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)
Fuck. She was beautiful.
Even though he and Steele had had a conversation a week and a half ago about moving things forward with her, they hadn’t had much time to actually do anything.
Well, Steele seemed to find time each day to stop by and eat some of her baked goods. And Grady knew that she’d baked him an entire cake of his own. He knew that because Steele had guarded that thing like it held the crown jewels and hadn’t even shared one piece.
Greedy bastard.
However, they hadn’t figured out how to move forward with showing her that they wanted more than a boss-employee relationship with her. Then he caught sight of her eyes. Her pupils were enlarged.
“Has she been drinking?” he asked, looking over at Nate. “What is she even doing here?”
She should have gone home hours ago. Shit. Why hadn’t he checked in with Raul that she’d gotten home? He’d been running around doing shit all night at some of Steele’s other businesses and had barely had a minute to spare.
Steele was talking to his lieutenants about some stuff that had been going on around the city lately. In particular, he wanted to warn them that Wolfe and a few of the Rykers were still around and to watch out.
So he hadn’t checked to make sure she’d gotten home safe.
A mistake.
“She’s been filling in,” Nate told him. “Vanessa didn’t turn up.”
Grady frowned. “Lucy, call her. Tell her she’s fired.”
“All right, Mr. Grady. But what do we do about Effie? She’s been acting strange for the last half hour.”
“Hey, Grady? Tell you a seecit,” Effie whispered loudly.
A seecit?
She gestured to him and he leaned down. Did she mean a secret?
“Lucy isn’t such a bitch,” she told him.
He was fairly certain that she’d meant to whisper it. Unfortunately, she’d ended up yelling it.
“I think she’s delusional,” Nate said dryly.
“Shut up, Nate,” Lucy snarled.
“She’s been filling in for Vanessa? You mean she was serving drinks?” Grady asked.
“Yeah, I tried to send her home,” Nate told him. “But she reckoned it was her job to fill in for Vanessa.”
Fucking bullshit. And he’d need to ensure that she got over that sort of thinking quick. There was no way she should be on her feet serving after having worked a full day. And he’d be telling her that as soon as she was in her right mind.
Grady wrapped his arm around her waist as she swayed.
“Will you dance with me?” she asked.
He tightened his hold on her, worried she might fall.
“No dancing.”
She pouted. “Meanie.”
“Has she been drinking?” he asked Nate.
“I poured her a water. But Lucy got her an orange juice.” Nate frowned. “What’s this?” He picked up an empty glass.
“I made her a Virgin Pina Colada,” Lucy defended. “And it was just an orange juice. She kept saying she was thirsty. Do you think she’s taken something?”
Grady narrowed his gaze at Lucy. He didn’t trust her as far as he could throw her. Then he turned back to his girl.
“Effie? Can you look at me?” he asked.
“Aren’t all the lights pretty? And the dancers? I love to dance. Will you dance with me, Grady?”
“Effie. Look at me.”
She gaped up at him. Then her lower lip trembled again. “Are yous mad at me?”
Fuck. He had to get her out of there. It was like her defenses were blown and her Little was coming out. Something he was certain she wouldn’t want everyone in Pinkies to know about.
“No, Twinkletoes, I’m not,” he whispered to her. “But I do need you to stay with me. Okay? I’m going to get you somewhere safe.”
“Safe?” Her head moved back and forth and she clung tighter to him.
Fuck if that didn’t make him feel a hundred feet tall. Women were always drawn toward Steele, not him. They didn’t search him out for protection. Or to look after them.
So yeah, he was going to ride the high of her turning to him for protection for a while.
“Are we not safe? Are there boogie men around?” she asked,.
“Boogie men?”
“Bad mens. Come to get you. Never fear, I will protect you. Brooks used to get scared of the dark. And of people hiding under his bed and stuff. So I hads to check under the bed and in the closet. And behind the curtains. That’s a good hiding place for those boogie men.”
Did she mean the bogeyman?
“That was scary,” she told him. “I didn’t like having to search for them. I had to be brave for Brooks, though.”
Poor baby. He couldn’t imagine how hard it was trying to raise Brooks by herself. And having to do things that she was scared of but pretending she wasn’t.
“Who would be scared of checking a closet?” Lucy scoffed. “Obviously, she’s taken something. Maybe you should search her bag.”
The way she said that struck him as wrong.