Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 94546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
His comment stabs my heart with pain, but I play it cool. “How many years after Marissa’s dad’s passing did you join the family?” Marissa is gorgeous and has aged well, but it is clear there is a decent age gap between her and Jack. She also mothers him too much to act as if they are siblings close in age.
“Seven years later. Supposedly, I was such a handful, I wouldn’t have made it to a toddler if it weren’t for Marissa. She watched me while Mom worked nightshift, then became a parent herself only a couple of years later.”
Loving his openness, I ask, “Only the one niece? Or do you have an arsenal of kids you’re waiting to spring on me until it’s too late, and I’m already snowed under?” I curse myself to hell when the statement smacks into me. I pretty much just insinuated that I’m falling for him.
Noticing I look set to flee, Jack curls his hand around mine to hold me in place before he replies, “Only the one with my blood for now, although I have a handful of children I class as nieces and nephews even without them sharing my DNA. They don’t have anyone else, so I stepped up to the plate for them.”
The pride in his voice inches my lips higher, but regretfully, it doesn’t keep him talking. We spend the rest of the trip in silence, his lips only moving again to thank Merrick for the umbrella he offers us when clouds form on the horizon.
The weather has taken a brisk turn—just like our conversation.
It could be that we’re approaching headquarters, but it seems like more than that. Something Jack confessed has stirred up bad memories, but since I don’t know exactly which part, I’m unsure how to smother it.
We hold hands while leaving the port, down the bustling side street, and along the sidewalk of headquarters, only releasing them when we reach the turnstile entry door at the front. Although Jack’s hand hovers above the small of my back as he guides us to the elevators, it doesn’t seem as intimate as handholding. I’ve watched him guide female employees out of his office this way, so if it were seen as sexual, I’d be fuming mad twenty-four hours a day.
We’re joined in the elevator by over a dozen people. Most get off before we reach the top floor, but Roach and Elaine exit with us, which means we part ways with only the slightest dip of our chins in farewell.
It is such a letdown after an awesome sixteen hours.
Some of the unease gurgling in my gut is pushed away for excitement when my eyes take in the grandeur of our new office space. Jack’s team worked a miracle, and what was once a shabby top floor filled with bulky furniture and outdated cubicles is now a million-dollar office space with even more pricy views.
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
I stray my eyes to Elaine before nodding. “I can’t believe they put this together so quickly.”
She smiles. “Jack hates wasting time.” Her grin softens to a shy smirk. “I thought you’d know that better than anyone.”
I’m torn between rolling my eyes and sighing. Jack’s mixed signals are exhausting, and I only had a few hours of sleep last night, so instead of contemplating what the hell happened on the ferry, I ask Elaine, “What’s on the agenda for today?”
Now she looks as worrisome as me as she shadows me into my office, where the desk is full to the brim with employee contracts.
After dumping my coat on the rack by the door, I groan before getting down to business.
CHAPTER 20
OCTAVIA
Several hours later, I can no longer ignore the protests of my bladder as I have the pleading begs of my heart. If I don’t use the facilities soon, the coffees Jess arrived with this morning are going to make a mess of my new leather chair.
Elaine’s head pops up when I mutter, “I’ll be back in a tick. Nature calls.”
She smiles before continuing to sign a stack of paperwork. Her focus only returns to me when I head for the staff bathrooms in the corridor. “Where are you going?”
“To the bathroom.” My tone is as pointed as my brow.
I thought everyone knew what ‘nature calls’ means.
She shakes her head as if she thinks my daftness is cute before asking, “Why use the staff facilities when you have your own bathroom?”
“I have my own bathroom?” I don’t know whose high-pitched girly voice that was, but I’m reasonably sure it wasn’t mine. When Elaine nods, the same nasally squeal screams, “Where?”
The office is decked out with gorgeous wood paneling, molding, and cornicing, but the only door is the one I’m about to race through before my bladder bursts.
My bladder’s squeals are pushed aside for curiosity when Elaine presses a button under my desk, and one of the wooden panels pops out from the wall to expose a pristine bathroom fitted with black and gold accessories.