Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Then he’d met Nina and he’d let everything go. Obviously that decision was going to come back to haunt him today.
“I agree.” Patrick’s cultured voice grated on JT’s nerves at times. “I’m a member of senior leadership. I expect more than David Malone will not be attending our retreat. I have every right to know what happened, Deanna. You said JT would be here. You didn’t tell me he was shacked up with a hooker.”
Oh, he was about to haul Patrick out and toss him to the street. How fucking dare he…
Nina was going to be upset, and she had every right to be. He hadn’t figured out how he was going to tell her they were working together. He meant to. He’d considered telling her about his meeting at McKay-Taggart and oops, what, she was going there, too?
He hadn’t meant for her to find out because his admin and a couple of members of his board showed up and started calling her a hooker.
And honestly, he didn’t like the term hooker. He’d worked in some crazy parts of the world, places where there were almost no women due to the nature of the work, and sex professionals made life way easier. They were nice women who did a good job.
Yeah, he probably shouldn’t have that argument in front of Nina. She would already be angry. Was this going to screw up the job? He could hear his brother now. He was going to fuck up the op and his relationship with Nina.
“I’m his girlfriend and you might think twice about insulting me.”
He took a deep breath because that had been said with pure confidence.
“You are not his girlfriend.” Deanna had some confidence of her own, but he could work with this. He’d been out of the office for months, allowing her to deal with all the paperwork and inner-office stuff while he was going from rig to rig testing out the new equipment.
She had no idea what he’d been doing with his personal life. No one did.
Nina was smart. She’d played the only card she could since he knew damn well how important it was that the agent he went in with had a good cover. They might have been able to go with bodyguard.
But girlfriend worked fine for him. In fact, he could take it one step further since those assholes would likely treat her like crap if they thought he wasn’t serious about her. He rounded the corner and caught sight of her standing in the doorway, holding it open like she still might be able to force them to leave.
He knew better.
“Don’t be so coy, baby.” He strode in, coffee and breakfast in hand. He winked her way before turning to their unwanted guests. It didn’t escape his notice that she had her clothes from the night before over her arm when they’d agreed she would be naked and waiting for him this morning. “Nina here is far more than my girlfriend. She’s my fiancée. I know we didn’t want to tell anyone until we could have a party, but after what happened with Dad last night, I don’t think we can wait.”
“You’re not engaged.” Deanna had a shocked look on her face that told him she was genuinely emotional.
Damn. His mother had called that one. His mom had told him to watch Deanna because she was far too invested in their personal relationship. He’d assured her they didn’t have one, but it looked like his admin didn’t agree.
Well, then Nina could help him out with that because he needed to keep those boundaries firmly in place.
“I assure you she is.” He set the coffees on the counter along with the breakfast sandwiches and pastries he’d gotten since he didn’t know if she preferred savory or sweet. He reached a hand out to her. “Unless you changed your mind, baby. You still going to marry me?”
She didn’t miss a beat, taking his hand and letting him haul her close. “Not a chance, cowboy.”
He lowered his lips to hers and could feel the stiffness in her body, though she welcomed the kiss readily. “I love it when you tease me.”
“No.” Deanna paced the floor of the suite. “This is some kind of joke. You aren’t even dating anyone.”
He needed to get Nina up to date and fast. He kept her hand in his as he faced the intruders. “I met Nina through a friend of my mother’s. I was headed out to Loa Mali to an engineering conference and I had a few days. I spent them with her. As you know I’ve been on the road for six weeks. Nina has come out to be with me whenever she could.”
“You were on oil rigs,” Deanna pointed out.
“Oil rigs still have private rooms,” Nina shot back, placing a hand on his chest. “Trust me. If you want to get to know a man, spend three days on a rig with him. You find out a lot about his habits.”