Chapter 5
five
. . .
Georgia
I gasped and gaped and made all sorts of dramatic sounds before I found my voice. “Have I heard of Mara Skye?”
“That’s what I asked. Yes.” He raised a brow, lips pursed as those dark brown eyes drilled into me.
“Is the sky blue? Is Mrs. Runither an old horndog?” I threw my free hand in the air, trying to think of an even better example. “Are you a stubborn, infuriating man?”
He barked out a laugh. An actual laugh. It was almost more shocking than the question he’d just asked me.
“Well, I don’t know who the fuck Mrs. Runither is, but I’m guessing she’s a horndog. What’s your point, Tink?”
I liked the nickname that he called me. It was cute, and it meant he was getting comfortable with me, even if his moods were giving me whiplash.
“Mara Skye is the most brilliant author I’ve ever read. She’s my unicorn. A definite one-click author for me.”
“I don’t know what any of that means, but it sounds good. How would you like to take a look at the first three chapters of an unread manuscript that was submitted to us?”
I started walking in circles and taking deep breaths because if you had told me three weeks ago that I’d be here, I would never have believed it.
I was going to read the unread chapters of Mara Skye?
What universe was I living in? It wasn’t that long ago that I was in a bar fighting with my psychotic ex, who was singing there with his band, as he refused to tell me where my car was.
And now… I was working at Lancaster Press as the personal assistant to the sexiest, most annoying man on the planet, and he was going to let me read these secret chapters.
Hells to the yes.
“I would love to read them.” I came to a stop, my legs a little wobbly from all the turning, but I let out a long sigh.
His lips turned up in the corners just the slightest bit, which I’d come to learn was as much of a smile from Maddox Lancaster as you’d ever get.
“I just emailed it to you. But, this is for your eyes only. You can’t share this with anyone.
And Nadia is looking at it now, as well, and she won’t be thrilled to know I let my admin see it, so you only report back to me. Got it?”
“Got it, Bossman. You won’t regret this. I will give you detailed feedback.” I saluted him with my free hand.
“I’m sure you will.”
I hurried out of his office and raced over to my desk, setting his empty mug beside me. I pulled up the manuscript and started reading.
And just like that, I was in Ireland, and it was 1933.
This woman was the most captivating writer I’d ever read. I was enthralled. I wanted more.
And hello, Captain Jory Walker.
Her heroes were always a little bit alpha with a side of chivalry and a heavy splash of dirty talk.
I typed up my notes, reread them three times, and then sent them to Maddox.
The rest of the morning flew by, and I hurried downstairs for my twenty-minute championship ping-pong game. The defending champion always played the new contender each day, and so far, I’d stayed at the top of the list since my first day working here.
Thanks to my über-competitive siblings, I could handle the pressure. When we played games, we played to the death, and I didn’t scare easily.
I went back and forth with Freddy, one of the marketing guys, for a very short time, and I beat him so quickly that everyone was giving him a hard time.
“Sorry, Freddy. I was just on my A game today.” I winced.
“Don’t apologize, Georgia. You swear you haven’t played competitively?” he asked, and everyone laughed.
I loved the office environment. It was a lot of fun.
Of course, you had your office buzzkills, as every company did.
Nadia Wright being at the top of that list. She was in her mid-sixties, had a really wicked case of resting sourpuss face, and she wasn’t a fan of the games or the laughter going on during our lunch break—or anything, really.
“Nope. But I do think the pickleball competitions prepared me for our ping-pong tournaments,” I said over my laughter.
“Maybe you’re just talented at everything,” Craig purred. The man was a total flirt. He’d moved here from the city as part of the marketing team, as well. He was good-looking, and he knew it.
“Is that the best you can come up with?” Sydney rolled her eyes. She was my favorite new friend at the office. She was my age, had also moved here from the city, and was our social media expert. She worked on all the graphics and teasers for the company.
I glanced up to see grumpy Nadia coming down the stairs from her meeting with Maddox, and I glanced down at my phone to check the time.
“Got to go, guys. I’ll see you on my next break.” I waved and rushed away, and my booties clacked as I ran up the metal stairs before setting my phone on my desk.
