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)
“Yes?” Grady snapped.
“Oh, um, I wanted to talk to Effie?” That sounded like Ana, one of the dancers.
“What do you want with her?” Grady asked, looking disgruntled.
“Oh, uh, I’ll just come back later when she’s in.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but Grady shot her a look.
Effie huffed out a breath, but decided it was better not to upset him. She’d go check on Ana later. She was having some problems at home and might need someone to talk to.
“I don’t care about the lost time,” Grady told her. “You’ll go home at your usual time tonight. But from now on, if you leave during work to go somewhere, you text me. Today, I had no idea where you were. I didn’t know that you were with Steele, so it took me a while to call him. Then, to call Raul when he didn’t answer. Do you know what I thought that entire time you were missing?”
“Umm.”
“I thought some asshole had somehow got in here and kidnapped you.”
Wow. That seemed really far-fetched.
“Why would anyone want to kidnap me?” she joked. “That’s ludicrous.”
“No,” Steele growled.
Huh? What did he mean, no?
“That right there is not happening. No more talking badly about yourself.” Grady started stalking her once more and she started backing up.
Bad idea, but once she started, she couldn’t stop.
She hit the wall, and before she could slide away in a different direction, he was there.
Right there.
Right in front of her. And she could feel the heat coming off him. Funny, she hadn’t expected him to be so warm.
Silly Effie.
He placed his hands on either side of her head. Although he didn’t need to cage her in since she was incapable of moving.
Another knock on the door.
“Who is it?” he called out.
“Um, oh, it’s Ryan.” He was one of the bartenders. “Is Effie in?”
“No. Go away.”
She sucked in a breath. “You shouldn’t talk to your employees like that.”
“They always bother you this much?” Steele asked.
“It’s not a bother. It’s my job to take care of them.”
“No, your job is to schedule them,” Grady corrected. “To make sure they get paid. It’s not your job to look after them in any other way.”
“Maybe not. But that’s me being nice.”
“Were you ever planning on being nice to me?” Grady asked her.
“I’m nice to you!” She stared up at him, aghast. How could he think that? She was lovely to everyone.
“Hmm, not sure you are. If you were being nice to me, you wouldn’t run off in the middle of the day without telling me where you were.”
Sheesh, he just wouldn’t let this go.
“Steele didn’t tell you either.”
“I don’t keep track of Steele’s movements.”
“You don’t need to keep track of mine either!”
“That’s where we’ll have to disagree. Yeah, I think I do. Which is why I still think you need a GPS tracker.”
“I don’t think you can legally make me wear one.”
“I’m not sure we’ve ever been that concerned with the law, have we, Steele?”
“Nope.”
She glanced over to find the big man resting back on the couch, arms crossed behind his head, watching them both like they were his favorite TV show.
“This is the thing, sweetheart. We both have enemies. One of them could have gotten into Pinkies and taken you and we’d have no idea where you were.”
“I think that’s unlikely, right?” What kind of enemies was he talking about? And why would they kidnap her?
“It could still happen.”
“But why take me? I mean, why wouldn’t they take one of the dancers? Or the bar staff?”
“Why take you? Because you mean more to us than all of them combined.” This came from Steele. But when she glanced up at Grady, she found him nodding in agreement.
Okay, that was unexpected. “I mean something to you?”
“Yes,” Grady replied.
20
Grady was breaking all the rules right now.
This right here was part of the reason they’d made this rule. So that neither of them stepped over the line with an employee. Because they’d have to face them again and again. And because they might think they meant something more than they did.
Effie actually did mean something to him, and it wasn’t right to lead her on. He knew that Steele didn’t want a serious relationship.
“Grady?” Steele asked in a low voice.
He glanced over to see the other man staring at him curiously.
Grady stepped back, away from her, and straightened his clothes.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” she whispered. “How . . . how do I mean more to you?”
“Because we want—”
“Because we work closely with you,” Grady interrupted Steele, knowing what he’d been about to say. “That’s why you mean something to us.”
Steele shot him a frown. If they were going to change the rules, they needed to discuss that first. Not jump in when feelings and emotions were heightened. That would just create a mess.
Grady didn’t like messes. He liked things tidy and orderly.