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)
“Should I go around and check she isn’t climbing out the window?”
Steele shook his head. “Nah, Effie is a good girl. She won’t sneak out. It wouldn’t be polite.”
“How do we get her past that?”
“Over being polite all the time?”
“Yeah. It’s like she thinks she always has to be polite, and smile, and not make waves.” That seemed a stressful way to live.
“We just need to get her barriers down,” Steele said. “They were down last night. We need to keep them that way.”
“You’re saying she was the real Effie last night?”
“In part. She’s taking a while.” Steele moved closer to the door and knocked on it.
They both heard her squeal.
Wait. Did she keep her clothes in Brooks’ bedroom? Grady guessed she had to, it wasn’t like she had a closet out here.
Fuck, he hated this life for her.
He’d lived this life. And he’d had it worse. But he still really, really hated it for Effie.
“Effie? You getting changed? You need some help?” Steele asked.
“Yes!”
“Yes, you need some help?”
“No!” she cried out. Then the door opened and she glared up at Steele. “I’m getting dressed. I don’t need help.”
She slammed the door in his face. Something Steele wasn’t used to. The other man turned and winked at Grady. “And that’s how we get to the real Effie.”
“By annoying her until she starts getting sassy?”
“Nothing wrong with throwing a bit of sass. Means she feels safe to do so. And if she throws too much sass at us or she’s not doing what she’s told when it comes to the important stuff, well, that’s just a reason to tan her hide, isn’t it?”
Hmm, the idea of turning Effie over his knee . . . of pulling up the T-shirt she was wearing and pulling down her pants and panties before spanking that round, heart-shaped ass. Yeah, he could actually totally get behind that.
Especially if she started getting too sassy for her own good.
She could give them some lip. But she wasn’t allowed to put herself at risk. Or speak badly about herself. Or lie.
“By not leaving her alone with her own thoughts for too long. We can’t let her get into her head. Nothing good comes from that.”
All right. Grady could agree with that.
Steele did up the last buttons on her coat.
“Do you really think this is necessary?” she asked.
She could barely move.
“Got to keep you warm.”
“We’re going out for lunch. I’m going to walk from the apartment to your car. Then from the car to the place where we’re eating. I’m not going out to traipse across Antarctica.”
“You’re going to wear the jacket and you’re going to stop throwing sass at me.”
“I am not throwing sass at you,” she replied indignantly. “I’m just telling you that dying via suffocation because I have too many clothes on is not the way I want to go.”
“Definitely getting sassy.” He was grinning as he said this, which seemed in exact opposition to his words and the gruffness of his voice.
So she couldn’t tell if he thought that was a good thing or not.
She was so confused by these guys. They were supposed to be her bosses.
But that wasn’t the vibe they were giving her.
Steele was upset about the state of her apartment and overly concerned about how much clothing she wore. While Grady just watched her with an attentiveness that was both worrying and thrilling.
So confusing.
“Noted. If you start suffocating, I’ll give you mouth-to-mouth.”
She sucked in a breath.
Joking. He was joking.
Or was he?
Because she wouldn’t object to some mouth-to-mouth.
Grady held out his hand to her. She looked down at him in confusion. Then she slapped her hand against his.
He stared at her for a long moment before his lips twitched. “Key, Effie.”
Oh. My. God.
Why? Why did she keep doing that? What was wrong with her?
“Oh. Um. I . . . sure.” She handed over her key. She wasn’t even going to try and lock her door herself. No doubt, she’d drop her keys or make a complete idiot of herself.
Steele guided her out the door with his arm around her shoulders.
Another thing about looking like the abominable snowman while wearing about ten layers of clothing? She couldn’t feel his arm around her.
And she liked feeling him. Knowing that he was anchoring her to him.
But there was one thing missing. And that thing was Grady.
She looked back at him, worried that he was feeling left out. But if she held out her hand to him . . . would he reject her?
Effie had an issue with rejection. No matter how nicely it was packaged, it would still be a rejection. And she wasn’t sure that her heart could handle that.
And then Grady did something he rarely did . . . he offered her a small smile.
She gave one back.
And that . . . that felt more monumental than any touch.