“Tink, get in here!” my boss shouted from his office, and I hurried inside. The man was impatient and demanding, yet I kind of loved it. I could handle anything he threw at me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, and he motioned for me to close the door and come inside.
“Take a seat.” He pulled something up on his monitor and then looked at me from the other side of his desk. “I read through your notes about the Mara Skye book. You really liked it that much?”
“Like is an understatement. I think it’s going to be her best yet. Did you read it?”
“I did. I liked it, too. But Nadia didn’t care for it, nor is she a fan of Mara’s work.”
My eyes bulged out of my head. The woman specialized in historical romance, and she didn’t like Mara Skye? “I think Nadia Wright should change her name to Nadia Wrong.”
He barked out a laugh, and the sound was so startling I couldn’t help but laugh along with him. That was twice today that he’d laughed. I wanted to pat myself on the back for this enormous accomplishment.
“Nadia has an issue with self-published authors to begin with, so I have a hunch that might have more to do with it than the actual writing.”
“Yeah. She seems pretty tough to please.” I rolled my eyes. “Mara’s writing is all-consuming. No one pulls me in quite like her, and this new book did it in spades. The only other person that can hook me that quickly is my cousin.”
“I’d like to talk to her at some point, if you ever want to make that happen. We’d love to work with her on her next series, but her agent isn’t a fan of my grandfather because he turned down a few submissions that she’d felt strongly about. But I’m here now, so maybe she’d reconsider?”
“I can get you a meeting, for sure. I can’t promise you anything more than that, but she’d meet with you without question. She’s the best.”
“Aren’t you just full of surprises?”
“I try to be,” I said, pushing to my feet. “Trust me, you don’t want someone else to get this book with Mara. She’s the best of the best.”
“I’ll make the call now and inquire about taking the next step. But I’ve got an issue at the moment, and I need you to figure it out.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I have a Zoom meeting with the board of directors in an hour, and I left my sports coat at home this morning. Hilda’s sick, so she’s not there to run it over to me, and I have a call with Arthur Hobbs in five minutes, so I don’t have time to leave.”
“Give me your keys,” I said, moving toward his desk. “I’ll go pick it up. Just tell me where it is and what you want, and I’ll be back before you know it.”
He narrowed his gaze as he studied me. “How do you know where I live?”
“It’s Cottonwood Cove, Bossman. You bought the largest house in town. Everyone knows where you live.”
He squeezed the back of his neck and nodded. “All right. I’ll text you the code to the gate to get onto the property and then the code for my keypad on the garage. Primary bedroom is downstairs, and my closet is off the bathroom.”
“I think I’m capable of finding the closet.” I placed my hands on my hips. “What am I bringing back?”
“My sports coats are all together on the far-left side of the closet. Get me the navy tweed coat. And don’t be snooping around,” he said, raising a brow, but his lips twitched again, which meant he was teasing me.
“I’ll make a deal with you. Get me a few more chapters of Mara’s book, and I’ll be back with that jacket in no time.”
“Oh, you’re calling the shots now?”
“I think you know talent when you see it. That’s all I’m saying,” I said, walking backward toward the door.
The way his eyes roamed my body had me squeezing my thighs together. He unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them up a few times, exposing his forearms, and the move was so sexy I nearly lost my balance, but I straightened quickly.
“Go. Get back before my meeting,” he demanded, and I pulled the door closed behind me.
I grabbed my coat and hurried back downstairs and slipped onto Scooty.
Yes, I’d named him. I grew attached to things easily.
I pulled my helmet on over my hat and dropped my purse into the basket behind my seat.
Luckily, it wasn’t snowing anymore, and the sun was out.
I slipped on my sunglasses and made my way to the big house on top of the hill.
I glanced around a few times, making sure my siblings weren’t on the road.
I’d managed to keep Scooty hidden thus far.
Hugh would have a fit if he found out I was riding a scooter to work.
He thought the Lancasters were sending a car for me each morning, which was why I had to get out of the house so early before they caught me running down the street to my scooter.
Just another day in the life of a girl who had to hide the fact that her ex-boyfriend had stolen her car.