Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“Gotta go home and cool off,” he rumbles. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
I grin and nod. “Okay.”
Crossing the room, he stops at my door and turns to look back at me. “Tomorrow after work, we’re together. From now on, any free time we have, we’re together. You feel me?”
I feel dazed. At a loss for words, the best I can do is murmur, “Mm-hm.”
He chuckles and shakes his head as he opens the door. “I knew you’d be something, babe. Didn’t realize that something was trouble.”
There’s a very good chance the big stupid grin on my face might turn out to be permanent.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
____________________________________
ASHLEY
I’VE BEEN WALKING on a cloud since I climbed out of bed. Partly due to Tyler kissing me stupid last night, but also because when I made it to work today he came straight to my desk and asked if he could take me to dinner tonight. If last night is anything to go by, then tonight is going to end with lots and lots of kissing.
Grinning to myself, I slide the lunch Millie dropped off for me this morning—leftover pork chops, green beans, and mashed potatoes from last night—into the microwave. As I press Start, Jana swoops into the break room.
“You and the chief are totally banging it out now, aren’t you?”
My brows skyrocket toward my hairline. Shooting a glance toward the door, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see there’s no one standing there hearing this craziness.
“Are you insane? You can’t say that here—someone could hear you,” I squeak. Then, lower, I continue, “And for the record, we did not. Sheesh, Jana! We just decided to start… well, whatever we’re starting.”
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t go full Victorian England pearl-clutcher on me, lady. If you haven’t yet, we both know you’re going to soon. You and the chief have always had chemistry, but the way he was watching you when you bent over to refill the copier with paper earlier was intense with a capital I.”
“It was?”
“Um, hell yeah it was. He was looking at your ass like he was that lion from Madagascar.”
I stare at her blankly, wondering what she’s talking about. “Madagascar?”
She looks at me like I just told her I didn’t know there are fifty states. “The movie,” she says, her tone exasperated. “You know, Alex and Marty? They escape the Central Park Zoo and wind up in Madagascar. Everything is great, but Alex is daydreaming about steak, so he mistakenly bites Marty’s butt. And Marty says ‘Excuse me, you are biting my butt!’ You have to have heard of it.”
I raise my shoulder, because I have no idea what she’s talking about. At all. “Nope.”
“Ugh. I feel like certain movies should be mandatory, and this is one of them. Anyway, the look on Alex’s face before he jumped over the cliff is the face Tyler made as he watched you work with that copy machine. I’ll send you a YouTube video later so you can see.”
“You took a video of him looking at my butt?” I ask incredulously.
Jana frowns. “What? No! I meant I’ll send a video of the ‘you are biting my butt…’ Ugh. You know what? I’m just going to borrow the DVD from Claudia so I can lend it to you. She’s a smart kid; she’ll understand why she needs to part ways with it for a few days. You can watch it in between bang sessions with the chief.”
“Who’s Claudia?”
Something flashes across her face, like she just let a cat out of the bag, but before I can follow up she says, “A friend who has better taste in movies than you do. Hopefully we can remedy the situation before the chief figures out you’re pop-culture challenged. Talk about a turn-off.”
I want to smile but can’t, because Lord knows it’ll just encourage her behavior. Now that Tyler and I have decided to start dating, everything feels right. Even Jana’s inappropriateness is enjoyable.
“You’re doing a really crappy job of keeping a lid on your bubbly-ness,” she teases.
I let out a chuckle at the same time the microwave dings to let me know my lunch is ready. Opening the door, I pull my container of piping hot food out.
“I’m excited,” I admit.
Jana laughs as she opens a can of SpaghettiOs, dumps it into a bowl, and then puts it in the microwave. “I’d be excited too if I knew I had a date with the chief’s naked ass.”
“Whoa, what’d I miss?”
My eyes go wide with horror as Ben walks into the break room. Shutting the silverware drawer, Jana points to me with her spoon. “Ashley and the chief are bow chicka wow wow.”
Sucking in a startled breath, I swallow down the wrong pipe and start hacking. “No!” I croak between coughs. “We aren’t. Don’t listen to this maniac.”