Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“Did I trigger some sort of silent alarm?” I asked as I followed her back out of the office.
“No. I was actually getting food down the street, and I noticed when I was coming out that the gate was up. So I came to check.”
“Were you out with someone?” I asked, trying not to seem like I was prying. Really, I would be happy for her if she dated again.
“Oh, just a group from the gym,” she said, waving it off. “So, you’re seeing Anthony tomorrow too?”
“We’re taking the ferry to Staten Island.”
“How… romantic?” she said, brows furrowing.
“It’s for work,” I said, rolling my eyes at her as we flicked off lights and made our way back out to the street.
“Sure. Sure. Work. But wouldn’t it be a lot more fun to play with him instead of work with him?”
“Mother,” I grumbled, getting a laugh out of her.
“Oh, please, you want to climb that man like a tree and we both know it,” she said as we started to walk.
She wasn’t wrong.
“Well, we can play after the job is done. I don’t want the hormones clouding my judgment.”
“Oh, honey,” she said, stopping at the top of the stairs to the subway. “I think things will be a lot… cloudier if you keep fighting it. But that’s just your old mother’s two cents,” she said. “Be safe getting home,” she told me, waving toward the steps.
“You too,” I said, stopping to watch her walk toward her apartment before jogging down the steps.
And as I stood there waiting for the subway car to pull up, need thrumming through my system, I had to wonder if maybe she was right after all.
CHAPTER NINE
Saylor
“Nice, right?” I asked as my dog walked in circles on the massive orthopedic bed that had finally arrived. With a sweet little huff, she dropped down, her head hanging over the elevated pillow edge. “I thought you would like it,” I said, smiling at the look of pure contentment on her face.
“Did you name her yet?” Anthony’s voice called, making me jump and turn to find him standing in the opening of the garage door. I’d just dragged the heavy box in through it, then got distracted setting up the bed, and I had clearly forgotten to close the door.
Smart.
Real smart.
I mean, I had nothing left to steal. But still.
“No,” I admitted, sighing. “Oh, is that coffee?” I asked, excitement chasing away any possible awkwardness about the night before as I held out a hand for it. “Did you get burned trying to get this order?” I teased.
“Funny,” he said. “I think her bed is thicker than my mattress,” he admitted, smiling as the dog rolled over on her back, wiggling her body side to side like she was trying to get her scent all over the material. “What do you think… Bella?”
“No,” I vetoed immediately, getting a smirk out of Anthony.
“Too girly?” he asked.
“She’s a former drug dealer dog. And a current arms dealer dog. She needs a badass name.”
“Umm… Buffy?” he called, getting a headshake from me. “Katniss? Dana? Ellen? Sarah?”
“Who the hell are those last three?”
“Dana Scully? From The X Files. Ellen Ripley from Alien. And Sarah Conner from the Terminator movie.”
“They’re all too… normal,” I decided as the dog stared at Anthony, unimpressed.
“Fury, short for Furiosa?”
“You spend a lot of time watching action movies, huh?” I asked. “But I kind of like that. What do you think, Fury?” I asked, watching her ears perk up. Objectively, I knew it was likely from my tone, but I decided it was a sign.
“Seems to like that one,” Anthony said, nodding.
“Well, Keith will be happy to hear that,” I said, sipping my coffee. “What time does the ferry leave?” I asked, gauging how long it would take to get from my warehouse to the ferry.
“We got about half an hour. Wanna walk her one more time?” he asked.
We’d just gotten back, but Fury heard the word ‘walk,’ and lurched off her bed, her tail wagging wildly.
“I guess that’s a yes,” I said, going for her leash.
So we walked Fury before hopping into a cab, making it to the ferry just ten minutes before it took off.
“Do you want to sit in here, or go out on the deck?” Anthony asked.
I wanted to go outside. But there was no one else out there. And I was pretty sure that being alone with him was not a great idea. We’d managed to avoid talking about the whole incident in the gym office the night before. But I had a feeling that if we were alone too much that the desires we’d left unfulfilled the night before would reemerge.
“Here’s good,” I decided, but the way his brow lifted said he knew why I’d made that decision.
“Have you learned anything new about these guys?” I asked as we sat a row down from someone who was typing a fucking paragraph on her phone, her jaw so tight that a muscle was twitching. Whoever he is, he’s not worth it, I decided as her phone chimed three times in a row, making her pause to read, then start typing even faster.