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)
Steele grabbed her chin, tilting her face back. “We have to get rid of that bitch.”
“Will you two stop calling her a bitch!” she protested.
“You know, I’ve got some work to do. I’ll see you both later.” Grady’s gaze was on her feet and she knew he was blaming himself.
She had to stop him from withdrawing. Now.
“Wait!” she cried out as he turned away. But he didn’t pause. So she gathered herself up and threw herself at his back.
“Grady! Fuck, Effie!” Steele roared.
She landed on his back. He stumbled slightly but didn’t fall. Yeah, maybe she should have thought this through better.
Especially as she glanced at Steele to see his face was full of thunder.
“What the fuck was that?”
42
Fucking hell.
Just fuck. Fuck.
Grady knew he was messing up all over the place lately. Not sleeping in bed with them last night had been a mistake. He hadn’t even given her a good cuddle before he left.
All because he had fucking intimacy issues. Born from a bad childhood.
Well, fuck that.
He needed to work that shit out. Because his job now was to give Effie whatever she needed.
And he couldn’t do that if his brain was so whacked that he was throwing around mugs and not noticing that she’d sliced her feet up.
He’d known he needed a minute to wrap his head around everything. His behavior. Steele’s. Because he’d dropped that other bomb on purpose.
Steele wanted them to move forward. For all of them to get what they needed. And in his usual bulldozer way, he’d gone ahead and done that.
But some things needed a bit of finesse.
However, in turning away, the last thing Grady had expected was for her to throw herself at him.
“Um, I didn’t want Grady to leave,” she said in reply to Steele’s furious bellow.
He tried to pull her off, to tug her around to his front. But she wrapped her arms around him like a monkey.
Christ.
“You could have fucking well hurt yourself! You will not do that again!” Steele commanded.
“Yeah, maybe I should have thought that through more. I just acted.”
“Is your back all right?” Grady asked.
“Ah, yeah, it seems to be.”
“Ten spanks. Corner time. And fifty lines. All after breakfast,” Steele told her.
“Yikes. Think I’m in trouble,” she whispered. “Horsie, giddy-up!”
“Excuse me?” Grady asked.
“Giddy-up! You need to save me from the ogre!”
“Being cute is not going to save you from the ogre,” Grady informed her.
“I am not an ogre.” Steele moved toward them.
Slap!
His hand must have landed on Effie’s ass because she jumped and let out a small squeal.
“You are spending time with Daddy today. And Daddy is in a strict mood, so beware. You try to hide anything from me and I’m going to tan your hide until you can’t sit for a week. And you.” Steele turned to Grady. “I’m sorry for dropping your secret like that. It wasn’t cool. I’ll make breakfast.”
Grady carried her on his back to the small dining table. Then he crouched. “Off.”
She let go.
He turned to her, pointing at the chair behind her. “Sit.”
She sat. He drew a chair over and sat facing her. “I apologize for losing my shit, throwing that mug, and not seeing that you were hurting. But sometimes, I’m going to need time to process stuff. All right?”
“Oh. All right. I’m sorry I jumped on you. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, sweetheart. But you could have hurt you. And that is unacceptable. Understand?” He cupped her chin lightly with his hand.
“I understand. It was spur of the moment.”
“Well, maybe next time, think first. Or you’re going to give the ogre a heart attack.”
“Yeah. He bellows like a lion when he’s mad.”
“He sure does.”
“I can hear you both,” Steele told them.
“You should have told me your feet were hurting.” Grady gave her a stern look.
“I’m sorry.” She bit her lip. “Are we good?”
“You tell me.” He gave her a steady look.
“We’re good. And, uh, about that other stuff . . .”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I . . . you want to, uh, do stuff while I’m sleeping?”
He shot his gaze up to Steele, then back to her. “It’s not a deal-breaker, sweetheart. If you don’t want that, then we won’t do it.”
“But you like doing that?”
“Most women aren’t into it. So I haven’t done it much. But yeah, I like it. I like waking a woman up with my tongue in her pussy. I like being able to touch and explore while she’s sleeping. I like having my cock buried in part of her body while she sleeps.”
“Holy heck.”
“But it is just a want. Not a need.”
She swallowed heavily. “And if it’s something I want?”
Shock filled him.
“Consensual non-consent,” Steele said.
“Huh?” she asked, screwing up her nose. “That sounds like one of those tongue twisters. Consensual non-consent. Consensual non-consent. Consensual non-consent. Definitely tongue twister.”
“Means that he won’t wake you to ask your consent, because he already has it to do what he wants,” Steele explained.