Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
“What? No. Us staying at the same hotel was a complete coincidence. She’s poor and this was the cheapest hotel available. I’m a procrastinator and this is also the shittiest hotel available, which meant it still had rooms. It’s not that crazy.”
“Fine. Just go read the rest of her book and make sure we get her under contract if it’s good. Cut her loose if it’s not. And do not fuck her.”
I pull my head back. “What? Why can’t I fuck her.”
“For starters? She probably doesn’t want to sleep with you. Beyond that, do I really need to explain it?”
“I’m perfectly capable of fucking an author and then handing them over to our very competent staff for all the business stuff.”
“But you said she was ‘yours’. You said you were handling this one personally. Didn’t exactly sound like you wanted to hand her over.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I hold up my palms defensively. “Anyway, she didn’t sound interested yet. I think I need a little more time.”
“You already asked?” He sounds somewhere between horrified and impressed.
I grin. “I didn’t ask, exactly. I just made my intentions clear. You think I’m going to let those dark, dirty thoughts bounce around my head in secret? She deserves to know what I want to do to her.”
Nolan gets up and trips because the chair has no room to slide backwards. He fumbles with the chair between the wall and desk for a moment, then gives it an angry shove. He looks like he’s about to lose his temper. It wouldn’t exactly be a rarity. Nolan has quite the short fuse.
I’m grinning, though.
He looks at me and points a warning finger. “Don’t. This room is fucking stupid. Handle this mess.”
“If you ask me nicely, I’ll do my best.”
“Please don’t fuck this up,” Nolan says coldly over his shoulder. He pulls the door open and slams it behind him.
I watch after him. The unfortunate thing is Nolan should know me better than that. Before our conversation, my interest in the girl was simpler. I thought she was attractive and wondered how much I’d enjoy being inside her. Simple. I also figured there was some devious way to use our mutual hatred of the Vanderlesh family to exact some petty revenge. Simple. But now Nolan has added a not so simple wrinkle. He’s told me to keep my hands off her.
I don’t do well when I’m told I can’t have something. It makes me want it more.
I pop up from the bed, fix my hair in the mirror, and head toward her room.
6
CHARLI
I didn’t run away from Jameson Wolfe. I just… made a strategic retreat. There is absolutely a difference.
I packed my things as soon as I left him in the lobby. I headed to the airport several hours before my flight, and I got back home in the early hours of the morning. I drove to my apartment and failed to sleep even though I was dead tired. I did all of this in what felt like a daze. I put one foot in front of the other and kept moving until Arizona and everything that happened there was hundreds of miles away.
But once I was out of his presence, I could think straight. I realized I don’t want whatever he’s offering. I don’t want to tie my book to some sort of deal with a devil. I don’t want to be linked to a man with so much momentum. There’s no way for me to be in control of my future or my career with him involved. He is too much Or maybe he’s just too soon.
Now it’s a new day. I’m back home in New York City and Dani is pulling stuff out of bags in my kitchen. From the looks of it, she has brought the entire “Boy Trouble” supply list. Alcohol, chocolate, cheese, and pickles. The pickles are more because I love pickles and she probably wants to make sure I’m stocked up.
Dani is two years older than me and people always tell us we don’t look related. She has red hair with blue eyes and I’ve got nearly black hair with green eyes. Honestly, my eyes are probably closer to brown, but if I catch them in my rearview mirror at just the right moment with the sun in them, I can hardly see the brown. Or maybe it’s just that I can hardly see anything with the sun in my eyes.
Dani’s wearing scrubs. She works at a vet hospital four days a week and dog sits between shifts. She’s kind of an animal geek, and she doesn’t like when I call her that. But it’s what she is. She’s the girl who would’ve creamed herself if she ever got a pony as a birthday present when we were kids. Now she just organizes her life to involve animals in any way she can.