Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
“Of course you did.” Her voice was light with that New York snap, and her brown eyes were warm. “Congratulations, Rhodes. How’s the new boss?”
He laughed through a yawn, the sound softer than usual. “Seven pounds of tiny tyrant. I’m in love.”
“That tracks.” Ivy laughed as she slid the cape around his shoulders, fingers quick at the nape of his neck. Her gaze darted at me in the mirror, her smirk returning, letting me know that she was deliberately not commenting on the obvious. She could have made a joke, could have called me out for what this was, but she let me have the fictional version of things. Practically gift-wrapped and tied with a bow.
I took my usual position—shoulder to the wall beside her station, hands in my pockets, and body loose but still alert. A weighted presence in the room. Territorial without the performance.
Like always, I was silent and observant. Watching her work did the same thing as always—quieted the noise and sharpened everything important. Her scissors flashed, the fine muscles in her forearm moved when she combed and trimmed. She tilted Rhodes’s head with two fingers and met his eyes in the mirror, that soft professional smile curling her red lips. I loved the way she owned the space—competent, brisk, funny when the moment needed it.
A couple of guys came in while she worked. I watched, tracking their movements. When one of them stared at her past the point of politeness, I leveled a look that made him reconsider. He blinked, swallowed, and turned his attention to a product display, as if reading labels had become urgent.
Ivy saw it all, but again, she didn’t call me on it, didn’t admonish or reward me for it. The only tell was the tiniest hitch at the corner of her mouth when she dipped for the neckline cleanup, her eyes flickering to mine in the mirror with a glint that said she both disapproved of my tactics and liked them more than she wanted to admit.
She finished Rhodes fast, the lines at his temples even, the back neat, and the tired dad was turned polished in fifteen minutes flat. She spun him, smoothed his hair, and tapped the brake on the chair with the toe of her boot to settle it. He looked 10 percent more human and 20 percent less likely to scare his neighbors in the elevator.
“Better,” I said, because it was.
“Thank fuck,” he answered with a sheepish grin. “I was starting to look like a cautionary tale.”
When Rhodes stood, she slid the cape free with a snap and shook stray hair to the floor. He clapped my shoulder on his way past.
“You’re a menace,” he murmured in a tone that meant thanks. “I’m going to sleep for nine minutes in your SUV now.”
“Go,” I told him, tossing him the keys. He did, paying quickly, then booked it to my SUV to get out of the cold as fast as possible.
I remained behind, trying to think of reasons to stay. Ivy pretended to check her shears and then turned that smirk loose on me. “Top-notch company, Saxon. Very talkative. Really carried the conversation.”
“Can’t risk overexertion on a weekday.” I let a corner of my mouth lift.
She stepped into my space to set the cape back in the cabinet, and the air shifted. Her brown pools were soft as she looked up at me from under thick lashes.
Before she could speak, I leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. Her breath caught. I felt it against my mouth, a tiny startle that turned into stillness before she smiled. The reaction rippled through her body in a way you only catch if you were looking for it. Her shoulders relaxed, hand flattened against her thigh, and her eyes were warmer when she tipped her face toward mine.
“Play nice,” she urged softly, but her gaze told me she liked being claimed like that in front of other people. Even if she wasn’t so sure it was a good idea.
“I’ll be back later to drive you home.” My voice was low so it stayed just between us.
“You always are.” Her answer was light, but there was a thread running through it I hadn’t heard before—trust forming, thin and real.
I forced myself to step away because at least leaving was the part that made the next arrival matter. On my way to the door, I caught Missy’s grin and quirked an eyebrow, making her laugh as I pushed into the winter air with my lips tingling and my pulse running hotter than it should in the outside temperature.
In the SUV, I sat for a beat and replayed the micro-expression she couldn’t hide when I told her I wasn’t going anywhere last night, the way her lips parted and her eyes softened. The ache low in my body answered the memory like it had been called by name. I thought about kissing her the way I wanted to tonight—slow until it wasn’t, one hand braced above her head, the other sliding under the hem of her sweater to find heat and soft skin. The little sounds she made when I filled my palm with one of her generous tits. I had to close my eyes for a second to keep from turning around and dragging the future forward by force.