Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“There is one that is five minutes away, why?” she asks, and I smile at her.
“I’m going to put my touch on it,” I inform her. “I’ll be back.” I rush toward her office to grab my purse and quickly slip out. My feet pinch as I run toward my car, getting in, and pulling up the closest supermarket. My phone says it’s four minutes. I pull out and make it there in under three. Rushing in, I snag a cart, stop in two aisles, grabbing what I need before rushing back out.
It takes me a total of fourteen minutes to go and then come back. I arrive at the same time as the caterer does. I rush to the conference room and set up everything in the middle of the table. Since everyone can grab their things, I put the water bottles, soda, and juice boxes all together. The platter of bagels and sandwiches sits in the middle, and next to that, I put animal crackers. I’m almost finished when Nash comes walking in. “You didn’t quit?” he asks with a smile.
I smile back at him. “I see you took all the charm,” I tell him, and he throws his head back and laughs as a couple of other men come into the conference room.
“This is going to be so much fun,” Nash gloats, clapping his hands and then rubbing them together.
“You must be Grace,” the man with salt-and-pepper hair says, coming to me and holding out his hand. “I’m Vinny.”
“So very nice to meet you,” I tell him as the man next to him with black hair smiles at me.
“I’m Jaret,” he introduces, nodding his head at me as he walks around the table.
“Are we done?” Caine walks in, holding folders in his hand as he looks at me and then the table.
“Oh, cool,” Nash says, picking up one of the juice boxes, “grape juice.” I roll my lips at the same time Caine glares at me. “Oh, and animal crackers.”
“I haven’t had these since the kids stopped bringing lunches to school,” Vinny remarks, grabbing his own pack.
“Oh, apple raspberry,” Jaret says, picking up one of the juice boxes. “Oh, and it’s cold.”
“Do you need me to take notes or anything?” I ask Caine, trying not to show him how happy I am my juice boxes and animal crackers are a hit.
“No,” he hisses, “that will be all.”
I nod at him before walking out and only when I close the door behind me do I snicker a bit. “Take that, jackass.”
four
Caine
I watch her walk out of the conference room, and two things happen. One, I ball my free hand that isn’t holding the folder, into fists, and two, my cock stirs in my pants, making me clench my fist even harder. I swear her hips swing even more and I think her ass winks at me.
“This is refreshing,” Jaret states as he takes a sip of the juice box. Fucking juice boxes just to spite me. I glance around the room at the guys each looking at the juice boxes like they’ve never seen them before in their lives.
“Can we start this meeting?” I toss the manila folders I have in my hand on the table. I pull out the black chair before I take off my blue suit jacket, putting it over the chair before sitting down.
“Do you want a juice box,” Nash asks me as he rolls his lips to try not to laugh, “or some fun animal crackers?” All I can do is glare at him. Of course, my luck would be that he was here to witness this altercation. I’m usually a cool, calm, and collected kind of guy, my face is poker ready, but my brother can see through all of that. “Your new assistant looks like fun,” Nash pokes the bear.
The collar around my neck feels like it’s getting tighter, even though the top two buttons are open. “Don’t you have to catch a flight or something?” I ask him. “Maybe run your own meeting?”
He leans back in his chair and folds his arms over his chest. “I can’t express to you how happy I am that I am here today.”
Glaring at him, I start, “Let’s get the meeting going.” I ignore all the eyes on me, opening the folder. “We have a very busy month,” I start, looking down at my notes. “We have two big accounts we are trying to land, and you all know it’ll be the twenty-fifth anniversary of Cottrell Group, so my parents think it’s a great idea to hold a gala.” I look around the table, and the men all wear the same expression. “I see this news thrills everyone.” I chuckle. “But the good news is that since it’s my parents, I’ll take the lead on this.” I swear I hear a collective sigh fill the room. “Although I was assuming I wouldn’t have to handle the gala, I think this will be a huge undertaking.” My head starts to go around and around as I think of the shit I’m going to have to do now.