Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
He sighed and rubbed his palm over his face, her scent still lingering in his nostrils.
Despite the throbbing in her head, Ashley’s senses zinged from contact with Ben Stone. Talk about magnetism. Some said he had the personality of an ice cube, but all she’d sensed was pure masculine power. Even through his crisp designer suit, she’d seen the outline of sculpted muscles in his arms and chest. His dark, Latino looks dripped sexual prowess and the silence made him mysterious. And those pale green eyes had seemed to flicker to amber under the fluorescent lights at the office…
She dropped her things and started a bath, filling a washcloth with ice for the back of her neck. Heat on the body, cold on the head. Not that it ever worked. Nothing helped when she had a migraine. Her phone rang and she looked to see who was calling. Melissa—her twin sister. She hit talk. “Hey, how’s it going?”
Melissa lived two hours away in Colorado Springs, but they still spoke almost every day.
“Do you have a headache?”
“How can you tell?”
“Your voice gets all tight. I’m sorry. Did you try the hot bath, cold washcloth thing?”
“Trying it now. I’m taking you into the bathtub with me.”
“Just don’t drop your phone, you might get electrocuted or something,” Melissa teased.
She snorted. “I think that’s just with hairdryers.” She pulled her clothes off and stepped in the tub. “You’ll never believe who just took me home.”
“Who?”
“Ben Stone, the CEO and owner of Stone Tech.”
Melissa whistled. “Nice. How’d you swing that?”
She told her sister the whole story, from him finding her lying on the floor in her cubicle to telling her he had a personal assistant position open.
“So, what’s he like?”
“Super sexy in that dark, brooding Batman sort of way.”
“Did he say I’m Stoneman?” her sister asked, attempting a deep, throaty voice.
She giggled. “I wish I hadn’t had this migraine, because I screwed up my chances at the position by putting my foot in my mouth.”
“I don’t know, Ash. He’s picking you up in the morning. It kinda sounds to me like you have this one nailed.”
She tried to ignore the frissons of excitement her sister’s words caused. “I definitely wouldn’t say that. He’s a tough nut to crack. Totally unreadable.”
“What’s the scoop on him, anyway? He’s South American, right? And he moved here to run the company when his brother died?”
“Yeah, I read in Business Weekly that he’s half Latino. His mom was American and that’s where the name Stone comes from. He graduated from Harvard Business School and he’s only thirty. That’s about all I know. The company has sort of languished since Ben’s been CEO, but he refuses to step down and hire someone more experienced to run it even though the board has been pushing for it. He still owns the majority interest, so they can’t fire him.”
“So, you think he’ll get things figured out?”
“Well, he’s smart enough. Some people say he doesn’t care about the company, but I’m not sure that’s true. I don’t know, but I sure would like the chance to get close enough to him to form an opinion.”
“Well, tell him tomorrow when he picks you up.”
“Tell him what?”
“That you really want the job.”
Her pulse quickened just at the thought of sitting beside him in his car again. “Okay,” she said.
“You’re not going to,” her sister accused, probably catching the nervous twinge in her voice.
“No, I will. I will. You’re right. It’s worth groveling over.”
“So, guess who’s coming over here tonight?”
“Ooh, who?”
“Donny. The guy I met at the roller derby meet. Remember I was telling you about him?”
“Of course I remember.” She couldn’t always keep track—her sister was a bit of a serial dater. “That’s awesome. What are you going to do?”
“We’re just going to watch a movie we talked about that night we met.”
“Mmm hmm. Sure you’re just going to watch a movie,” she teased.
“Well, if stuff happens in the dark, I’m not going to call 9-1-1 or anything,” Melissa said with a laugh.
They chatted a little more and she hung up, leaning her head back against the cool porcelain of the tub, the ice tucked up behind her neck. This migraine had better be gone by tomorrow morning because there was no way she was missing out on another ride with Ben Stone.
The next morning, she changed five times before she finally settled on a short, fitted skirt and silk blouse. Her headache had mostly disappeared, although the aura of it still made her face feel tight and her eyes appear too small. She stood at the window of her duplex, ready to go by 6:45 a.m.
Even so, when the black Mustang pulled up, she snatched up her things and dashed out as if she were late. Ben was just getting out of his car when she came flying down the porch steps to the sidewalk. He stopped, leaning against the car, gazing at her with a speculative look. “Good morning, Ashley.”