Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 25465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Gaaah!
She was so stupid!
William was different from Darren. That had been obvious from the start, and he had never - like never ever - said or did anything to think otherwise. If anything, he only proved himself to be the loveliest gentleman over and over...as well as the dorkiest and clumsiest, with the way he often needed her help fixing his tie and he kept needing her to find things in his office.
He was a hottie, and he was in love with her.
These were things to celebrate, but instead she foolishly insisted on pushing him away, and oh God...
I really am going to lose him!
Cassidy burst to her feet, intent on asking for a second chance from William—-
RIIIIIIIIIING!
The sound made Cassidy flop back to her seat. Work, she reminded herself. Work first, love later. She reached for the receiver. "Good morning—-"
"Good morning, Cassidy." Dr. Lucian Stanhope's tone was immediately recognizable. "Is my cousin in?"
"Yes, Dr. Stanhope. Please hold a moment while I connect your call." She pressed the Hold button and contacted William. "Mr. Stanhope, your cousin..."
"Please connect him, thanks."
"Yes, Mr. Stanhope." Cassidy wasn't too surprised when she noticed her fingers shaking as she made the necessary switch before replacing the call. It was her first time to hear William speak to her so politely...and she didn't like it.
In fact, she didn't just dislike it.
She hated it, and it hurt.
A lot!
To the point that when she saw his door swing open and her boss come striding out...
William appeared bemused when she suddenly blocked his way. "Cassidy? Do you need anything?"
Cassidy's mind suddenly went blank. She knew she should say something, but...what?
"Can it wait for a few minutes?" her boss asked. "I owe Lucian a favor, and I'll need to head up to the new building—-"
Cassidy was horrified. The new building was where all of the med students were, and if her blue-eyed hottie was to go there alone, it would be like feeding a British lamb to a pack of she-wolves!
Ten minutes later, and Cassidy was happily giving herself a figurative pat on the back. She had managed to convince William to let her head to the new building in his stead, and with this, she had successfully averted a disaster.
And really now. If those students seriously thought she was just going to let them paw at her boss...
Not on my watch, missies.
And as for the favor William owed his cousin...
Cassidy walked down the hallway of classrooms until she found IV-A. The professor, recognizing her as William's executive assistant, readily excused 22-year-old Audra Perkins from her class. The girl was slim and flaxen-haired, and with such a friendly smile that Cassidy couldn't help but warm up to her in spite of her usual reserve.
"Wow." Audra's tone was one of genuine amazement. "It really is you."
"You sound like you were expecting a monster," Cassidy accused.
"I was," Audra confirmed cheerfully. "Everyone pretty much says to run the other way if you're around."
"Oh." Cassidy relaxed. "I thought it was something a lot ruder."
The younger girl choked back a laugh. "Having other people run away from you isn't rude enough?"
"People who run away when seeing me usually have good reason to do so," Cassidy said with a shrug. "And you might feel the same way, too—-"
"Am I in trouble?" Audra asked with a wince.
"Depends on how you look at it. I was asked to deliver a message—-"
"It's bad news?"
Cassidy gave the other girl an exasperated look. "Will you please let me finish first?"
Audra smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Ms. Dawson."
Cassidy started to speak, only to be interrupted again.
"But I just can't think of any reason why would you—-"
Chatterbox, Cassidy thought with a reluctant smile. This girl's ability to talk a mile a minute was as maddening as it was ridiculously adorable, and Cassidy just couldn't find it in her normally merciless heart to dislike the girl for it.
But since she did have a task to accomplish, work to return to, and a boss to win over...
"Ahem."
Audra gasped. "I did it again, didn't—-"
Fearful that the girl was about to ramble off again, Cassidy quickly cut her off, saying, "I have a message from Dr. Lucian...Stanhope." Her words slowed down at the end, Cassidy having noticed the way Audra's expression gradually lost its cheerfulness, and by the time she finished, the girl was pale as a ghost.
"Are you alright?" Cassidy asked worriedly.
"I thought you said Dr. Lucian Stanhope."
"I did say that—-" Cassidy stopped speaking, with Audra looking like she was about to faint. "Seriously, are you okay?"
"I don't really want to have anything to do with him," the girl confessed.
"Oh." Cassidy was momentarily speechless. William's half-American cousin was almost as good-looking as her boss, but whereas William was all things nice, Lucian was all the other things that would always get him on Santa's naughty list...all the while collecting arm candies and notches on his bed posts by the dozen.