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)
Acting on instinct, without even thinking about it, she grabbed his hand.
He jolted and she let go. “Sorry.” Crap. She was messing up all over the place.
But to her shock, he reached out and took her hand. “You don’t have to keep saying sorry. You have nothing to apologize for. And you didn’t upset me. Sometimes, I . . . sometimes I get so involved in the details that I forget about the emotions. My childhood, well, it was all about emotion. And not the good kinds. As a result, I became rather detached from all of that. I’m trying to find a way to be more in-tune with my emotions. But it’s not easy.”
Her heart melted for him. She squeezed his hand. “It’s all right. I understand.”
“Just be patient with me.” Letting go of her hand, he walked out.
Yeah, things had definitely changed. Because no boss acted that way with their employee. They might be friendly, they might tease. But they didn’t sandwich them between them.
Or cup the side of their neck with their big hand.
Or hold their hand and ask them to be patient.
The thing is . . . she didn’t know whether to be terrified or excited.
Maybe a bit of both.
Returning to the desk, she glanced down at the gloves, running her finger over them. Expensive and pretty.
Lord. She was in trouble.
The next day, Grady bought her Mace.
Steele bought her fluffy socks and ate half of the peppermint mocha brownie she’d made.
The day after that, Grady bought her a Taser.
Steele bought her a new scarf and ate several apple cinnamon muffins.
And then Grady bought her a rape whistle.
Steele bought her a woollen hat.
She knew she had to find a way to make them stop.
The thing is . . . she just didn’t want to.
22
Damn Vanessa.
So freaking unreliable.
Effie was supposed to have gone home three hours ago. She was exhausted, hungry, and her back was really starting to ache. She wasn’t used to being on her feet for hours on end. Let alone carting drinks around.
She’d never waitressed before and she’d spent the first hour messing it up. But now she’d kind of gotten the hang of it. However, she didn’t think she’d be making much in tips. Especially as she wasn’t dressed like the other servers.
“Hey, girlie. This isn’t what I ordered,” an older man with a long gray beard yelled at her.
She gritted her teeth.
Smile, Effie.
It was really hard to see the good side of anything when she was hurting and hungry.
But she forced a big smile onto her face and walked over to where the grumpy old fart was. “What seems to be the problem?”
“I ordered a Jack and Coke.”
She still couldn’t see the problem. “That is a Jack and Coke.”
“There’s too much Coke, girlie. You shafted me on the Jack.”
Like she’d freaking made it. Nate, the head bartenders had. But she didn’t argue with the jerk. Instead, she took the glass back. “I’ll go talk to Nate about that.”
“And hurry it up, will ya? I don’t have all day to wait. Man needs a drink.”
Right. Because it was thirsty work just sitting there. Effie couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a drink of water. She was dying of thirst. And she’d kill to sit down. But tonight was busy and there were no breaks coming her way until things quieted down.
Fucking Vanessa.
The next time she saw her, she was going to . . . well, she didn’t know what she was going to do. But she certainly wasn’t going to be nice to her.
As she reached the bar, she leaned against it, trying to ease some of her weight off her back.
It didn’t really work, unfortunately.
“Yo, Nate,” she called out.
“Yeah?” Nate was a good-looking man. Broad-shouldered with dark hair. He filled out the tight black T-shirt of his Pinkies uniform nicely. Walking over, he looked down at her. “Darlin’, you don’t look so good. You need to get yourself home. How many hours have you worked today?”
“About ten. But only three waitressing.”
A frown took over his face. “Go home. We’ll be fine without you.”
No way. She was the one who’d rostered Vanessa on, so this was her responsibility.
“There’s a gentleman without a drink over there, Effie,” Lucy said with a sneer as she walked up to them. “And you’re just standing here talking.”
Nate turned his gaze to Lucy, and while he’d never been anything but kind and friendly to her, there was nothing but chill when he looked at Lucy.
“Then how about you grab a tray and start serving drinks, huh?” Nate asked in a dark voice.
Lucy gave him an affronted look. “It’s not my job.”
“More your job than it is Effie’s. She’s been working ten hours straight and she’s dead on her feet. Seems to me, you should be picking up the slack, not her.”