“It will be a hoot,” Amber said dryly as she looked over her list. “How’s the book that you refuse to tell me anything about coming along?”
“I don’t want to jinx it,” Kristen said, terrified of saying or doing anything that would jinx this. She was so close to finishing her book and probably would have finished it already if the bastard that she was back to cursing to hell and back hadn’t disappeared a week ago.
Between going home to visit his family to make up for Easter, court, and apparently nonstop meetings with clients, Garrett didn’t have time for their arrangement. She’d thought he would show up at night only he never did.
She told herself that it was because she couldn’t write without him, but that didn’t explain the deeply disturbing fact that she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Refusing to look too closely into why she couldn’t stop thinking about him, she’d kept herself busy. She edited her book, baked a delicious assortment of baked goods, deep cleaned her house, reorganized her books, made Christmas ornaments, and ordered more paint samples,anything to stop thinking about the man that was really starting to piss her off.
They had a deal, something that she felt that as a lawyer, he should have appreciated and-
God, she missed him.
“I just need to know if it will be finished by June,” Amber said, drawing her attention away from the depressing realization that was most likely going to lead to another sleepless night.
“It should be?” Kristen said, trying not to wince when Amber frowned down at her.
“Why did that sound like a question?”
“Because I like to keep people on their toes,” Kristen said, nodding solemnly.
Amber didn’t say anything for a moment as she stood there, considering her while Kristen slowly lost the battle and winced. Finally, Amber released a heartfelt sigh as she looked down at her list and said, “You know what? I can handle all of this if you want to just focus on writing.”
Kristen opened her mouth with the automatic “No” that started to form only to find herself hesitating. She was so close to finishing her book and wanted to focus on that, but she wouldn’t be able to do that if she had to handle everything else. She was tempted, really tempted to say yes, but…
“You hired me for a reason, Kristen. You need help. Let me do my job so that you can do yours,” Amber said as Kristen slowly exhaled, not really sure if she could do it. She’d been doing this on her own from the beginning and the thought of trusting someone, anyone, with her babies terrified her.
“I can have your preorder up by the end of the week, the graphics done in two, and plan everything for the release. I’ll make sure that I post in your groups every day. I won’t shove your books down your readers throats and I’ll keep the groups fun. I’ll make sure that I do weekly giveaways, answer emails,questions, comments, and DMs and if I can’t handle something, I’ll let you know,” Amber promised while Kristen worried her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Say yes, and let me do my job,” Amber said as she shifted her focus back to her notes and-
“You’re sure?” Kristen asked, knowing that there was no way that she would be able to focus on finishing this book if she had to worry about everything else.
“Positive,” Amber said, making a quick note. “Just send me your passwords for your email and your publishing accounts.”
She hated handing over the reins, but…
“Thank you,” Kristen said, sighing with relief as she reached for her phone to send Amber everything that she was going to need only to find herself jumping up, grabbing her backpack, and heading for the door when Amber said, “His front door just opened.”
“I’ll send everything you need later!” Kristen promised as she pulled the front door closed behind her, raced down her driveway, paused to look both ways before she crossed the street, raced up his driveway, and quickly made her way to his front door and inside his house where she found him leaning back against his desk, sipping his coffee while he waited for her.
Deciding that this would be the perfect time to settle a few things, she came to a stop in front of him, tossed her bag on his couch, and slowly exhaled before she narrowed her eyes on the large bastard that was toying with her emotions.
“What the hell are you doing?” came the curious question that left her with no choice but to continue glaring up at the large bastard that needed to understand that she would beat the shit out of him with whatever was handy if he did anything to piss her off again so that they could avoid any future misunderstandings.
“Establishing dominance,” Kristen said, adjusting her glare accordingly, knowing that if she took it too far too soon that he would be left trembling in fear and unable to focus, and right now, she really needed him to focus.
“So fucking adorable,” Garrett murmured, releasing a heartfelt sigh as he took a sip of his coffee.
She decided to take that as a sign that she had him where she wanted him, but just in case…
Never taking her eyes off him, Kristen reached up, plucked the cup of coffee out of his hand, and took a sip with a look that dared him to say something about it only to end up shoving the cup back in his hand, gasping for air and grabbed onto the edge of the desk as what could only be described as battery acid coated her throat.
“You alright there, pookie?” Garrett drawled as he took another sip of coffee while she stood there, struggling to remember how to breathe even as she mentally gave this point to him.
“Peachy,” Kristen somehow managed to get out between deeply disturbing bouts of coughing, gasping, and a weird combination of the two as she reached over and snatched the bottle of water off his desk.
“Was there a reason why you felt the need to establish dominance this early in the morning?” Garrett asked as he finished his coffee and placed the cup on his desk. Kristen opened her mouth to answer him only to end up in another coughing fit as she struggled with the bottle cap only to have Garrett reach over and pluck the bottle out of her hand, take the cap off, and hand it back to her.
With a mangled, “Thank you,” and another deeply disturbing coughing fit, Kristen finished off the bottle of water, decided that she needed a minute to regroup, and stumbled across his office, gasped, and finally, fell face-first on the couch where she spentthe next five minutes trying to remember how to breathe. Telling herself that this didn’t in any way diminish the effectiveness of her glaring, Kristen turned her head in time to watch Garrett drop down in the oversized chair across from her.
