Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
“Neither. They’re my soon-to-be-bosses.”
Alice gave her a shocked look. “Really?”
“I only met them yesterday. I’m in way over my head.”
“Girl, drowning in that much gorgeousness and testosterone . . . what a way to go.”
Yeah, she wasn’t wrong there.
“You won’t ever be bored.”
She wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
You got this, Effie. You can do this.
“Let’s get back into the car. Steele will take care of this.” Grady ushered her outside. At least she got to walk this time. Even if she was in what amounted to slipper boots.
After a few minutes, Steele climbed in beside her.
“Thanks for my shoes,” she said.
Steele nodded while Grady was on his phone. Shoot. Was he upset with her?
Say you’re sorry. You were rude.
“I’m really sorry I called you stubborn.”
Steele grunted.
“And I’m really, really sorry I called you annoying.”
Grady made a strange noise and she tried to turn to see if he was all right. But she was kind of pinned back against the car seat again.
“Are you all right, Grady?”
“Yep,” he said in a strangled voice.
“Okay. Um, and I’m sorry that I called you bossy too.”
“You didn’t mean any of what you said?” Steele asked after a moment.
“Oh, ah, um . . . ” Crap.
“Truth,” he demanded.
She heaved out a breath. “No, I meant it. I mean, maybe not the annoying part.”
“You meant the annoying part.”
Damn it. She probably shouldn’t say anything more. “Maybe we should talk about something else.”
“And you think I’m stubborn.”
Well, yeah, and that was evidenced by the fact that he wasn’t letting this go.
“And bossy.”
“But I’m sure you’re a nice guy too,” she said.
There was a beat of silence, and then Grady made another strange noise.
“Nice?” Steele asked in a strangled voice.
“Uh-huh. I mean, you can be nice sometimes. You bought me these awesome slippers.”
“You didn’t want the slippers,” Grady pointed out.
“Well, it’s not that I didn’t want them,” she prevaricated. “I just don’t think I should wear slippers into a restaurant.”
“When else has he been nice?” Grady asked.
“Uh, well, um . . .” Shoot. “He held me while I was vomiting. That was nice.”
“Was it?” Grady said.
“Sure. And he made sure that my feet didn’t touch the ground.”
“Yes, he is most definitely a nice guy,” Grady said.
“Shut up, Grady. And I’m not a nice guy. Call me that again, and you’re fired, got me?” Steele said grumpily.
“Seriously?” she whispered.
“Not seriously.” Grady frowned at Steele. “He’s joking.”
“I never joke.”
No more calling him nice. Got it.
11
“You okay?”
Steele glanced over at Grady. “She called me nice.”
Grady’s lips twitched and Steele sat back with a sigh. Effie had just headed off to the restroom. Thankfully, they had a private bathroom attached to this room.
That was because he owned this restaurant and no one used this room but him. Which was also why they could come in through the back entrance. Steele could count on one hand the amount of people he liked and wanted to spend time with.
Yet here he was at dinner with Effie. Voluntarily.
She intrigued him. Stirred him. Very little interested him anymore. The only people he truly cared about were Grady, Quillon, and Millie.
“Hmm, she did.”
“Nice. Me? Is she blind?”
Grady stared thoughtfully over at him. “Not blind. But I think she likes to see the good in people.”
“Naive.”
“Perhaps.”
That wasn’t good. Especially if she was going to work for them. It meant he’d have to make sure she was protected.
“She could get walked all over.”
Grady nodded. “That’s the feeling I get too.”
“Don’t like where she’s living.” And that worried him as well. Because he had no idea where any of his other employees lived.
Didn’t give a shit about their neighborhoods.
Maybe that made him a terrible person . . . but he already knew that. He wasn’t destined to end up in the clouds with the angels, and he was okay with that.
That was the life he’d chosen to live.
So why did he care about where she lived? Why did he care that she didn’t own any gloves? That her shoes were too small and hurting her feet? That she got motion sickness when she sat backward in a car?
This was confusing as hell.
It’s because you want to fuck her.
Probably . . . except he’d never cared this much about anyone he’d wanted to fuck either.
So yeah, he was confused.
“Neither do I,” Grady said. “But it’s not our business where she lives.”
To anyone else, Grady might sound callous. But Steele understood where he was coming from.
He was trying to remind Steele that she wasn’t theirs. And that she would never be theirs.
Because they didn’t do relationships. Steele, because he didn’t want to ever risk losing someone the way he’d lost Jacqui. And Grady because . . . well, Steele wasn’t completely sure why Grady had never found anyone.
“She’s not our problem,” he muttered. “Beyond being an employee.” That gave him some rights to dictate to her. But not much. Then again, Steele wasn’t a typical employer.