Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47223 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47223 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
He nods. “And as issues to overcome go, this is minor.”
I hear his subtext. Keeping our focus on something besides our sexy-as-fuck coworker will be the real problem.
“What do you think happened between Kate and her ex?” he asks.
“It’s none of our business. Drop it.”
“I won’t unless she asks me to, point-blank.” He shrugs. “I can’t.”
Shaking my head, I sigh. When Josh gets a notion into his head, there’s no dissuading him. “Goddamn it.”
“C’mon,” he coaxes. “What’s your best guess?”
As much as I’ve tried to avoid wondering, I’m admittedly curious. “Honestly? I have no idea.”
“She doesn’t seem like the type to cheat.”
“She’s not.” My gut tells me that.
“She’s clearly not a drinker.”
I shake my head. “That wasn’t the problem.”
Josh sighs as he starts to unpack his suitcase. “There’s nothing obvious.”
“Except the fact he hurt her.”
“Yes. That’s abundantly clear.”
And Josh sounds pissed. I am, too. I don’t know what happened or what role Kate played, but I wouldn’t mind meeting Derrick in a dark alley and giving him some payback for whatever pain he caused her.
I slip into the bathroom to put on a pair of shorts and brush my teeth. Hopefully, when I emerge again, Josh will find a new subject.
The second I reenter the room, he squashes that hope. “Unless she opens up to us, we can only speculate.”
“Seriously, dude. It’s not smart for us to get involved with her personally. We work together and this project is important.”
Josh rolls his eyes at me. “You can’t tell me that if she knocked on our door right now and either wanted to confide in you or fuck you that you wouldn’t be all over her.”
Damn him for being right. “I don’t see either of those things happening, so forget it.”
“Maybe she married too young? She’s midtwenties and already divorced, so maybe—”
Suddenly, there’s a knock on our door. I frown at Josh. He looks back at me with a shrug and heads across the room. I really hope it’s the hotel sucking up for their snafu by sending room service or some similar explanation.
Instead, Josh yanks the door open and steps back almost instantly, frowning. “Come in. What’s wrong?”
The concern in his voice tells me it’s Kate.
Fuck.
Seconds later, she scurries inside, wearing a too-short, soft gray cotton nightgown that hugs her curves. Sheer lace trims the V-neck and plays peekaboo with her cleavage—clearly not infringed by a bra. And holy shit, she’s wrapped her arms around her middle as if she’s trying to protect herself while clutching her purse in her fist. Does she have any idea she’s pushing up the swells of her tits?
Then I realize she’s afraid and shaking.
I swallow down my lust and cross the room to her. “What happened?”
She jerks toward me with a gasp. Then her stare wanders from my face to my bare chest and glues itself to my pecs before she whips her gaze away. “You’ll laugh.”
“We won’t,” Josh assures, dropping a solicitous hand to the small of her back. “Tell us.”
“When the rain started, roaches slithered out of every hole.” She winces and shudders. “I was in the shower, and one creeped up from the drain. I ran out and found them on the walls. One even crawled across my sheets.”
My mother’s fear of insects is real. Logically, it’s not a genuine threat, but it seems that way to her, so I understand what Kate is feeling. “Do you want me to kill them for you?”
She shakes her head. “I called the front desk. They sent maintenance up with a can of insect spray, but even he seemed shocked by the sheer number of them. He sprayed everywhere, and now the fumes… I can’t breathe in there.”
“I don’t want you to even try.” Josh leads her to the nearest chair and sits her down before sinking into the one beside her. “Neither does Marcus. You can stay here as long as you need, right?”
He sends me a pointed glare. I bite back a curse. Having her here when we’re all half-dressed is such a bad fucking idea. Still, she’s rattled, so what the hell can I say? “Right. Why don’t you give me your room key? I’ll go down there in a few minutes to see if the coast is clear.”
Maybe it will keep me from kissing her breathless, stripping her bare, and working my stiff cock as deep into her sweet little pussy as she can handle. But no promises.
“Y-you don’t have to. It’s not your problem, and I’m sorry to intrude. I didn’t know where else to go. When I saw those disgusting suckers everywhere, I just grabbed my purse and—” She looks down at herself, then bites her lip. “I should have changed, but I was freaked out the roaches might be in my suitcase, too. Then the fumes…”
I’m not only pissed off that the maintenance guy fumigated her room and expected her to breathe that air, but I hate that he saw her half exposed and vulnerable. No man should see her that way except Josh and me.