Page 83 of No Longer Safe

Baby, don’t tempt me, I’ll be over in a few minutes if you keep that up.

I closed my eyes and palmed myself through my thin pants. I only had so much self-restraint.

Audrey

Don’t bother, I can take care of myself.

Show me.

A picture of a bright pink vibrating toy appeared almost instantly like she’d been waiting for me. I bit into my fist and threw myself back onto my pillows. She was going to kill me tonight.

That’s not what I was asking for.

Audrey

But it’s what you’re getting.

It was enough to send me over the edge. This woman was going to be the death of me.

Chapter Fifty-Three

Audrey

Lu was waitingfor me on our usual park bench the next day. She was grinning ear to ear, practically bouncing in her seat. I rolled my eyes as I sat down next to her. “Did you get the book you’ve been raving about for weeks now?”

“You got it!” She let out a squeal and a group of people looked at us with strange expressions. I wanted to flip them off, it was such the New Yorker way but I kept my hands down at my sides.

“What?” I wasn’t quite sure I heard her right.

“You got the book.”

“Which book?” I hadn’t been trying to preorder one, had I?

She grabbed my hands in her much smaller ones. “You got the Keeper’s Eye!”

The book I’d been working on. The one I’d given back to her just a few days ago. “What do you mean I got it?”

She let go of me and grabbed one of her curls to twist around her finger. “It was risky but I knew you were worth the risk. We hadn’t secured the title yet. The author wanted to see one of our editor’s styles, so I took a chance on you. She accepted you as her editor like two hours later.”

My eyes bugged out of my head. “What do you mean? Wait, I’m her editor?! Wait!!”

She jumped from the bench and pulled me into a hug. “My dad is super pissed and told me I have to shadow you the entire time, but we are doing it and you have the job!”

“Lu, I didn’t realize I was going for the job.” I blinked and frowned. “Your dad? Which company?”

Her lips formed a perfect O shape. “James & Evers.”

“Lu…”

Little publishing house my ass. That was one of the biggest publishing houses in the world. “Your dad owns James & Evers?”

She rolled her lips. “Surprise?”

I didn’t know if I was thrilled with her or absolutely pissed. “Look, I just didn’t want you to think of me differently. I wanted to be known for how good I am as an editor, not how good my dad is in corporate America.”

“I can understand that.”

I nodded my head and stared at the busy streets of the city. “James & Evers? Really? I’m working at James & Evers?”

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