Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“See? Told you,” Seth said with a laugh. He let go of his hold on Ari and motioned for me to enter ahead of him.
I took two steps and collided with a hard body compiled of muscles and tattoos. The jolt might have sent me tumbling to the ground if Seth hadn’t stepped up to put his equally hard body behind me, causing the collision to occur between me and Seth instead of me and the floor. Possessive Seth immediately maneuvered our bodies until he was between me and the new muscle man. The devil in me wondered if I could flirt with the stranger to bring Seth’s caveman out. Maybe then, he’d take me the way I wanted him to? The reasonable side reminded me that acting the flirt when I didn’t mean it would make me an asshole.
“Watch where you’re going,” Seth growled out a warning.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” the man answered in an equally manly growl. “Someone plowed straight into me while I didn’t move an inch. That’s all on me.” When he finished with his sarcastic remarks to Seth, he looked around at me and said, “I am sorry. You okay?”
Smothering a grin, I answered, “I’m fine. No harm.” Cutting my eyes in Seth’s direction, I added, “I’m not as fragile as some people tend to believe.”
The stranger laughed, and Seth scowled.
“I bet there’s not one damn fragile thing about you.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Seth demanded, rudely ignoring the newcomer. “I don’t think you’re fragile. Were you implying that I did? Because that’s how it sounded.”
“Ding. Ding. Ding. He got it in one!” I chimed sarcastically. I knew this discussion didn’t need to take place in front of anyone, much less someone we didn’t know, but my frustrations and insecurities were at a peak and, I could no longer be held responsible for not making reasonable decisions.
Stranger took pity on me. “Hey, I’ll leave you guys to it if you could just point me in the direction of Landon Honeycutt’s office. I have an interview that I’m about to be late for.”
My eyes narrowed as I actually paused long enough to take a good look at the man who’d nearly knocked me on my ass…the one who Ari had referred to as an asshole during our earlier conversation. In my opinion, he wasn’t nearly as handsome as Seth and didn’t make my heart or cock do funny things, but I could definitely see how the rest of the female, and male population, could be intrigued by his looks. And by intrigued, I meant “let me find the closest flat surface so I can bend over, drop my drawers, and let you fuck me” kind of intrigued. He was as tall as Seth and stacked with just as many muscles. His inky black hair was long enough to look shaggy but short enough to tame if necessary. And his eyes were a bright green, like they were stripped straight from the scenery of a fairy-tale. But then he spun off the fairy-tale world with tattoo sleeves hot enough to make one think when he wasn’t living in fairy land, he was dancing with the demons in hell.
Who was this man to Ari and why did he dislike him so much?
Seth pointed toward Landon’s office and said, “There’s his office; he’s expecting you. Since you’re going to be one of us, I’m sorry for this rough start. Welcome to the team.” Seth extended his hand and Ari’s Asshole shook it. “I’m Agent Seth Wilkinson and this is Agent Baker Daley.”
When I offered my hand for a shake, Seth said, “He’s mine.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head in embarrassment. I also felt my heart do its stupid Seth dance.
“I kinda picked up on that,” the man answered with a friendly looking smirk. “I’m Eli Wallace. Nice to meet you both.”
Both? Did he plan on simply ignoring Arizona’s presence altogether? No wonder my friend thought the guy was an asshole!
Not intending to allow it to happen, I said, “This is….”
The words died in my mouth when I turned to grab Ari so I could force introductions, but there was no Ari there. He was gone. Vanished. Disappeared into thin air. I looked around the office area, and it was empty except for the three of us.
“Never mind,” I mumbled when I turned back around to find Eli staring at me, a question dancing around in his oddly colored eyes. “Well, it was nice meeting you, Eli.” I grabbed Seth by the arm and tugged him onto the elevator. “We need to run. Things to do, and places to be,” I said, repeating Ari’s words from earlier. The sneaky bastard had to have slipped away by escaping through the door leading to the stairwell. He was running, and I intended to find out why.