Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 100060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“We have forty minutes left,” I murmur, scrubbing my palm up Banks’s chest, my opposite hand tugging lightly on Gabe’s beard and making him moan. “I can’t think of any way to spend it, can you?”
“I can think of a few,” Gabe says on a gust of breath, his gaze zeroed in on my breasts.
Tobias appears to be doing mental math. “I can think of one hundred and six. Give or take.”
“Just tell us what you want,” Banks rasps against my ear.
“Oh, I will.”
I allow myself to accept a kiss from each of them, though it’s risky in the extreme. Afterward, I only want more. Still…
Garnering my will—and my indignation—I elbow Banks in the stomach, yank hard on Gabe’s beard and ram my knee into Tobias’s thigh, giving him a dead leg. “Did you think you were going to get away with locking me in an escape room? Against my will? To discuss my feelings? Uh-uh. No.” I turn and begin to pound on the door while the three of them attempt to recover behind me. “Don’t you ever do something like this again. Next time, I aim for the crotch.”
“She did something to my leg,” Tobias says, panicked. “I can’t move it. I think I’m paralyzed.”
“You got off lightly,” I inform him.
“At least she said there would be a next time,” Gabe mutters, rubbing his chin.
Finally, the receptionist opens the door, her attention traveling between the three of us. “You need a clue?” she asks with a yawn.
“Nope. They do,” I say, skirting past her.
Don’t ask me why I’m smiling as I storm out onto the sidewalk. It makes absolutely no sense at all. Maybe it’s because I stood up for myself. Maybe it’s because I feel lighter after unburdening myself to Tobias, Gabe and Banks. It could be that they just…make me happy, even when they’re behaving without any semblance of ethics. And I’m excited to see them again. I’m…relieved. Even a little hopeful. It’s been a while since I felt either of those things.
“Elise, wait up,” calls Banks from behind me.
I keep walking. “I don’t think so, evil mastermind.”
“I deserve your punishment. And believe me, there is no worse punishment than having you walk away like this, even if it’s not permanent.” He catches my elbow and slows me to a stop, slowly wrapping his arms around me. “Then again, I saw you smiling,” he growls into my hair.
My mouth continues to betray me, the corners edging higher. “State your business.”
He kisses the side of my neck and reluctantly steps back, his mood visibly shifting. Turning more serious. Briefly, he checks over his shoulder to make sure we’re separated from the group. “Look, I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, but…” He watches me closely, a vein ticking in his temple. “Elise. That day we showed up at the Times, you told us you’d followed the deputy mayor out to Roosevelt Island. That’s why you were there that night. We’ve all seen the story that broke this morning about the mayor’s leaked comments about the governor and…that’s reaching pretty damn high. I don’t know if that information came from the deputy mayor or what, but I know it’s unsafe for you to be involved. You’ve dropped the story, right?”
Remembering the meeting I witnessed last night and the subsequent, very damning picture I printed out this morning, it’s hard to keep my features schooled. I’m not sure I completely pull it off. “I can take care of myself, Banks. I know what I’m doing.”
“In other words, you haven’t dropped it,” he says, frown deepening. “Being at a party with your subjects last night proved a little too tempting?”
“I have dropped the story.” I hold up a frustrated hand. “I was there for Gabe last night—that’s all. If I’m involved at all at this point, it’s just getting the information safely into the managing editor’s hands.”
He nods for a full ten seconds. “Please, we need you safe, Elise.”
Instead of lecturing him on my free will, I find myself saying, “I know. I’m being safe.”
Because I don’t want these men to worry about me. It’s not about control. They genuinely care. They opened up to me the night we met. And again last night. I’ve just exposed myself completely in the escape room. We’re not just bed partners, we’re…friends. We’re confidantes. I don’t want to abuse the bond with them that is quickly beginning to feel like a privilege.
No one knows I’m in possession of the picture. I’m going to hold on to it until an opportune moment, then hand it safely over to Karina. I’m not risking my neck for a job I haven’t officially been given. For a story that I’ve been forbidden to cover at that. I’m going to find another way to land a reporter job, whether I actually take up Karina’s offer to write that human interest piece or…I actually bite the bullet and enroll in journalism school. I just haven’t decided which direction to take yet.