Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
He didn’t let her hand go.
She wanted to frown at him. Instead, she smiled brightly. If she asked nicely enough, then he’d have to do what she asked. It was just good manners.
And she was going to ignore the fact that it seemed like he didn’t have any.
“Could I please have my hand back?”
“No.”
“No?”
“No.”
“But I said please.”
He leaned in closer. “No. When I asked if you were a runner. I wasn’t talking about actual running. I meant, are you going to try and leave?”
“I can’t leave with you standing in front of the door,” she pointed out.
“True. Which is why I’m standing here. But if I wasn’t, would you try to leave?”
“You also have my hand. Which is kind of unnecessary with you standing in front of the door.”
“Figure it’s added security against you trying to leave.”
“You know you can’t just hold on to me. And Grady can’t just lock me up! That’s not legal.”
“Never been much to worry over what’s legal, Spitfire.”
“I’m not sure I like that nickname.”
“You like it.”
Shoot. She did. And Effie didn’t think trying to deny it was going to help matters.
Suddenly, he moved toward the couch. And she had no choice but to go with him since he still had a hold of her hand. He sat and she stared down at him. It should have put her in a position of power, considering that she was standing and he was sitting. But he was so big that even sitting she wasn’t that much taller than him.
“I didn’t know it was possible to get muscles that big,” she muttered.
“Do you always say what you’re thinking?”
“I’m trying to do that less.”
“Why?”
“It tends to get me in trouble.”
He eyed her. “And when you get into trouble, who gets you out?”
“I do.” She straightened her shoulders and her back gave another twinge. Nausea rolled in her stomach.
Great. She needed to get home and grab a heat pack as well as take some stronger painkillers.
“Got no man, then?”
“What makes you think that?” she asked.
“Well, if you do, he’s a shit man.”
“What? Why would you think he was a shit man!”
You don’t even have a man. So why are you trying to defend him?
“So there is a man? Doesn’t matter. He won’t be around for long.”
“Are you threatening my man?” she asked, alarmed.
“He’s not much of a man if he lets you get into trouble. He’s even less of a man if he doesn’t help you get out of that trouble.”
“I can take care of myself.” Wow, he was sexist, wasn’t he?
“Yeah, I don’t think you can, considering you just got yourself locked into an office at a strip club.”
She swallowed heavily. “Are you saying I’m in trouble?”
“Not the sort of trouble you’re thinking about,” he soothed. “The sort of trouble where I don’t like being lied to or listening to you put yourself down or knowing that you’re with a shit man. That’s the sort of trouble you’re in.”
“I don’t know you.”
“Yes, I think we’ve already discussed that part, Spitfire. I’m just letting you know the things that I don’t like.”
“But why?” she whispered. “I’m going to leave soon and you’re won’t see me again.”
“Somehow, I don’t think that’s true.”
The door rattled and then opened before Grady stepped in. His frowning face went from Steele to her. Then it dropped to where Steele was still holding her hand.
“What the fuck is going on in here?”
6
Grady was in a bad fucking mood.
Everything that could go wrong was going wrong tonight and on the one night he had something else to do.
And that something else was dealing with the girl in his office. He took a deep breath and reached for his keys. Only to hear the murmur of voices from behind the door.
Who the fuck was she talking to? He tested the door. Unlocked.
There could only be one person in there.
What the fuck was Steele up to?
He stormed into the room and took in their coziness. Steele was sitting on the sofa, which was where she was supposed to be. Because that’s where Grady had put her. And she was standing close to him. With her hand in his.
“What the fuck is going on in here?”
Effie’s eyes were wide as she stared at him.
“Ahh, good, you’re here,” Steele drawled. “I was just having a conversation with Spitfire.”
“Spitfire?” Grady asked, trying to pull himself together. “And what sort of conversation?”
“The sort of conversation that we don’t need to be having,” Effie replied. “Because right now, I should be at home, in bed, with a heat pack on my back.”
“You’re still in pain?” Steele asked sharply. “It wasn’t just because you moved too fast before?”
What was up with him? Steele didn’t usually pay a lot of attention to his employees.
But Effie wasn’t an employee.
Not yet.
Grady had plans to change that. But now he was wondering how Steele would feel about those plans. They had a rule about getting involved with employees.