Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 100441 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100441 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“That’s okay. I have a trick.”
“What’s the trick?” I ask.
“I can’t give away all my secrets.”
“PB and J!” Kaylee yells. “No vegetables.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t torture you with veggies,” Lyric promises, but he winks at me.
My stomach flips.
At a fucking wink.
I definitely made a mistake in hiring him, but do I regret it? Not one bit.
I force myself to go back to work after lunch because I get the feeling Lyric thinks I’m checking up on him. Which, okay, technically I was, but that’s not the point. I wanted to be out there for more reasons than just my daughter’s safety, and that’s not okay.
I knew hiring him was a risk because of how drawn to him I was the day we met, but I thought it would be easy to compartmentalize. Clearly, I’m a dumbass.
When I finally manage to put it out of my mind, I get lost in what I need to do and then lose track of time.
It’s not until Lyric knocks on my office door and I blink out of my stupor that I realize it’s dark outside the single window in this part of the house.
“Shit, what time is it?”
“Seven thirty. Kaylee just went down.”
“Sorry I kept you. You should’ve come to find me at five.”
He shrugs. “Overtime, right? And I didn’t want to disrupt whatever you were doing in here.”
“Thank you, and yes, you’ll be paid for your time. I’ll set an alarm or something so I don’t go over tomorrow. I’ve been working on this album for Cash Me Outside, and—”
Lyric’s mouth drops open. “Cash Me Outside? As in Cash Kingsley was here? In this room?” He glances around as if saying his name could summon Cash.
His excitement is cute. “Fan?”
“A little … Okay, a lot.”
“You want to hear it?”
“Fu—dge yes.” He throws himself in the seat next to mine.
“Kaylee’s asleep. You’re allowed to say fuck.”
“I’m trying to break the habit. Not just for Kaylee but for Chase.”
“I should probably try that. The other day, Kaylee threw her shirt across the room and said, ‘It fucking itches.’ I mean, it was kind of adorable, and part of me was proud she got the right context, but you know, it’s not so great for school.”
“We could start a swear jar.”
“I would go broke,” I mutter.
“You could probably pay my wage right into the jar.” Lyric smiles, and that’s dangerous. Because he’s so goddamn gorgeous it’s not even funny. Or fair.
And now I’m staring.
Shit. Stop staring.
“Okay, the song.” I unplug my headphones so it will play through the speakers.
“Am I allowed?”
“Are you going to record it on your phone and leak it before it’s out?”
“Fuck no.”
“Dollar in the jar.”
“Fuck.”
I laugh. “We’ll start tomorrow. Tell me what you think of this.” I hit Play.
The song I’ve listened to countless times fills the room, and instead of analyzing the sound and the quality and listening to it as a product, I watch as Lyric gets into the song the way a fan would.
I see the moment he falls in love. His lips curve upward, and his eyes are full of awe. His gaze flicks over to mine, and even though I’ve been caught staring, I don’t avert my gaze.
I can’t.
The music speaks to him in a way it’s not resonating with me, and I need to search his face to figure out if it’s just me being overbearing and controlling over my work or if he’s placating me to be nice.
He clears his throat. “It’s … good.”
“Good? That’s it?” I run my hand through my hair. “Cash is so gonna fire me.”
“No, no, it’s amazing. It’s his best song. Like, shit, I’m jealous over here. I couldn’t think of a word that would do it justice.”
“So you settled for good? Maybe when we save up enough money in the swear jar, we can buy you a thesaurus.”
Lyric’s phone pings the telltale sound of a Grindr notification, and he stiffens. Not that I’ve ever used Grindr. Okay, I did for a while, but I could never go through with anything other than some messaging back and forth.
“Hot date?” I ask.
“Uh, I, umm, it’s probably Brenna, my sister-in-law. I texted her to see if she could come pick me up since I stayed late.”
That could be the truth. Maybe he set all his alerts to sound like the default Grindr tone, but I get the feeling he’s lying.
I don’t know what I hate more: the lying or that he’s active on a hookup app. Not that he’s not allowed to be, but … no. Just … no.
“You really should have come and disrupted me. I promise I don’t mind.”
“I will tomorrow, then. Are you sure it’s okay for me to bring Chase back here after he finishes school?”
I wave him off. “It’ll give Kaylee someone to play with.”
“Speaking of which, I have a list of playgroups I can take her to if you want to have a look.” Lyric hands his phone over which is open to a website.