Page 37 of On Your Knees

I hear the tease in her voice. She normally calls him Ridge, but he got pissy and now demands she call him Mr. Ellington at work.

His jaw goes tight. “Have you seen Zee at all today?”

“Can’t say I have. You haven’t seen him anywhere, Arlo?”

I shake my head.

“He stole my fucking shoes.” Both Aspen and I look down, and Aspen laughs at his socked feet. “He left me these sorry excuses for shoes.”

He holds up a pair of chucks and I sheepishly look down at my own worn pair.

“How can I go to a meeting wearing his shoes?”

She smirks at him. “You have an assistant, right? Ask her to go get you a new pair.”

That makes him chuckle and smile at her. I don’t think I have ever seen the man smile.

“Mine are custom-made, and I won’t send a random woman to my house.”

“Hmm, it sounds like you’re in a real pickle. Maybe you need to hunt down Zeland—I mean Mr. Reid-Ellington—or wear his shoes. I happen to think a man in a suit with chucks is hot.”

“Somehow, I don’t think Ford Wells will think I’m hot.”

“Would you like me to call him and see if he will tell me where he is?”

Ridge nods, and Aspen pulls out her phone and holds it to her ear. He must answer because she smiles.

“Where are you?... Oh, I know you did. He is here, annoying me while I’m trying to work... It’s irrelevant if he’s hot when he is mad. He has a meeting with Mr. Wells and needs his shoes... How much caffeine have you had today?” She lowers her voice. “No, I will not repeat that. Unlike you, he can actually fire me. Stop laughing, asshole.”

She ends the call. “Sorry, he said, and I quote, ‘You are being an uptight and overbearing asshole and need to loosen up.’ And apparently he knows exactly how to make you loose.”

I suck my lips into my mouth as Ridge runs a hand over his face. “I’m going to murder him. And you are required upstairs in an hour.”

She raises a brow at him.

“Ford’s fiancée would like to meet you,” he grumbles. “Don’t ask questions—this is all Zee’s fault.”

She shrugs. “Fine. I suggest you find Zeland and make him eat something. He has a case of severe crackhead energy today.”

I laugh and Ridge cuts me a glare, so I avert my eyes to anywhere but him, which helps to calm my nerves. Instead of listening in, I busy myself with tasks that need to be done.

“Sorry about that,” Aspen says. “Being friends with the bosses has its downfalls.”

“You’re friends with them? I thought maybe you were seeing one of them.”

Aspen bellows out a throaty laugh. “Oh god no. Me in a relationship? I’m a walking red flag and I have commitment issues out the wazoo. And I probably have daddy issues as well. I’m too headstrong to deal with things I’d rather avoid, plus my anger issues could be a major problem. I honestly think there is something wrong with me.”

“You seem fine to me,” I say, fiddling with the controller in my hands.

She smiles at me. “That’s because you only see me in my happy place. Wait until I’m pissed off—I throw punches first and ask questions later. Though everyone I have ever punched deserved it. I don’t hit innocent people.”

I have never met a woman like her before—the kind who doesn’t throw herself at the rich men and talks to me like she wants me around. Most women look down at me like I’m some sort of loser they were dumped with just because I’m obsessed with video games, watch way too many animated TV shows, and love my mother.

Chapter Fourteen

Aspen

Throwing up before you’re about to film content is not great. Zeland holds my hair back while I dry retch into the toilet bowl.

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