Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
And therein lies the problem.
It’s become clear this past week that Griffin wants her bad, in a way that goes beyond his usual flirtations with women. Zeb likes her too, and Zeb hardly likes anyone.
And me? I’ve been doing a pretty damn good job of ignoring how I feel about Ember ever since I first met her, but working a few feet away from her, with very little distraction, is testing my limits.
And Griffin and Zeb are testing my patience.
“You made her uncomfortable,” I snarl at both of them. “Is that what you wanted?”
Frowning, Zeb finally looks at me. “By offering to buy her a drink?”
“By getting into a pissing contest with each other about it. Why don’t you just let her be?”
He props both arms on the table and leans across, getting in my face. “You want us to try to pretend she’s not a woman, like you do?”
Beneath the table, my hands ball into fists, but I remain still, since a waitress is approaching.
“Evening.” The server’s voice is soft and inviting. “What can I get you men?” Perfectly nice-looking woman, but nothing lights up inside me the way it does for Ember.
While we place our orders, I cool off, and by the time the waitress leaves, I’m ready to talk some sense into these two.
“This new job is important to Ember, and we can’t do anything to fuck it up for —”
Zeb’s retort interrupts the end of my sentence. “I know that.”
While Zeb continues to frown, I pin Griffin in my sights until he acknowledges his agreement, because I’m not sure Mr. Happy Go Lucky understands how things look from Ember’s point of view.
“You need to get your act together, so your bullshit doesn’t get in the way of her doing her job. She’s our manager now, and you need to respect that.”
Ember’s promotion made it easier for me to keep her firmly in the “off limits” zone, or at least it did until earlier this week, when my new workstation put me close enough to hear her voice all day long. Every time she laughs, I’m hit with a mix of pleasure and pain that feels like a caress followed by a punch.
But I can keep myself in check. Griffin, I’m not so sure about.
EMBER
A couple of days off was exactly what I needed. I slept in; I studied; I got started on a big finance project; I talked to my mom and texted with both of my sisters; and I almost—almost—got the three men I work with out of my head for a few hours at a time. Except at night, but that’s a lot to ask.
When I return to Beasts Ink, I’m feeling recharged and reset, ready to run the shop like the professional I am. If I happen to run into one of my coworkers in the hallway, I’m definitely not going to have a full-body reaction from a brief moment of contact.
When I arrive, Griffin’s the only one in the main room, and there’s a drink from the coffee shop sitting on my desk. He hasn’t brought another since that first day, but when I look over at him, he’s watching me, and he nods in response when I thank him.
I put my things down, take a seat, tip my head back to take a big sip of iced coffee—and almost spit it out all over my brand new desk. I manage to grab my trash can before I rid my mouth of the salty liquid. What the hell?!
My eyes are watering, but not so much that I can’t see Griffin standing at my desk when I straighten. “Everything okay?” His face is the picture of innocence.
“What was that?” I scramble to pull my water bottle free of my bag and take a gulp.
“Something wrong with your drink?” He plucks it from my desk and eyes the label. “Oh, I must have mixed up our cups. I ordered their new sea salt saline latte for myself. This must be yours.” He replaces my cup with an identical one he produces from behind his back.
“What’s wrong with you? Saline latte?”
“Just a simple mixup. I’m really sorry about that.” His lips are quirked in the mischievous grin that I often find so appealing, but the taste in my mouth, which feels like it’s going to linger for at least the rest of the day, prevents me from finding anything endearing about the man right now.
“This one will be fine,” he says, tapping the lid of the new drink. “I promise.”
I narrow my eyes at the cup in his hand. “If the saline latte is what you ordered, then drink it.”
The exasperating man starts to laugh, but bites it back as he struggles to keep a straight face. “I’m … I’m not thirsty at the moment.”
“Drink it, Griffin. Take a big drink of it right now.”