Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 95311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
"Piece of work," James' voice came from the doorway. "Is someone talking about me?"
"Oh, always James, always," Tad replied.
"Tad," James nodded in his direction. "Working hard."
"Oh you know me," Tad practically purred.
James walked into the room, perching himself on Hannah's desk and fiddling around with its contents. "Is it just me or is Sally a total bitch today?" he asked and Tad and Hannah burst out laughing.
They stayed there like that for fifteen minutes, swapping witty banter and releasing stress before James stood up and announced, "Well, I have to get going. If I actually stay here a full day, my brother might have a heart attack. Or, worse yet, start to expect that of me." He turned to Hannah, grabbed her hand, and actually kissed it. "It was an honor sharing the shirt off my back with you, Hannah Clary. Maybe we can do it again sometime." He looked at her long enough to notice her blush and smiled at it. He started for the door, "And Tad, always a pleasure."
"Oh, you know it," Tad responded with a wink.
Once Tad begrudgingly got back to work, Hannah sat, fastidiously typing responses to letters and getting the schedule in order. At her back, unbeknownst to her, it had turned dark outside. The office seemed to run on a different time than the rest of the world and it simply flew by with all the tasks that needed to be completed in a day.
She had made the call to Dan and was greeted by an icy voice who was overly irritated at her for Elliott's change of plans. Then she had spent two hours conducting interviews, then calling and canceling the ones she had lined up for the next day because she had found the perfect candidate.
Her shoulders hurt from being stuck at her computer for so long. And then something went wrong. She was in the middle of a two-paged letter when suddenly the screen went dark and she couldn't get it to come back on. It was the straw that broke the camel's back and she could feel herself getting teary-eyed with frustration.
"No no no no no," she yelled at the screen, trying the few overrides she knew.
"What happened?" came a voice from the doorway and she was too aggravated to even jump at the interruption.
"I was typing a letter and it just disappeared and went black," she said, waving a hand at the computer and forcing herself to fight back the tears.
Elliott stepped into the room and walked up behind her. She felt the full line of his upper body against her side as he reached over and started messing with her keyboard. She had never been that close to him before. She could feel the heat from his body through the fabric of his clothes and smell the faint hint of spice from his cologne. Even hunched over, he was a head taller than her and she felt very small, almost fragile next to him. Which was a strange feeling for a woman who was five foot seven.
"All you have to do next time is," he started to say, making her snap back to attention, "is hit this and this button and it will come right back up. See?" he asked, then glanced down at her to see if she was listening.
It felt like she was on a roller coaster and had just went over the edge and felt the drop. Like her stomach jumped and all the air was gone. His eyes looked right into hers. After a second, they changed. Softened somehow. And deepened. She felt herself looking back, her mouth parting with the palpable tension.
His eyes lowered to her lips, then came back up to settle on her eyes. They had gotten smaller, heavy-lidded and intense. She felt completely naked under his gaze. It felt like ages to her but it was probably only ten seconds.
It happened at almost the same time. She looked up, and his head lowered slightly. It was almost imperceptible, but she felt herself turn her face up toward him and he bent down. She felt the tension deep in her core, her heartbeat didn't race, it felt like it had completely gone away. Along with her breath. And then...
The shrill sound of his cell phone had them breaking apart like guilty teenagers. Elliott scrambled for his phone.
"Thanks," Hannah said, her breath barely a whisper.
Elliott grunted. "See you tomorrow," he said, going to his office and slamming the door.
What the hell just happened? Hannah shook her head and looked at her screen. Her breath had come back and her pulse was pounding hard in her throat and wrists. Her work was just as she had left it. She wasn't even attracted to him. If told to choose between them, she'd choose James every time.