Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“But—”
“If you don’t put up a fight about this, I’ll give you a solid recommendation, but maybe you won’t need it. You're starting your own company, right?” he points out.
I fight back tears because it’s a holiday company. It’s only seasonal work to help supplement my income. I keep that to myself, unsure if that counts as fighting back. Instead, I nod because what other choice do I have? I've heard he can be a cutthroat businessman and that what he says is law, so it’s pointless to fight. He’s actually being way kinder than I thought he would be if I was ever to talk to him. Normally when he passes my little cubicle, he glares at me.
“Is there anything else?” I ask after the silence starts to grow again.
“If you have nothing else to say, I suppose you’re done here at NR Financial.”
He was the one who told me not to put up a fight or he’d take it all from me, so I keep my mouth shut and walk to the door. He beats me to it, and his hand goes to the handle, but he doesn’t open it.
“Star.” I turn my head to look up into his handsome face. He has the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen in my life.
“What?”
“This will work out for you. Sometimes people need a shove to go in the right direction.”
“And you want to be the one to shove me?” He lifts his eyebrows, surprised at my tone. I’m a bit surprised too. It wasn't hard for me not to respond to him at first. I usually avoid confrontation, but he’s gone too far. “Open the door,” I order, and a smile pulls at his lips. I want to smack it off his face, but he does as I ask.
I rush over to my desk and grab my oversized tote as I yank all the wasted Christmas decorations off my desk. I was the only one in the whole cubicle area to decorate and maybe even in this building. They’re all a bunch of Scrooges, if you ask me.
I can feel Nick’s eyes on me the whole time as I shove into my bag the little gold stars I made. There’s tinsel everywhere, but I don’t care. It’s probably trailing behind me as I storm out. Which is why even as I leave the building, I can feel him watching me.
Once outside I look up, and I can’t help but smile. It’s the first snow of the year, and the smell of winter is thick in the air. My Christmas might be crap this year, but I’ll make sure everyone else’s is a little bit brighter after they get a visit from Star Tree-Topper. That’s my dream.
Two
NICK
She’s just standing there looking up at the sky. She doesn't even have a coat on, and it’s snowing. Doesn’t she have the sense to get out of the cold?
“Goddamn it,” I grumble and pull out my cell. After a few taps on my screen, I see the car pull up to the curb, and the driver gets out.
She smiles at him, and I don’t know why it makes my chest tight. Well, I do know, but I don’t like to think about it. She’s mine, and her smiles belong to me too. They have since the moment she walked into this building and gave me one. The first time I saw her, it felt like I’d been hit by a train, and ever since all I’ve been able to do is walk around her cubicle a dozen times a day and drive by her crummy apartment.
Okay so maybe I’m obsessed, but today at exactly twelve-thirty, she finished her probationary period, and now she’ll get all the benefits that come along with her severance package.
The driver nods to her, and then I see him glance up at me before he takes her bag of decorations out of her hands. I’d actually ordered everyone in her department and all the others not to put any up because hers were so beautiful I wanted them to stand out. Star Butterscotch deserves to stand out, and dammit, I’m going to make sure she does.
Once she’s in the back of the car, I walk outside to the car behind it waiting for me. “Follow them,” I tell my driver, and he nods, not saying a word. This isn’t the first time we’ve made this drive to her place, and it won’t be the last. If he thinks it’s crazy, he’s smart enough to keep his mouth shut.
I’ve done some digging into her new business. Mostly I listened on the other side of her cubicle while she made calls on her break. Was that intrusive? Yes. Did it get the results I wanted? Also yes. The end justifies the means, so I don’t feel an ounce of guilt.