Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
I drop another kiss on her head, not responding. What am I supposed to say to that? She'll love Emma if I ever convince my girl to stop telling me no. And Emma will love her too. I just need to figure out how to get Emma on the page with me because right now, we're not even in the same book.
She's a frightened little lamb, trying like hell to avoid giving me a chance. I can't figure out why and it's driving me fucking nuts.
I wait until Ma is out the front doors before I drop into the chair behind the reception desk and pick up the phone again.
"Now we're alone, and I don't have to hide how fucking hard you make me," I growl to Emma.
"You can't say that to me on the phone!"
I grin at the shy outrage in her voice. "Baby girl, if you'd agree to be mine already, I wouldn't have to say it on the phone. You keep tellin' me no."
"Zayne, I can't date you," she hisses as if she's trying not to be overheard. Is Camila in the office with her?
I briefly consider behaving and then say to hell with it. "Why the fuck not?"
"We work together."
"We'd work even better together if you were mine."
"Zayne," she groans, making me smile. "Can you please stop talking?"
"Can you please agree to go out with me?"
"No."
"Then it looks like neither of us is gettin' what we want today, lamb."
"Oh my gosh." A thump comes down the line, and then, "Ouch. That hurt."
"Did you just bang your head on your desk?"
"Maybe."
"Don't do that. You'll hurt yourself. I'll behave." For the moment, I add silently.
"You will?" she asks hopefully.
"Yes. What can I help you with today, Emma?"
"We still haven't received the invoice for security for Adrian Kane's book signing." As it turns out, Zion was talking about Adrian the day Emma stopped by. He's Camila's adopted brother and one of her biggest clients.
"It's already been taken care of."
"What? How? We didn't pay it, Zayne. We don't have an invoice to pay it."
"Camila may want to talk to her brother," I suggest. "He sent a check."
"Of course he did," Emma mumbles. "Camila isn't going to be happy."
"She isn't going to be happy that he paid the bill?"
"He's messing up her system again."
"Ah." I chuckle.
"Can you send me a copy of the invoice, please?"
"On one condition."
"I'm not going out with you, Zayne."
"That wasn't my condition, Emma."
"Really?" She sounds surprised. "Oh. Then what is it?"
"You answer one question for me."
Surprise turns to suspicion in the blink of an eye. "What question?"
"Would you go out with me if we didn't work together?"
Her silence is all the answer I need. Even if our company didn't handle security for Camila's clients, she'd still be telling me no. Which is all the proof I need that whatever is holding her back has nothing to do with the fact that we work together.
She's afraid of something else. I just need to figure out what the fuck it is so I can eliminate the problem.
"One of these days, you're going to stop tellin' me no, Emma," I say quietly.
"Yes. The day you finally quit asking!" she cries, exasperated. "Honestly, Zayne. I'm pretty sure this is harassment at this point."
"Is it?"
"I don't know. I'm not a lawyer." We both know it probably is, but the fact that she doesn't say it gives me hope. Deep down, she fucking loves talking to me. She's just hellbent on denying it.
"I've got another question for you, then."
Her long-suffering sigh has me grinning ear-to-ear again. She's sassy as hell, though she'd never admit it. "You ask more questions than most toddlers, Zayne."
"How else am I supposed to get to know the woman I'm going to marry?"
"You aren't. I mean, we aren't getting married." She huffs. "Stop bugging me. I have work to do."
"I haven't asked my question."
"You just asked the question."
"That was a question, lamb. It wasn't the question." I tip back in my chair, rocking it back and forth.
"Fine. Ask so I can do my job. Yours may be harassing people on the phone all day, but I have big girl stuff to do."
"Oh, yeah? Like what?"
"Stuff," she mumbles.
"That wasn't my question, either."
"Oh my God!"
I laugh loudly as she thumps the receiver against the desk. Talking to her is, hands down, the best fucking part of my day. I just wish like hell she'd stop running so I could do it more often.
"Ask your question, Zayne Carmichael," she says. "Before I figure out a way to strangle you through this phone."
"Do you really want me to stop askin', or are you just afraid to find out that dating me is the best decision you ever made?" I sit forward in my chair, praying to God she doesn't tell me that she wants me to quit asking. I'll respect her wishes if it's what she really wants, but I don't think it is. No, I know it isn't. I'm just not sure why she's fighting so fucking hard.