Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Some emotion glinted in his eyes that I couldn’t read. He tilted his head slightly and put his earbud back in. “Enjoy your run, then.”
I grimaced and started slogging along once he sped off. What a complete disaster. Now if I left, it’d look obvious that I was following him. If I stayed, it meant I actually had to jog. Why didn’t I factor this in when I made my plans? I hated jogging. Actually, I hated all exercise.
I dragged myself around the path for nearly half an hour. I was sweating my ass off, clutching my sides from cramps, and developing knee problems by the end of it. I also had to watch Dominic go flying by me every few minutes as he lapped me. It was utterly embarrassing.
When I couldn’t go any more, I slumped into a bench and tried to catch my breath. My body was upset with me. Very upset. Everything hurt and I considered calling a cab instead of walking the few blocks back to my apartment.
Dominic came to a stop when he saw me sitting. “You’re already finished?” He was sweating, but not as much as me.
I threw my hands up. “I might need to research other forms of exercise.”
He sat down on the bench, close enough that his thigh was touching mine. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Did Marcus tell you I jog here?”
I sighed. There was no use pretending. My little farce was painfully obvious. “Yes,” I said. “I thought maybe you’d be more talkative when you were tired.”
“You really want to get this interview right, don’t you?” he asked. “I expected you to ask to meet in the office a few times and call it a done job.”
“We made a deal. My job depends on making the interview sell magazines.”
Dominic looked like he wanted to say something, but he drew his eyebrows together and looked away suddenly. “Well, if you want to interview me while I jog, you’ve got some conditioning to do.”
With that, he stood and resumed his run.
I wished I could’ve caught up to him just to kick him in that perfectly toned ass of his. But I couldn’t, so I settled for glaring instead.
17
DOMINIC
I drummed my fingers on my desk and tried not to let my eyes slide to the window. But the damn things slid, and there she was. She’d curled her short hair into loose waves today. It was Wednesday, and neither of us had spoken all day.
I still found myself grinning when I thought of her ridiculous little stunt at the park. She was wearing brand new shoes and workout clothes that looked just as new. This weekend, we’d had dinner at her parents and ice cream afterwards. Now she was trying to stalk me outside work hours just for the sake of her interview.
I had to admit I was impressed. She thought outside the box and was willing to go the extra mile for projects, and I admired that in her. I’d be damned if I admitted as much to her face, but there it was.
I was also a nosy, privacy ignoring prick, so I knew she’d been busting her ass on the piece from last week with no breaks. It was good, too.
I thought again about where our conversation had gone wrong at the ice cream shop. Why the hell did she care so much if I didn’t go for her pitch? Did she think I owed it to her to accept her pitch just because her last boss would have? That was how a change in management worked. Things were different. Goals didn’t stay the same. I shouldn’t have had to explain that to her. Sure, maybe some small part of me was stubbornly against the idea because it would also mean entrenching her at The Squawker even more. If I ran a weekly pitch from her, I’d need even more to justify firing her. And I sure as hell knew I needed to make that happen. Keeping Darcy around spelled trouble for me, and I couldn’t afford trouble if I wanted this operation to run smoothly.
Still, my dumb ass had also been second-guessing the way I’d worded my rejection all week. I was certain Darcy saw me as some kind of heartless troll, but the truth was I felt a pang of guilt about the way our conversation went. Watching her dad be such an asshole felt all too familiar, and then I’d gone and been just as much of an asshole right after playing the good guy.
Marcus interrupted me mid-scowl. He swung into the office with one hand on the doorknob and a smile on his face. His good mood only temporarily faltered when he saw my face. “Uh, hey. Didn’t mean to interrupt. My sisters are having a get together this weekend though. They told me to invite you and all the staff. I saved you for last.”