Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
“As it happens, I agree with you.” O’Donnell turned back to Guidry. “Where is Steph? She isn’t in the office, that I can see.”
“I told her to wait in there,” Guidry explained. “She was talking to Sadie when Shane, Riley, and I hit the showers. She can’t have gone far. Maybe she walked back upstairs for a minute.”
“She got in a lift with the pretty receptionist chick.” Tucker walked in, glancing around at the new surroundings. “Hey, we’ve got something like this back in London.”
“She got in a lift?” Then they were likely right and he needed to go back upstairs. When he got hold of her, he would tie her to a bloody chair and then she couldn’t lead him on a merry chase. “I’ll try to catch her upstairs. You wait down here. Ping my mobile if you see her first.”
He started to turn to go.
Tucker shook his head. “I don’t think she was heading up to the other floor. I was kind of wandering around because the cute receptionist actually has quite the bad attitude. I was surprised by that. I read somewhere that women who get employed in her position are generally hired for their welcoming natures. Not so with Sadie. She told me she would find a new home for her letter opener if I didn’t stop touching her. I don’t think she meant a new desk. I got the feeling she intended to use the letter opener for something painful.”
Which proved that the bloke still had good instincts.
O’Donnell’s shoulders squared. “You touched her?”
This was why he hadn’t wanted to bring one of the lads with him. They weren’t good in the real world yet, but they never would be if they didn’t get out. He got that. It was up to him to protect the poor bastard until he understood enough of the world to get by on his own.
Brody stepped between O’Donnell and Tucker, trying to ward off what would likely be Tucker getting his arse handed to him. “Tucker, tell the nice Irishman why you were touching her and where.”
Tucker was smart enough to stay behind him, but Brody could hear the confusion in the younger man’s voice as he began to speak. “I was trying to hold her hand. I read in a book that the way to let a woman know you are truly listening to her is to hold her hand and look her in the eyes when you speak to her.”
“Back off, O’Donnell,” Brody warned. “He wasn’t trying anything perverted. He simply doesn’t understand how to behave. Every single thing the kid knows of the world he learned from a bloody book. He’s basically a toddler.”
O’Donnell seemed to deflate slightly. He looked at Tucker and there was something almost fatherly about him this time. “That kind of advice is for when you’re dating a woman, not one you’ve recently met. It was unnerving for Sadie to have you suddenly holding her hand. Intimacy takes time. And stop reading books like that. You have questions, ask the other members of your team.”
“The other members of my team don’t know anything either,” Tucker replied. “Though Sasha did tell me something about women who will sleep with you for money. I don’t have any money. Could I borrow some money? It might be simpler that way. I don’t seem to be good at attracting a woman myself.”
O’Donnell’s jaw dropped. “Is he serious? And you’ve got five of them?”
“Six, actually, though Robert hides it better than the rest of them. I think it’s because he spent so much time with Theo Taggart.” Or because, unlike the rest of them who were just horny bastards, Robert had a focus for his longing. He turned back to Tucker. “Let’s hold off on the prostitutes for a bit. Where did Steph go?”
“Well, if she was the chick with the letter-opening-loving receptionist who broke my heart, then she went downstairs. I overheard them talking about coffee,” Tucker explained. “Actually, I could use some. And all the talk about lemon bars made me hungry. Also, the danger made me hungry.”
He nearly groaned. The bloke didn’t understand danger yet.
“Sadie was doing a coffee run,” Guidry explained. “We’re out and being out of caffeine is a serious issue around here. It’s okay though. The coffee cart is inside the building. They’ll be back up here any minute. The building is perfectly safe. We train the guards. Hell, I’ll call down there right now and let the guard on duty know to keep eyes on her. He’ll let me know when she’s coming back up, if she’s not already.”
He strode back into the locker room. Hopefully he’d put on some damn pants.
Brody turned back to O’Donnell. “I thought you were taking care of her. I didn’t think you would let her run around wild. And where is that boyfriend of hers?”