Read Online House of Payne: Steele by Stacy Gail - Free Book Online Page A

still think you want to talk to him?”
    “I definitely do, even if it’s only for five minutes. I have a great idea for some activewear for this design, but I need to make sure the artist is cool with what I intend to do with it.”
    “Okay, I’ll—”
    “Scout, we’ve got company coming, so drop what you’re doing and listen up.” Payne appeared around the corner along with Ezekiel Steele—or Steele—his aura crackling with intensity. Surprised, Essie’s glance caught Steele’s, and all at once she forgot why she was there.
    Pow .
    The impact of his gaze slammed into her hard enough to punch the air out of her lungs. She heard herself gasp even as her heart sprouted happy-feet and started skipping all over the place. Her hand fluttered to her chest—just in case she needed to perform CPR on herself—and tried to remember when she’d ever had such a profound reaction to someone simply looking at her.
    And he had been looking. His gaze had already been trained on her by the time she’d looked his way, and that fact made her entire nervous system light up. Unlike every other human being on the planet, Steele didn’t seem thrown by her clothing-camouflage that made her invisible. For some reason, this man saw her.
    She liked that.
    A lot.
    Scout arched her brows at Payne’s announcement. “What’s going on?”
    “I just got a call from the personal secretary of one the Royals—”
    “Stop right there.” She held up a hand like a traffic cop. “Kansas City baseball, Buckingham or a cast member from that TV series?”
    “Buckingham. It doesn’t matter who, so I’m not going to say,” he tacked on when Scout’s eyes went huge. Essie deflated and pooched out her lips in a disappointment she couldn’t help. Well, boo. Nothing cool ever happened in her life, but being in the same building with an English Royal was definitely cool. At the very least she’d like to know who it was going to be.
    A low huff of laughter made her glance up, only to find Steele watching—and apparently enjoying—her pouty reaction. The moment she looked up at him, his meticulously kept professional mask slipped even more, and he winked at her.
    Oh… wow.
    Her breath shallowed out and her pulse took off like a rocket. Good grief. Who knew a simple wink from a man could look so damn hot ?
    “All that matters,” Payne was saying while she struggled not to pearl-clutch, “is that we get my schedule cleared for the day.”
    “I take it you’re the one who’s going to be slinging some royal ink?”
    “You got it. They’re going to be here in about an hour, so we need to reschedule the appointment I had, with our apologies and a discount.”
    “As you know, I’m all for catering to our heavy-hitter clients, but I don’t like people getting preferential treatment just because they’ve got crowns and tiaras and shit.” Scout turned her attention back to the calendar displayed on the monitor, tapped the screen twice, then dragged her finger to another box. “You should’ve told them you were booked for the next ten months, and to take a number like everyone else.”
    “Not everyone else can influence the masses by getting a House Of Payne tattoo, so I don’t want to hear any bitching about it.”
    “Yeah, yeah. Is there anything you do want to hear?”
    “Yeah, I want to hear that you’ll help Steele with all the security issues this unexpected visit kicks off.”
    “Right.” Clearly torn between being thrilled with the Royal arrival, and irritated on behalf of all the working-class everywhere, Scout nodded to their chief of security. “What do you need?”
    “No drop-ins will be allowed from now until however long the Royal is in-house.” At last Steele pulled his gaze from Essie to turn his attention to Scout, who’d once again grabbed up her tablet. “I’ve called for more warm bodies to be posted at all points of egress to make sure we control who comes in and out.”
    “Points of egress. Sweet.