Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 158829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 794(@200wpm)___ 635(@250wpm)___ 529(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 158829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 794(@200wpm)___ 635(@250wpm)___ 529(@300wpm)
I need to pull it out of her, whatever it is.
She hinted at some family pressure back in Hawaii, too. Wasn’t that her reason for not being able to travel more?
“Tell me, Miss Renee. I can’t help you if I don’t know.”
She shakes her head like it’s solid stone. “I have to help someone. It isn’t your problem.”
“Sunshine—”
Shit.
I didn’t mean to say that out loud.
“I need you to come to Chicago this weekend and I will move whole mountain ranges to make it happen. You just need to untie your tongue and tell me how.”
Her cheeks redden as she looks away. “I’ll think about it...”
Then she walks to my door and puts her hand on the knob.
“You’ll be here for the meeting at eleven o’clock sharp, yes?” I ask.
She looks back at me and nods.
“And this weekend?”
“I’ll try. I’ll figure something out—”
“You could let me help.”
“No. I don’t want to go there. No offense. You’re already paying me pretty fairly, so it wouldn’t be right.” She sighs. “And you’re my boss.”
Why do I have a feeling the words not my boyfriend are hanging in the air? Hell, I’m not even interested in changing that.
I just need her at this work event, preferably without defiling her.
“I’m well aware. And I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply, but you can give it a rest.”
“Don’t,” she snaps. “Can we not go there?”
I fold my arms and shrug.
With a deflated glance, she disappears out the door.
If she won’t tell me, I’ll just find out myself.
A dozen ways to pick apart her life rattle in my head, all of them unprofessional and possibly illegal.
Goddamn, what does she mean when she keeps saying family, though?
If she’s hiding a husband or kids while she’s kissing me and giving me hell for lying to her months ago, I’m going to go nuclear.
But if her trouble is anything else, I’ll fix it, whether she damn well likes it or not.
Knock-knock!
“Come,” I call at the door.
It’s late when Fyo pushes into the office. “You wanted to see me?”
“Shut the door behind you and grab a seat.”
He does, falling into the seat across from me. He’s almost as bulky as I am, even if he’s over ten years older, and the chair sinks beneath his weight.
“You’ve been picking Miss Renee up and dropping her off?”
He nods. “On schedule. Occasionally, she has me stop to pick up Miss Landers.”
“So, she’s enjoying this.” I roll my eyes and scoff.
He shrugs.
“I get the feeling this is a novelty for her, sir. She wasn’t enjoying it at first, and she thought it was weird you wanted her to have an escort after dark.”
I shake my head.
“I would have done it for any woman. You know that.”
Fyo nods heavily.
What kind of fuckass does she think I am?
“Tell me this, have you ever noticed a man or kids at her house?” I ask carefully.
His big, broad shoulders shake as he bursts into rolling laughter.
“Fyo, that’s not a joke,” I growl. “What’s so damn funny?”
“Boss, please understand, you’re asking the wrong man.”
He’s not wrong. I should have asked her point-blank.
I twist in my seat, thinking about it quietly.
“No,” he says a minute later.
I’m so lost in my head I have no idea what he’s talking about. I raise an eyebrow.
He smiles coldly. “I’ve never seen a man or kids at the house. There is another girl, but she’s too young to interest you.”
“That’s not the point.” I wrinkle my nose and steeple my fingers. “Miss Renee keeps telling me she can’t do this or that when I ask. All because she has some mysterious crisis but refuses to elaborate on what it is. I want to help her, but I have no idea how when I’m effectively blind.”
“She’s important to you,” he says thoughtfully.
I sigh. No use in hiding it. “She’s the best marketing mind in this building. I can’t afford to have her distracted.”
He smiles again. “You know I started business not long after I came to your country, yes?”
“I remember you mentioning it.”
Where’s he going with this?
“I had this amazing employee. She could fix any glitch in my dispatch system in a matter of minutes and always gave great customer service. Then some dickhead from a bigger limo company tried poaching her. I thought this suka—this bitch in his three-piece suit—was going to succeed one day. I knew I couldn’t lose her.”
“And? What did you do?”
“Followed him out of the building one night with a broken bottle and made sure he knew he wasn’t welcome. That if I ever saw his ugly face again, I’d take him apart limb by limb—”
“That’s hardcore.”
Blunt, but effective. Though I still see his point.
Fyo nods. “Then I went back inside and told that woman I would die without her. And if she didn’t marry me this instant, my death would be on her hands.”