Series: Werewolves of Wall Street Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Of course, she's human,” Ruby says quickly. “What did you think, she's an alien?”
“Oh, I'm totally an alien,” I say. “I came from a small planet called… Polkadot.”
April looks at me with round eyes then looks to her mom.
“She's being silly, baby,” Ruby explains. “Do you want mashed potatoes?”
“How long have you been Brick’s assistant, Madi?” Catherine asks.
Again, the temperature in the room seems to drop. I have thick skin, but I’m starting to wish I hadn’t asked to eat Thanksgiving with them.
Brick’s nose twitches in a threatened snarl, but he says nothing.
“Going on four months now.” I take a huge helping of sweet potatoes–my favorite. “That's about three months longer than I expected to keep the job.”
Billy makes a judgmental sound in his throat, which I’d have to interpret to mean he thinks I should have been fired that first day I talked back to him.
“I'll bet he’s a bear to work for,” Ruby says. “I know he hasn’t kept any assistant for much longer than that.”
“Well, I rather enjoyed the challenge of it at first.”
“Don’t use the past tense,” Brick growls beside me. “I didn’t accept your resignation.”
His words produce a tiny flare of warmth to push back the chill from the rest of his team.
“Right, well, when you threatened to throw me to the wolves, I thought it was just a figure of speech.”
Brick’s smile is genuine, but the rest of the group’s responses seem forced. There’s an odd amount of attention on me, like I’m the focus of the table rather than Brick. Like my presence at their table is too jarring not to disrupt things.
Or maybe it’s not me. Maybe the tension and awkwardness are because of his mother’s presence?
If so, then no wonder Brick didn’t want me to witness it.
It must’ve killed him to admit to me he has this vulnerability.
Brick says very little during the dinner, except to speak to his niece or nephew, who obviously adore him. His mother hangs on my every word any time I speak. I realize she must be starved for connection with her son, and she perceives me as an avenue to him. Maybe she thinks we’re more than we are after helping us get stripped down and in bed together this afternoon.
I suppose everyone here thinks I’m screwing the boss now. Oh well. I am. Or I have. And I’ll do it again. Probably tonight.
The memory of what we did earlier–what he did, I should say–makes me clamp my thighs together as a slow throb starts up between them.
As if he can read minds, Brick slides a look my way, his nostrils flaring. We make it through dinner, and I start to feel more like myself after the food and wine.
After dinner, Dane and Liz–who are obviously servants, not family because they didn’t sit down with us–clear the table. “Do you want dessert immediately?” Liz looks to Brick.
“Yes! We want dessert now!” Auggie shouts.
“Buddy, you just ate about four turkeys all by yourself. How can you be hungry for pie?” Brick asks him.
“I ate four turkeys, too!” April claims.
Brick glances back at Liz. “Give us thirty.”
“Thirty minutes!” Auggie wails loudly, letting his disappointment be known.
“That’s enough,” his mother says quietly.
Catherine stands from the table. “Come on, Auggie, let’s go see how much snow has piled up outside.”
“Oh yeah.” The boy leaps off his chair and goes running for the front door.
“I meant here at the window,” his grandmother prompts.
“I have to go potty!” April announced.
“I’ll take you, A.” Brick surges up from the table like he can’t wait to leave. He swings the little girl up into his arms and carries her off on his hip, and I try not to swoon.
Aw, screw it, I’m swooning.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Brick
“When were you going to tell us you're banging the secretary?” Billy accosts me in the hallway after I take April to use the bathroom.
“Fuck off,” I growl.
As if they were waiting for this moment, the other members of my executive team converge at the same time. It’s an ambush.
“Let’s step outside.” Nickel inclines his head in that direction.
If it were one or two of them, I would have refused, but it’s clear they have something to say to me.
And I know exactly what–or, rather, who–it’s about.
Fine. It’s time for me to put them in their places. I lead them out into the snow ,and Eagle shuts the door behind us with a click. Vance, Jake, Sully, Billy and Nickel face off with me.
“Don't you think this little dalliance of yours is something we needed to know?” Billy demands. “Did Eagle know? He’s your senior counsel, and it could affect his job.”
“I'm not–” My nostrils flare as I draw in a breath. “It was twice.” And this afternoon practically doesn’t count. It was medically necessary–I was reviving her. She nearly died of the cold out there.