Rather than look pleased, Lawrence’s eyes narrowed even further. ‘Aweekend.That’s not a holiday, Rosie, that’s what most people have. I’ve extended it to a week.’
My mouth dropped open. ‘Lawrence?—’
He held up his hand, not interested in my arguments. ‘Have a good night, Rosie. Call if you need anything.’
‘Like a boss who appreciates his employee’s dedication?’ My arms folded over my chest.
‘Your dedication is crossing over to insanity.’ He flashed me a soft smile before turning and heading towards the door. ‘Goodnight, Rosie.’
My lips curled in annoyance at his dismissal. I couldn’t be upset. Realistically, I knew that being given a week’s holiday was a good thing. But the thought of twiddling my thumbs at home, staring at my flat’s four walls sounded like my idea of a nightmare.
I called Mum, checking in on Roxy, and finally got round to answering Fallon’s text. I deliberated on how to respond, settling on sending her a YouTube video of the karaoke version of ‘Defying Gravity’ fromWicked. Feeling very satisfied with myself, I got back to updating some charts.
An hour later, my phone vibrated on the desk next to me. Figuring it was Fallon, I picked it up and answered, eyes fixed on the computer as I updated a few charts.
‘Could you please tell me how stalking someone issupposed to be an attractive quality?’ A deep voice rumbled down the line.
My hand froze on the keyboard. ‘I-uh—’ My brain was struggling to form words.
George continued, not noticing he’d caught me off guard. ‘Because he’s currently standing outside in the dark and instead of calling the police, she’s commenting on how hot he is and wondering how his cock would feel inside her. This feels like a major red flag.’
My mouth opened and shut several times before it clicked. When it did, my eyes nearly bulged out of my head. ‘Are you reading one of my books?’
‘Yes, now please tell me what is so appealing about someone stalking you?’
George Blake was reading a dark romance book. Of all the things I’d bet good money on witnessing, that wouldn’t even make the top ten.
‘Why are you reading a dark romance book?’ The incredulity thick in my tone.
‘You said it’s your favourite genre.’ Like it was the most normal thing in the world to find out someone’s favourite genre of book and pick one up.
‘So?’ I baulked.
‘Can you answer my question? Because so far, I’m halfway through and this guy needs some serious psychological help.’
Was this real life? What the hell was happening right now? Was this some kind of sex starved hallucination my brain had conjured?
I huffed out a broken laugh at that thought. Rubbing the tension from my forehead. ‘It’s not the act of stalking that’s appealing,’ I started, then sat up with a jolt, ‘Wait, which one are you reading?’
When he told me the title, I choked on a gasp. ‘That’swhat you started with?’ He’d chosen possibly one of the darkestromances I’ve ever read. Some scenes even made me have to read through my fingers at points. Its trigger warning page wastwopages long.
‘It was the first one that popped up when I typed in dark romance.’
Something unwelcome stirred to life in my stomach at the thought of him sitting at home trawling through the internet for dark romance books.
‘So why is it attractive to have a deranged man stalk you?’ he pressed.
I paused for a moment before continuing, ‘The stalking part isn’t what’s attractive. It’s the fact that you have this man who is so utterly obsessed with the heroine that he can’t go a single day without her consuming his thoughts. She’s everything to him. It’s the adoration in all of his actions that, yes, okay, might be at times misguided and extreme?—’
‘He cut off the dick of a man who assaulted her and gave it to her in a box, wrapped like a Christmas present,’ George cut in, sounding slightly disturbed.
I burst out laughing. ‘Well, anything can sound ridiculous when you say it like that.’
The silence on the other end of the line went on for so long I pulled the phone away from my ear to double check we were still connected.
‘Uh, George?’
‘You have a beautiful laugh,’ came the soft reply.
