Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“You promise, you’ll hold my hand the entire time,” she asked.
“I mean, not when I’m trying to light up, but yes, I promise.” I motioned toward the doors. “Come on. Face your fears.”
She got to her feet, grumbling, “I don’t think you’re a licensed fear therapist.”
The night air was cooler as high up as we were, though it never made a lot of sense to me, since I’d always heard that heat rose. Of course, I was in the hotel business, not the science business. I supposed it had to do with the wind, which was formidable, hence the extra-tall glass barriers and the panels that leaned in at the top of them. Charlotte squeezed the bones out of my hand as she exited, then nearly went right back in again.
“You’re fine,” I assured her. “You’re fine. It sounds worse than it is. I’m not going to let you blow away.”
“That’s not funny!” She stood with her back to the windows, and the palm that wasn’t white-knuckled around my own was slapped flush against the glass.
“You look like a person in a sitcom pretending to jump off a ledge.” I couldn’t help a little chuckle at her. She looked so pathetic, in the most endearing way.
“Here.” I lit up, then passed it off to her. “For the nerves, kid.”
“Gross, don’t call me that.” She took the joint, her heels still firmly pressed against the glass behind her.
“Do you want to go look at the view?” I suggested, gesturing to the barrier on the other side of the balcony.
She nearly choked on her inhale, her eyes bulging. “No!”
“I’m teasing.” But I did hope that she’d get desensitized to the space. The pool was small, but lots of fun to fuck in. I gestured to the patio furniture grouped around the gas fire pit. “We could sit down—”
“I’m fine here!” She took another big inhale, barely let it settle, exhaled, and pulled in another lungful.
“It’s not a cigarette,” I reminded her.
“The faster I smoke it, the faster I get to go back in there. Away from the terror.”
“So, that’s a no to the skydiving, is it?” I joked. With a sigh of resignation, I pushed the door open again. “Come on.”
“I’m not done,” she said, gesturing with the joint.
“I know. But we can smoke inside.”
She glared at me. “Then it wasn’t a rule? It was a ploy to get me out here and make me pee my pants?”
“Did you pee your pants?” I asked, momentarily alarmed.
“No. Just an expression.” She took another drag and crossed her arms. “Fine. I’ll go sit down. But if you make any sudden moves—”
“Do you think I’d throw you off a building?” I demanded.
“You can never be too careful, where death is involved,” she said, her voice tight as she held in her hit. “But I suppose I can trust you.”
“Thank you. That warms my heart.” I almost told her to go inside, anyway; that it wouldn’t be fun for me knowing she was tormented by her phobia. But before I could, she somehow managed to walk to the seating area without lifting her feet off the ground, in a kind of sideways crab shuffle of pure fear.
She’d already done so many terrifying things this week. Moving to a new city without any notice. Getting a job. Commitment. Now, she faced down her fear with grim determination and the support of modern-style wicker furniture.
She was afraid of heights, but my princess was fearless.
CHAPTER EIGHT
(Charlotte)
It was bananas how fast I got the hang of working at Matt’s office. Maybe I’d watched enough episodes of Suits to fake it, but I loved the rhythm and flow of my days. I had an assistant, a short, pudgy guy named Marshall who was adopted from the Philippines by missionaries when he was two years old, a fact that he told me within five minutes of first meeting me. Technically, I’d been giving him a try out, but by the end of the day, I’d known way too much about his personal life and family history not to keep him on. And he was great at explaining things to me when I didn’t know them but doing it in a way that didn’t make me feel totally unprepared. There were tons of acronyms, different types of reports, and the intra-office messaging system? Forget it. I’d needed a lot of help during that first week, but by week two, I felt like I was completely in my element.
My frequent visits from the boss helped.
“Fuck! Fuck!” I screamed into the wadded-up panties stuffed in my mouth. I had one foot up on my desk, the other thrown over Matt’s shoulder as he knelt on the floor in front of me, feasting on my cunt.
He lifted his head and grinned. “Shhh. We’re having a meeting. People will think you’re quitting.”