Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 15945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 80(@200wpm)___ 64(@250wpm)___ 53(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 80(@200wpm)___ 64(@250wpm)___ 53(@300wpm)
I have always seen love everywhere, including in all the relationships I had, but they never worked, and I was always the one left heartbroken. Now, I don’t want it. I just want to build my career and spend time with my friends and family. Then, I had a share a cab with the sexiest man I have ever met, and he makes me want things I thought I stopped wanting. And now, I am running. Form him, from what we share and from my own pleading heart. Of course, like every Hallmark movie I have ever seen, he follows me. Maybe this time, I will squeeze him and never let go.
Ayerton
I was all business. I worked overtime to make sure my client’s dreams come true. I wasn’t looking for forever until I found her. A chance encounter in a cab, and I’m hooked. She’s quickly become my everything, but she runs away every time. Pinned down and cuffed, I make her mine in every way imaginable. She’s the very best thing that has ever happened to me. Thanks to her, I’m a better man.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER 1
HOPE MALONE
Shit, shit, shit, I chant as I hop around my apartment trying to zip my boot up. I’m half-dressed and brushing my teeth at the same time. It would be funny, but I’m so late for work. I should have been in at nine, but it’s already nine-thirty. I’m never late, but I really didn’t want to get out my warm bed this morning. I have to be on the floor at eleven and if I don’t leave now, I won’t make it all the way downtown. I drop my coffee cup into the sink and grab my briefcase, rushing out the door. I hail a cab and tell the driver where to go. I pull my phone out and answer a few emails, before checking the texts I got over night. Our group chat, the Super Squad Badass Bitches, blew up overnight. We are definitely dorks, but you know cool dorks. The kind of dorks you’d want to be friends with. We used to get into some shit, but man, did we have fun.
My best friends, Jinny Spruce, Scarlet Moonblood, Cheryl Bow, Rose Gillium, Candie Flicks, Summer Frost, and I all met in college. It’s been a five years since we met at Freshman Orientation at the University of Maine. We then pledged and joined the same sorority, Upsilon Upsilon Chi Tau. We’ve all gone our separate ways in the year since we graduated, but we talk or text every single day. Scarlet and Jinny are going back in forth about the new superhero movie that features nudity. The chat is complete with gif’s and memes and lots of peen. I fire off a quick reply as the cab pulls up in front of the building. I’ve worked here for eleven months and three days and in that time that feeling of awe and importance I felt that very first day hasn’t gone away. Things happen here, and I get to be a part of it. Things that affect the entire world. It’s amazing.
I slide my badge to get in the door and make my way up to my tiny office where I drop my stuff off and rush over to the floor. People are gathering but my lateness won’t be noticed, thank God. I move to my place at the back of the room with the other translators. I sit at my desk and get my headset ready, making sure it’s plugged in. The lights overhead flash like when intermission is over on Broadway. It’s a universal signal that we are about to being. I put my headset on and listen to the private conversations of the Frenchmen I’m assigned to. I smile when they talk about the basketball game they went to last night at my suggestion. When they are here, I am very much a part of their lives, inside the building and out of it. They each remind me of my grandfathers in different ways. Every other word is cheerleader, so I know they had a good time. I smile. These guys are the life of the party, just like Grandpa Mike.
“Messieurs les délégués, veuillez prendre place. Nous allons commencer,” I interrupt, asking the delegates to take their seats. Did I mention that I love my job?
“Merci, Hope,” Henri Declan answers and I see the five Frenchmen begin to take their seats. I smile and take a deep breath. I worked so hard to get where I am. Eighteen years of French lessons, in school and out of it, French Literature, and Political Science degrees. I worked two jobs and got scholarships. I did it all myself. I wasn’t a burden on anyone. It means more to me this way. My parents, Chris and Tasha, the best parents a girl could ask for. I couldn’t bankrupt them for my dreams. I grew up in Brooklyn, in Sheepshead Bay. I made the move to Manhattan when I got this job, which I got right out of college. There is always a need for interpreters. Why French? When I was a little girl, I heard French being spoken in Beauty and the Beast and I fell in love with it. I begged my parents for lessons until I they relented. Learning it was hard, but it was so worth it.
“Bonjour! Bienvenue au Sommet du G-15 sur la réforme nucléaire. Cette réunion durera quatre jours, suivie d’une fête le quatrième soir. Passons aux choses sérieuses,” I repeat the Secretary General’s words in French for the French delegation. This is my job. This is what I went to school for, though this is just a steppingstone. The end goal is working for the federal government, maybe the State Department, but for now, there is nowhere else I’d rather be. The days run late all the time, which is why I was late this morning. I got two hours of sleep, a hot shower, and a half a cup of coffee. I wish I had taken two minutes to eat something, because who knows when they will break for lunch. A drink of water later, and we are off. I translate everything for my guys, including the questions they email me to ask on their behalf. The day goes by quickly and before I know the Secretary-General calls the day to a close. The dinner provided for delegates isn’t for me, so I grab my bags and head out to grab a bite to eat before heading home.