AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It was implied.” His gaze flits across my face, a glint of curiosity in his eyes. “Traffic?”
“In Silver Spoon Falls?” My brow arches this time. “Not hardly, Mr. Brunts. I just got a late start.” I don’t mention that I worked late last night. With my cleaning job, I sometimes get home late. Last night was one of those nights. Specifically, because I just added cleaning this office to my roster. There’s no way I’m telling him that, though.
“Josh,” he growls. “My fuc… my name is Josh, Lyric. Say it.”
“Josh,” I sigh.
He stares at me for a long moment, not speaking. But the look in his eyes… No, who am I kidding? I’m just seeing what I want to see. Like always where this man is concerned. He looks at me sometimes, and I let myself imagine that he’s staring at me as if he wants to bend me over his desk and devour me. But I know delusional when I see it… and I see it in the mirror every freaking day.
Josh Brunts doesn’t want to sleep with me. He barely even tolerates me.
“Get back to work,” he says gruffly, proving my point. “You can make up the time at the end of the day.”
I scowl at him before turning on my heel to stomp out.
Ugh!
I hope I get to smother him with a pillow in my fantasies tonight.
“What time will you be home tonight?” Lyra, my twin, asks as I clutch the phone between my ear and shoulder, dragging my cleaning cart through the empty building toward Josh’s office a little after seven. “Melody wants to order pizza.”
“It shouldn’t be much longer. I’m almost finished,” I mutter, shoving the cart through the door. Like always, his scent hits me in the stomach, and my core clenches. Thank God he isn’t here. Actually, he spent most of the day working on one of the lower floors. It was a small mercy in an otherwise painful day because the man blew up my phone all dang day.
Do this. Do that. I need. Send me…
Blah, blah, blah.
Either he has no manners or opening a new branch of his office has seriously stressed him out because he never asks for anything. He just demands.
When I quit, that’ll be reason number two on my list… right behind the toll he’s taking on our water bill from the sheer number of panties I have to wash every week.
“I need a therapist.”
Lyra’s abrupt laugh echoes down the line. “What? Why?”
“Because I should not find it so hot that Mr. Brunts is so bossy,” I complain. “Something is seriously wrong with me, Lyra.”
“You like being bossed around,” she says, still laughing. “Roll with it, sister. Who knows? You might enjoy it.”
I roll my eyes, a blush crawling up my cheeks even though there’s no one around to see it. “How would you even know? Last I checked, you were clinging to your V-Card, waiting for Mr. Right.”
“Um, hello, I read.”
“Name the last book you read.”
“You do not want to know,” she mutters. “You aren’t ready for that kind of knowledge. Besides, I can’t answer that. Melody is standing right here.”
“Melody is eighteen and old enough to read dirty books!” our youngest sister shouts in the background, making us both laugh.
“Trust me, you don’t want to know the last book she read!” Harmony cries. “I saw her Kindle. When she dies, I’m not responsible for deleting anything.”
“I hate all of you. One day, you’re going to wish you knew half of what I know,” Lyra retorts, but she can’t hide the smile in her voice. She’s not in the least ashamed of who she is or what she reads, and I love that for her. She and I are polar opposites. I’ve always been more reserved. She lives out loud.
I wish I had her courage.
What’s stopping you? a little voice in the back of my mind asks.
It’s an excellent question. One I don’t really know how to answer. Our parents died when Lyra and I were twenty, leaving us in charge of Harmony and Melody. Lyra managed to keep her sense of identity intact as we tackled college, getting Harmony through her last year of high school and raising Melody… but I’m not sure I did.
