Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 78249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
There was a spark of something in her eyes. Desire? Opportunity? Fear? I couldn’t put my finger on it, but she swallowed her words, stepping back and extending her hand toward me.
“I accept,” she said.
For the briefest moment, I felt a pang of regret. A man with less control might have let things play out tonight and then offered her the job. A wiser man wouldn’t have offered her the job at all, considering the way her mere presence seemed to wake all my long suppressed emotions.
I took her hand, mine swallowing hers up like a child’s as I gripped it and shook. “Welcome to Foster Real Estate, Ember. And… this never happened. It can never happen again, either.”
“What can never happen again?” she asked. If it wasn’t for the flush in her cheeks and the sheen of moisture still on her lips, I could’ve almost believed the kiss never happened.
I nodded. “Good girl.” I caught myself as she smiled wickedly.
“Ohh.. Good girl, huh?” she asked, taking one corner of her lower lip under her front teeth. “I could get used to hearing you call me that.”
I cleared my throat and adjusted my jacket. “We should get back inside. Separately,” I added.
Ember wiggled her eyes. “Okay. Do you prefer if I say ‘yes, sir’ when you give me a direct order? Or… would you prefer ‘yes, daddy’ to go with the whole ‘good girl’ thing?”
I opened my mouth to speak, closed it, and then gestured inside. “The less you speak to me, the better.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
I raised a hand to stop her. “Yes, Sir,” I corrected.
Ember shrugged. “Okay. By the way, you have a little…” she reached up and ran her thumb down the corner of my mouth. “I think I may have accidentally licked your cheek a bit when we didn’t kiss. Sorry.”
What the hell had I gotten myself into with this woman?
11
EMBER
"Let me get this straight," Kora said, stabbing her straw into her iced coffee with unnecessary violence as I walked with her toward the Northman Group building for the first time in weeks. "You kissed him. The guy you've been reading hate notes to every day. The guy who makes his employees cry. That guy?"
I winced and glanced around while we waited for the crosswalk signal to change. A few heads turned at her volume, and I gave them my best "nothing to see here" smile before leaning in. "Do you have to say it like that?"
"Am I wrong?" she asked, her eyebrow arching. Her dark curls bounced as she tilted her head, studying me with the kind of intensity that made me wish I'd kept my mouth shut.
"No," I muttered. "But you don't have to say it so... loudly."
Kora smirked and took a leisurely sip of her coffee. "Girl, you've got to explain this to me. What, did the tension just get to you? Did you endure one too many of those smoldering glares and your brain finally short-circuited? Or are you just so horny you've moved past reason and entered the 'fuck around and find out' phase?"
I groaned, shoulders slumping as we joined the crowd crossing the street. "It's not like that. It just happened. One second, we're arguing about his clients, and the next... I don't know. He kissed me. And I kissed him back. He looked at me, and without either of us needing to say a word, it was like we both just knew we wanted it. I've never felt that kind of connection with someone before. It was... intense."
"Oh, it was intense," Kora repeated, her voice dripping with exaggerated drama. "And then what? Did the heavens part? Did the jazz music stop? Did everyone in the room turn to watch you two make out on the balcony?"
I snorted despite myself. "No. It wasn't like that. It was private, just the two of us." I studied my feet, feeling embarrassed but still wanting to voice the truth anyway. "It was kind of magical." I looked at Kora, biting my lip. "I had a really dirty dream about him last night, too."
"Oh," Kora said, raising both eyebrows now. "So wait... How does this all compute? Cole asked you to infiltrate this guy's company and get dirt on him. Did you misunderstand and think he asked you to infiltrate Orion Foster's pants? Honest mistake. I'm sure Cole will understand."
I laughed. "All we did was kiss. Briefly. And we're good now. He saw how much of a charmer I am and offered me a job at Foster Real Estate. I'm going to be on his 'client relations' team. And I'm going to be heavily involved in some mysterious project that sounded absolutely huge."
Kora squinted. "He offered you a job? Seriously? How good was that kiss?"
"Yep. And he's putting me straight on a project that sounds exactly like the kind of thing Cole wanted dirt on. If I occasionally give Cole a crumb or two, I bet I could drag this out for a long time."