Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 143779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
She sighed, a sound of pure longing. “It’s amazing.”
Cara’s gaze went to the balcony, her nose wrinkling. “Really? He seems like a nice guy, but a little on the nerdy side. Don’t get me wrong, he’s adorable. But I’m surprised you’re with him instead of Kyle. I guess I like them hot and broody.”
“Hutch is totally hot. Trust me. If you’d ever had that man’s mouth on you, you would know how sexy he is.” Undercover sexy. He made her dinner and treated her like a princess and then spread her legs and fucked her like his favorite sex toy. He talked science and computers and board games and ordered her to ride his cock until she couldn’t take it anymore and she called out his name while she came.
Was she making a terrible mistake? Should she throw out the whole training class thing and give him what he wanted? She got the feeling if she was willing to give up the class, he would give a relationship a try.
Cara smiled. “Okay. I’ve known the type. Is he better than he was in high school?”
Noelle shook her head. “We didn’t have sex then.”
“Ah, this is a one-that-got-away situation. That can be intense,” Cara conceded. “But why the quick move in? You seem so careful. I’m sorry I came on strong, but I’m worried about you.”
“Worried?”
“You have a lot of pressure on you right now. I mean between that fire at the lab and your research, you’ve got a lot on your plate,” Cara pointed out. “They haven’t figured out what happened in Madison’s lab, right?”
She’d talked to Cara a lot about her situation at work. “It was reported as an accident. That’s how the authorities are treating it.”
“Yes. I find it interesting that they filed the paperwork and closed the investigation so quickly.”
“How would you know that?”
Cara shrugged. “Noelle, I’m a reporter and your friend. I know you’ve been worried about how Madison died. It’s so typically Noelle that you would worry about a person who was terrible to you.”
“Jessica told me Madison was careless.”
“From what you’ve told me, she was working with some highly unstable materials,” Cara pointed out.
“She was, but she knew how to work with them.” It was what didn’t make sense. All the rumors she was hearing lacked logic for her. “Madison was mean, but she was smart. She wasn’t a careless person. Discipline was a big thing with her. She had a schedule and she kept it to the point of dropping out in the middle of a meeting because she went to the gym every single day. She never missed a workout or was late to a meeting. She ran her lab like a well-oiled machine. Probably better than I do because I let my techs manipulate me with sob stories I know can’t be true. Billy can’t have had the same cat die four times.”
Cara gave her a smile. “You’ve got a soft heart.”
“Madison didn’t, but if there was one thing she deeply believed in it was her own self-preservation. She wouldn’t do anything that would cause her to gain a couple of pounds, much less do an experiment alone in a lab that normally requires at least two extra sets of hands.” She’d gone over all of this with Hutch, who’d had her write down the questions she had about the accident. He’d told her not only would it help him but that it might calm her mind to actually write them down. It had. She’d spent time writing up her questions and her thoughts about Madison. Madison had been a careful woman, organized to the point that her lists had a list. “I also find it odd that she was there so late at night.”
“And that she managed to turn the security cameras off around her lab.” Cara crossed one leg over the other, a thoughtful expression on her face. “That’s what the reports said. She used her own passcodes to override the system.”
Suspicion sprang up in Noelle’s head. “How do you know all of this?”
“Like I said, I’m a reporter,” Cara replied. “And this is an interesting story. Also, I’m worried that you’re getting pulled into it. Look, I know we haven’t been close for long, but I really like you, Noelle. Something is off about this whole thing. You have to understand that the authorities closed the investigation in a week. That should have taken months.”
Noelle could think of a couple of reasons why they’d rushed a report. “Jessica’s got pull. She told me today that she’s worried about how a long investigation might upset investors.”
“Did she tell you if she bribed them? The police? OSHA?”
“Whoa, she didn’t say anything of the kind.” She’d told all of this to Hutch and Kyle. “She told me she was happy they’d cleared it up quickly. I guess it was plain that it was an accident.”