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)
“Effie? Why did you leave?” he asked.
“Well, I didn’t see much point in staying. I didn’t get the job and I need to get home.” So she could scour the internet for another job. Or bus tickets for her and Brooks to get to Wanton, Wyoming.
Yep, that was really the name of the town where April lived.
Pretty awesome.
“You didn’t see much point in staying?” he repeated.
“Um, yeah.”
“What about the fact that I still needed to check whether you were well enough to move around by yourself?”
Uh. Right.
Now she felt terrible.
It wouldn’t have hurt her to wait around a few minutes for him to return.
Except . . . he’d been gone a while and she’d grown more embarrassed with each passing second.
“And that I came back expecting to see you where I put you.”
Okay, she wasn’t feeling so terrible now. In fact, she was feeling kind of mad.
“Where you put me?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“Yes, Twinkletoes, where I put you.” He leaned in and she felt her heartbeat quicken at his closeness.
Not in fear. Or anger.
Nope. It was another emotion rushing through her. One that had her pressing her thighs together as her clit throbbed.
“I don’t think I have to stay where you put me when I don’t belong to you.”
He leaned back and she missed having his face near hers. Seeing those tiny flecks of brown in his amazingly green eyes.
Shoot. Why did she go and say that?
“What about if you worked for me? Would you need to stay where I put you then?”
A shiver ran through her.
“You’re still cold,” he said, misinterpreting her shiver. “You shouldn’t be walking around in this weather without gloves. Or a scarf. Or a hat. Or without shoes that fit, for that matter.”
He got up, opened a cupboard at the wall behind his desk and pulled out a soft-looking deep blue blanket.
Which he placed around her shoulders, then pulled it around her so she was covered in it.
“Now, back to what I was saying about you working for me—”
He was interrupted by voices on the other side of the door, which he’d left open a few inches.
“Oh, Steele, you should have seen her. She was far too old and well, if I can be blunt, fat to be stripping. She tried to hold herself up on the pole, then she just fell to the stage. I was so embarrassed for her.”
Effie felt her face growing bright red. She kept her gaze on her lap since the last thing she wanted was to look up at Grady and see his pity. Or worse, his agreement.
“She fell? Is she okay?” a deep voice rumbled.
Whoa. That was one sexy voice.
“Fucking bitch,” Grady said, standing.
“Yeah, she’s fine. She won’t be suing or anything. She didn’t look like she had the money for the bus home, let alone an attorney. And besides, she was faking being hurt to feel less humiliated. But it was completely humiliating.”
Lucy started laughing and shame rolled through Effie. She hadn’t been faking an injury.
And this bitch didn’t get to make her feel bad.
By the time she’d given herself a pep talk, Grady was at the door, swinging it wide.
“Shut up, Lucy.”
Lucy gasped at his harsh words. Even Effie looked up at him in shock. No one had stood up for her since Joe died. Well, other than April, but she lived thousands of miles away. Although she wouldn’t have hesitated to get in this bitch’s face.
April had fire. Because not only did she known her own worth, but she also had a man at home who wouldn’t hesitate to take her back.
Effie didn’t feel like she’d ever known her own worth. Maybe when Joe was alive. But even then, she spent most of her time trying to be nice and not rock the boat.
Things her Nan had ingrained into her.
“Grady? Everything good?” the deep voice asked.
“It will be as soon as Lucy leaves my eyesight,” Grady countered.
Whoa.
Grady was mad.
Really, really mad.
He’d said he was angry before because she’d taken off. But she thought he might have been exaggerating.
Because this . . . this was angry.
And he was mad because of what Lucy was saying about her. She could feel a crack in the shield she’d put up to protect herself. An armor that few people could get through, that they even noticed was there.
But it was there. And it was cracking.
“How rude! Why are you talking to me that way, Mr. Grady when all I’ve ever done is try to do a good job for you.”
Dear Lord. That was a terrible acting job. Did Lucy really think that people would buy that?
“Grady,” the other voice warned.
Whoa. Was the other guy buying her act?
“Steele, she needs to get far away from me right now. I am not going to stand by while she talks badly about Effie.”