Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 26645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Paulie clears his throat next to me and a flicker of rage floods through me. Who does he think he is, interrupting us?
“Was there a reason you came to see me?” Paulie asks again. He wants to be alone with Daniella again. I don’t know if he planned on asking her out before I got there, but it sure as hell won’t be happening now.
“Excuse me,” I say to Daniella, finally taking my eyes off her and leading Paulie into his office.
He follows behind me and gestures for me to sit in front of his desk. I close the door behind us, and he nervously fumbles around with his tie. I look through the glass one last time before turning to Paulie to get another look at Daniella. As soon as we aren’t there, she starts typing away on her computer, not focusing on us.
I can hardly pull my eyes away from her because Jesus Christ, she’s magnificent in every way. Even with Paulie sitting across from me, my mind wanders to all the things I like to do with Daniella. I have to actively force my mind away from it to focus on Paulie.
“I assume you want to talk about the investigation,” Paulie says, taking a seat behind his desk.
I sit down across from him and nod my head, taking a deep breath to try and rein in my thoughts. Still, Daniella lingers in my mind.
“We need to figure out who’s really behind this because I know it isn’t me,” I say, quietly to make sure Daniella can’t hear. “It’s obvious someone is framing me. We have a rat and we need to flush them before something big happens.”
“Any idea who it could be?” Paulie looks over my shoulder at Daniella.
My pulse quickens as the anger rises in my throat. I turn around and see that she’s no longer sitting behind the desk but standing in front of it, facing away from us while unraveling garland from a box.
“What happened to Deanna?” I ask, trying to control the tone of my voice as much as possible.
“Her daughter just had a baby so she’s taking time off to be with her.” He doesn't take his eyes off Danella’s ass while she faces away from us. “Can’t say I’m disappointed with the temp the company sent.”
I clench my fists tight enough that my nails dig into the palm of my hand. It stings, but it’s the only thing keeping me from leaping across the desk, grabbing Paulie by his tie, and telling him exactly what I think.
The idea of her sitting across from him while he ogles her all day is infuriating enough that I can feel my blood pressure rising. What if he makes a move on her? The thought of him touching her is almost nauseating.
I stand up and press my hands firmly on the desk in front of him, bending down quite a bit due to my height. Paulie finally tears his eyes away from Daniella and looks up at me with a confused expression. I lean down close to his face so our eyes meet. He needs to see how serious I am.
“I want her,” I tell him in a low voice, unblinking.
Paulie shakes his head and furrows his brow for a moment, looking over my shoulder briefly. “Come on, you can have any woman you want–”
“I want her to work for me,” I interrupt. Paulie stares at me for a moment with raised eyebrows, not believing a word I said.
“No way.” He lets out a nervous laugh, looking between me and Daniella.
Before he has a chance to say anything else, I stand upright and quickly reach to grab him by his collar. I yank him out of his chair, pulling him halfway across his desk to meet my eyes. Papers and picture frames with his wife and kids fall to the ground around us.
“I wasn’t asking,” I snarl, clenching my jaw and staring deep into his eyes.
Paulie gulps and nods his head before I set him down. He straightens his collar and walks out of the office to speak to Daniella.
2
DANIELLA
“You’re being reassigned,” Paulie says in a hushed voice.
My heart drops. Reassigned? How can that be? I’ve only been working in his office for a day. I hadn’t done anything to give away the real reason I was there. Sergeant Tully is going to be furious with me. The more I let myself think about it, the more worried I get. What if they know about me? What if reassigning me means they’ll try and hurt me?
“I’m not sure I understand,” I say, trying to play dumb and innocent. “Have I done something wrong?”
Paulie opens his mouth to respond, but before he can, Dominic DeLuca walks through his office door and speaks up. “Not at all. Consider this a promotion,” he cooly adds, striding through the room to stand in front of me.