I smacked him on the back of the head. “A little respect.”
“Is that how you treat her—with respect?” His gaze belied his skepticism.
He made a good point, but I didn’t want to hear it. “She knows where we stand.”
He blew out a breath. “You sure about that? Because the way she looks at you says she wants more. That she hopes for more.”
I shook my head. His attitude was grating on me. The idea that he’d want to be injured… I blew out a breath. He didn’t understand. And my conversation with Mark and Liam earlier certainly hadn’t improved my mood.
I stood, nearly toppling my chair in the process. “I’m out of here.”
“Connor.”
“What?” I snapped, struggling to keep my temper in check.
I breathed through my nose.I need a damn pill.
“You forgot your book.” He held it out to me, a concerned look on his face.
I yanked it from his hand and turned before he could say anything more. Though I wanted to march out of there with my head held high, my limp made it difficult to do anything with much dignity.
I was so caught up in my thoughts, I didn’t see the napkin on the floor. I tripped, my leg splaying out, knee burning from the exertion. Fuck.Fuck. Fuck!
Katie rushed over, helping me up from the floor. I could feel everyone’s eyes on us as she steadied me. She shouldn’t be fucking helping me. I shouldn’t need help.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I hissed, the pain radiating through my leg.
“Let me help you.”
“Leave me alone,” I snapped before softening my tone. “Please, just let me do it.”
With a tearful nod, she did as I requested, backing away as everyone else stared at me. I didn’t know which was worse—the questioning stares filled with disappointment, the fact that I’d just barked at Katie, or the pain searing my knee. Fucking mess. I only hoped I hadn’t somehow injured it further.
And while I should’ve apologized to Katie, I couldn’t. Nor did I check in with my doctor. Because I didn’t want to give Mark and Nat and whoever else was “concerned” about me any more ammunition to force me into a desk job. So, I forged on, sucking in a few sharp breaths as I limped back to my office, where I buried myself in paperwork for the rest of the day.
When I returned home, I downed a couple pain pills, ready for the burn to subside. But I had a feeling after today’s little incident, it wasn’t going to go away so easily. I skimmed my emails, noticing a new one from an email address at Igloo Books and frowned. The subject was: Greetings, reading buddy! And my scowl deepened. Fuck water; I was going to need something stronger. I poured myself a whiskey, despite knowing it wasn’t a good idea to mix alcohol with the pain pills. I downed the first, then another before opening the email with a deep sigh.
Dear Connor,
I hope it’s okay that I addressed you by your first name. My name is Olivia, and I’m thrilled to be paired as your reading buddy. First of all, I’d like to thank you for your service and sacrifice.
Here are a few fun facts about me.
I am a voracious reader. I consume about four to five books a week.
I have a cat named Luna.
I love baking, and my friends rave about my chocolate crack cookies.
I hope you’ll enjoy Alone in Alaska as much as I did. I can’t wait to discuss it with you, specifically the themes of isolation and living in the wilderness. I’m sure you can relate to that to some extent, given your training.
Talk to you soon,
Olivia
I rolled my eyes and reread the email. Somehow, I’d ended up with…exactly what I’d expected. A goody-two-shoes book nerd who owned a cat, probably lived alone, and was a thirty-year-old virgin.
