Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
I want to assure you that we at Maris are diligent about pre-inspecting our cargo. There is no need for an increase in inspection activity involving Maris ships in the North Sea. This will only serve to negatively impact global commerce, as you know.
International inspection agencies had no love for shipping companies and saw all of us as enemies. If I asked for fewer inspections, they’d give me more. And more inspections for Maris meant more for everyone.
The second email was to my counterpart at Bakker Logistiek in Amsterdam, baiting him into rerouting his own ships. The man had loose lips. If I told him, I might as well have told the entire Baltic shipping industry.
Are you experiencing the uptick in inspections on North Sea routes? How’s a man supposed to do business like this? I’m diverting most of my ships through the Kiel Canal for now.
I continued implementing my part of the action plan until Jett returned with a staff member pushing a cart with our meal on it.
Jett instructed the placement of everything and quickly brought me a bottle of water, along with a dose of ibuprofen from his own room. “Or I have coffee. The caffeine might help.”
Once the attendant was gone, Jett nodded toward the pills in my hand. “I didn’t know if you trusted the people here to provide you medicine. There are quite a few… interesting characters among the guests.”
I threw the pills back and swallowed them with a gulp of water. “Who said I trusted you more?”
His eyes blazed up at me for half a second before he realized I was joking. Then he rolled his eyes. “You’d be way less fun to fuck while sedated than you are fully aware. What would my goal be? To steal your fancy chess set that probably has your family crest all over it? Hardly.”
“I do not have a family crest,” I said. “Only a business logo. And I assure you that isn’t carved anywhere on the board.”
Jett’s eyes flicked to the ink on my arm. The company logo I’d caught him tracing with a finger in the middle of the night the other night when he’d thought I was asleep.
The thought reminded me of just how cold my own bed had been last night without him in it. When my work calls had finally ended, I’d considered waking him up and talking it out. Even confessing that I’d almost told him after the vengeful blow job in the shower—when the disappointment in his eyes had nearly brought me to my knees—that I’d wanted him in my bed.
Instead, I’d left him alone. And now I regretted it.
My stress had only grown with the first game session. Playing the game had made it real. Had reminded me there were actual lives at stake.
More of my grandfather’s sayings rolled through my head on repeat.
If you falter, someone else dies for it.
Jett brought over a plate with a very large salad on it.
“What’s this?” I demanded.
The edge of Jett’s lip curved up. “So the bit about grad school was a lie, right? This is a… sal… ad. Say it with me. Sal… ad. Salad!”
I glared at him. This would never get me through the next game session. “Bring me a real lunch.”
He shook his head. “Your actual assistant sent along dietary restrictions for you based on recent bloodwork. Since the evening meals are so rich, you’re expected to eat healthy at lunch.”
Jett looked tickled by my weakness.
“The bloodwork was wrong,” I muttered. “It was taken after a late night and several travel days. This is Roberto’s revenge on me for bogus infractions.”
Jett’s easy laughter helped loosen my shoulders again. He returned to the table and brought another large salad that matched mine. “I chose to join you in solidarity. Mostly because this looked ten times better than the sandwich option they had. Stop bitching and start eating. It’ll help your headache.”
“Mpfh.”
I begrudgingly forked into the pile of weeds, making sure to spear a slice of grilled chicken as well.
“How’d your game go?” he asked after a couple of minutes. “Did you win?”
I shook my head. “A winner’s not declared in a single morning. We play a long game.”
Jett’s fork poked through his salad until it found a strawberry. “When do you pick it back up?”
I watched the strawberry’s route toward his mouth and the way his lips opened to pull it off the tines of the silver fork.
“Hm?” I asked.
“The game. When do you have to be back for it? I can set an alarm.”
I glanced up at his eyes before refocusing on my own food. “They’ll send for me. In the meantime, I need to work.”
“Right. You mentioned I might be able to help?”
I thought about it for a long moment. I’d meant that Jett could help me stay focused and de-stressed. But the man had proven to be remarkably intelligent the other night while learning Paxis. He really could help with this.