Page 70 of More Than Words

He grabbed the phone, his eyes frantically scanning while his mouth dropped open.

“Holy shit. Check your email.” He didn’t even bother looking up, continuing to scroll down whatever he was looking at.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my work phone, surprised at the notification waiting.

Chase Rodgers and Evan Stineman have shared a PDF with you.

They were done already. Holy shit was right.

Wanting to stay ahead of things, I pulled up her name in my contacts and pressed the call button. Adrian pulled his phone up to his ear across the table at the same time. Clearly, he needed to talk to his wayward author about what was in that PDF as much as I did with mine.

“Adrian is already losing his shit over this.” I didn’t even bother with a greeting when she answered, just jumping straight into it as Adrian spoke animatedly into his phone. “We’ve worked together a long time, Chase. Pitch me.”

“Sexy thriller centered on a Dominatrix and her long-term sub with a serial killer who keeps going after her clients one by one. She doesn’t know who to trust until her sub disappears and she’s kidnapped with no hope of escape.”

“So, it’s one of your feel-good rom coms,” I teased, watching Adrian across the table. While he would have been skeptical of this kind of storyline a few months ago—automatically dismissing it because it wasn’t Evan’s usual niche—I had a feeling he would be all in on this project.

“Evan’s freaking out a little bit, so please tell Kristine to be gentle with him. Whatever Adrian is saying has him almost pulling his hair out.”

The server returned with our food, and I rushed Chase off the phone with a promise to send the pitch through to Sloane. Adrian ended his call with Evan moments later and grinned at me across the table.

“Eat up, babe. We’ve got a book to pitch. And some serious reading to do. Did you see the word count?”

“I didn’t open it yet, but I’m sure the detailed sex scenes Chase is known for will push it over a hundred.” She left nothing purely to the imagination.

“A little long, but I think we can make it fit.”

“Yeah, we can,” I teased with a wink, grasping his hand across the table. Adrian looked almost proud that I was the one making the inappropriate comment this time.

“Spend the night at my place tonight?” he asked, his hand turning to lace with mine. “This might dampen my plans for you, but I think it’s probably good to read this one where we can talk about plot points in person.”

“If it’s as hot as I’m expecting, you probably don’t want your first read through to be in the office.”

“Think I can’t handle a little spice?”

I shook my head, signaling the server and handing him my credit card. “Can we get this boxed up to go?”

Adrian tilted his head as I picked up my work phone to fire off a few texts to Kristine and Sloane that I’d be out of the office for the rest of the afternoon.

“We still have time to eat. It’s not that time-sensitive.”

“You know you’re not going to sit on that document. You’ll be itching to skim that PDF in five minutes, so we might as well dive into it.”

He grinned, grabbing the bag of our food while I put away my card and pulled up the Uber app. “You’re probably right. What’s the plan?”

“You head back to the office and settle whatever you need to work from home tomorrow. I’ll go home to pack a bag and meet you at your place. You’re gonna want me there when you go through it.”

He’d be horny as fuck at work if we read it there, and while it was fun to skirt the line of professionalism, I wasn’t getting caught doing something at the office with this promotion on the table. And he was going to want to do something after reading that manuscript. Or more specifically, someone.

“Don’t trust me to behave myself with the comment feature?”

“No,” I laughed. “I don’t trust you to not try to fuck me on my desk.”

His eyes widened, and he almost choked on air, his Adam’s apple bobbing while he tried to regain his composure.

“You don’t think I can control myself?”

“I know you can’t. And this way you won’t have to. And neither will I.”

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