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)
“Out.”
She attempted to climb out, accidentally stepping on his foot as she moved. But he didn’t step back, so she decided not to say sorry.
When he took her hand and marched her into the building, she started to rethink that no apologizing stance.
Maybe if she got in quick, she could dissipate some of his anger. It wasn’t that he looked mad. No, he looked like Grady. Just a more intense, somewhat scarier Grady. He didn’t yell. Didn’t hold on to her harshly.
But he definitely had a hold of her. They headed to their office, where he shut the door behind them.
Only for Steele to open it and walk in. “Forget about me?”
Grady locked the door.
And then he started pacing. This felt alarming. Effie didn’t think Grady was a pacer. He always kept his energy locked down, unlike Steele whose energy could fill a room.
Steele was the bull. You could see him coming, but you would be hard-pressed to get out of his way. Pure fire and fury.
But Grady . . . he was the dark shadow. The hidden assassin. You would never see him coming. Not until it was too late.
So this pacing confused the heck out of her.
She thought Steele might be interested in her . . . but wasn’t going to do anything about it because she worked for him.
Grady . . . well, she didn’t think he was interested in her like that.
“Um, are you all right?” she asked.
“Is your phone broken?” he asked.
“Ugh, no.”
He turned to Steele. “Yours?”
Steele just shrugged. What the heck? Didn’t he see that Grady was upset?
Maybe she should apologize. Surely, that would help.
“I’m sorry!”
He turned back to her. Drat. Actually, the smart move would probably have been to let Steele handle Grady.
“Are you? And what are you sorry about, sweetheart?”
Yikes.
She loved being called sweetheart. But she wasn’t sure she liked it while he was staring at her as though he was hungry and she was the prey.
“Um, well, I . . . I should have told you I was leaving!”
He stalked toward her. Oh, this wasn’t good. She stepped back, but he kept moving forward.
Not good at all.
19
Effie glanced at Steele, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. She shot him a desperate look.
He winked at her.
No help at all. Awesome.
“Should you have?” Grady asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Um.” By now, she was against the desk and she slid along it, thinking it might be prudent to put the desk between her and Grady.
But he just followed her around. She moved to the other side, keeping it between them.
“Because you’re my boss!” Whew. She congratulated herself for remembering that.
“Am I?”
“Yes. Unless . . . am I fired?” Her heart raced, fear filling her. This was the best job she’d ever had. She never thought she’d like doing this sort of work, but she did. And it paid really well. Plus, the people here were nice, for the most part. “Please don’t fire me.”
“Grady,” Steele said in a low voice.
She glanced over to see he was no longer smiling. Grady turned to him, pointing. “Quiet. You didn’t answer my calls either.”
Steele sighed. “Didn’t you know she was with me?”
“Only because Raul answers his fucking phone!” Grady didn’t yell, but his voice held a definite snap and Effie jumped in reaction.
“You’re scaring her,” Steele pointed out.
“I’m giving her a warning so that maybe next time she just up and leaves, she’ll remember to let me know.”
“I really am sorry,” she whispered.
But they didn’t seem to hear her. Instead, they were glaring at each other. She moved her head back and forth between them.
“You knew she was with me, so you knew she was safe.”
“But before I knew that, I had no idea where she was! Anyone could have taken her!” Grady snapped back.
Wait. What? Had he . . . had he been worried about her?
“Were you worried about me?”
Grady’s gaze snapped back to her. “Of course I was worried about you. You left. Without a word. And I had no idea if you were safe. And you expect me not to worry?”
“I wasn’t even sure you’d know I was gone,” she admitted.
“You’re going to wear a tracker,” he said bizarrely.
“Uh, what?”
“A tracker. You’re going to wear one.”
She glanced over at Steele to find him grinning like a madman again. Was he even listening to Grady?
“Steele,” she said in a low voice.
“Yeah?”
“I think something’s wrong with Grady.”
“Oh yeah, something is definitely wrong with Grady.”
“Then could you not say something to help?” she asked desperately.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Just something.”
“All right.” Steele nodded. “How do you want her to wear the tracker?”
She glared at Steele. “That’s not what I meant!”
“Isn’t it? Well, it’s what I want to know. I’ll get something created to hold the tracker. What are you thinking? A necklace?”
They were nuts. Completely and utterly nuts.