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)
“Effie, what are you thinking about right now?”
“That squished boobs are no fun.” She paused, horrified at what she’d just said. “Um. Ah. I . . . shit. I just said boobs in front of my boss.”
“Sweetheart.”
“And porn. I talked about watching porn in front of my boss!” she wailed.
“You watch porn?” The question came from the doorway.
She closed her eyes. She knew whose voice that was. But she couldn’t look over at him.
“Effie? You okay?” Grady asked, sounding concerned.
“No.”
“Is that why your eyes are closed?” Steele asked.
“I’m trying to pretend that neither of you are here. And if I can’t see you, then you can’t be here. Right?”
“Um, not sure that’s the way it works, sweetheart,” Grady told her gently.
“Is she embarrassed about watching porn?” Steele asked in that deep, loud voice of his.
Why had she never noticed how loud it was until just then?
Probably because he’s never talked about you watching porn until just now.
This was really not awesome.
Find the happy.
There’s got to be something good about this. Right?
Just smile. Everyone will like you better if you smile.
Sure, Nan. She’d get right on to that. After she stopped dying of embarrassment.
Why had she come into work early this morning?
“She’s not embarrassed about watching porn,” Grady started to say.
Nope.
Enough.
She opened her eyes to glare at them both.
There was no happy in any of this. Just pure embarrassment.
“Will you both stop talking about porn? I do not watch porn. I do not like porn. And I do not want to talk about porn anymore.”
They both gaped at her.
Then Steele smiled. Usually, she liked his smile. It was a gorgeous smile. He was a handsome guy and he was even more attractive when he smiled.
But right then . . . nope, she didn’t like it.
“Just suggesting, Spitfire, that if you don’t want to talk about porn, you should probably stop saying the word porn.”
“Urgh!” She needed to hide. That’s what she was going to do. Hide until they were gone. Closing her eyes hadn’t worked. So hiding would have to.
Only where to hide? She glanced around. There was just one place that she could get to that would work.
She pushed her chair back and stood.
“Uh, Effie? Are you all right?” Grady asked.
She crawled under the desk.
“What is she doing?” Steele asked.
“I think she’s getting under the desk.”
“Did she drop something?”
“Uh, no. She appears to be sitting under it.” Grady peered down at her, so she buried her face in her knees. “And hiding.”
“Hiding? Who’s she hiding from?” Steele asked in that gruff voice of his.
“My thought would be us. Since we’re the only people in here.”
“Why would she need to hide from us?” Steele asked in an incredulous voice.
“I’m guessing she’s embarrassed about the porn talk.”
God. Would they just stop talking?
“That’s ridiculous.”
It was not ridiculous! It was not silly to be embarrassed and hide.
Of course it’s silly. You’re being an idiot and embarrassing yourself more. You’re hiding under your desk.
While your bosses are in the room.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Effie, don’t let people know you’re different.
They won’t like you if you don’t smile and pretend everything is all right.
She clasped her hands over her ears as though that would actually keep Nan’s voice out of her head.
Crap. Thirty-five years old and she was still hearing her Nan give her life lessons.
Life lessons that she really didn’t want or need.
Deep breath in. Let it out slowly.
“Effie? Effie, if you don’t answer me soon, then I’m pulling you out of there,” Grady said.
Get it together.
Another breath in, then she squealed as she felt the desk move. She glanced up to see that Grady had one end and Steele had the other.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “Be careful with the computer.”
“Fuck the computer,” Steele said gruffly. “Are you all right?”
Damn.
Those words shouldn’t make her want to cry. They shouldn’t reach around her heart and pump it full of warmth.
But they did . . . because when was the last time anyone had asked her that? Well, other than when she actually hurt herself physically that was.
“Do you think it’s possible to die of embarrassment?” she whispered.
Nan was right.
She simply wasn’t normal.
“No,” Grady said bluntly. Which was typical for Grady. He wasn’t a guy who sugar-coated things. Mostly, she appreciated that. Sometimes, like right now, she wished he’d make stuff up to make her feel better. “And you have no reason to be embarrassed.”
“I talked about porn. And I hid under my desk. From my bosses.”
“Up you come,” Steele told her before reaching down and actually picking her up.
Wow. He was strong.
He set her down on her feet in front of him.
Right in front of him.
She went to step back only to feel Grady move in behind her, so she was sandwiched between them.
Something a woman could only dream of. And something she had on good authority that every woman who worked at Pinkies had likely dreamed of.