of his. “And what do I have to do for you?”
The expression on his face would have made the ice age seem like a trip to the Bahamas. Everything on Linc grew cold. Even Tully had lost his enjoyment of the interaction between the two of them.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Emma? Did that man make you do things to keep this fucking job?”
Linc’s voice was so low she nearly couldn’t understand him. But she understood the fury vibrating from him.
She filed that reaction away and stayed focused on the important part. “This isn’t about him, it’s about you coming here and telling him I quit my job. I have a daughter, Linc. I can’t just up and quit, hoping I will land something else.”
“I told you, I’ll hire you, and if you fucking ask me what you have to do to keep the job, I’m going to go in that building and beat that asshole into pulp.” He grasped her upper arms, bringing her closer to him. “What did he make you do?”
“Nothing. He forced additional shifts on me all the time, threatening my job if I didn’t take them. Although he said I would have an easier time of it if I fucked him. Or blew him.”
What was wrong with her? Why was she telling him this?
“Stop, Linc.”
Tully’s voice got her attention and she realized that Linc had released her and was stalking across the parking lot to the diner. Tully had a hold of his arm.
“You have a game today. The children are depending on you.”
His expression was tortured and angry when he faced Emma again. Three strides and he was right in her face. “You’re coming with me. I’ll take you home so you can get changed and we’ll get to the game.” He thumbed toward Tully. “He’ll drive the SUV. Give him the keys.”
Something in his voice advised her not to argue with him.
Emma didn’t say anything as she handed the keys to Tully and allowed Linc to help her up into his large truck. Holy Christ this thing is high up off the ground. She wasn’t much over five feet and this was a gigantic step.
Luckily, he damn near lifted her and placed her in the seat, giving her another chance to feel his hard body behind her. God, it had been so long since she’d been touched by a man, brief though it was. That, combined with her infatuation with him, and her body responded instantly. Wet. Needy.
Distracting.
She stared at him as he strode around the hood of the dual rear-wheeled behemoth he drove. Hell, she wasn’t sure she should even be sitting in this. Probably cost more than all of her possessions combined.
He climbed up with an ease she envied. Interlacing her fingers, she focused on her feet and how small they looked on the dark mat on the floorboard.
“Emma.”
She snapped her head up and looked at him, feeling not much older than a schoolgirl with a massive crush on the popular boy. Okay, that’s how it had been, but damn it, she was a single mother. She shouldn’t still be feeling like this.
“Mr. Conner.”
He lifted one jet-black eyebrow, even as he pressed the ignition button. Fuck, her car still had crank windows.