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His face broke into a boyish grin. "Hello, yourself." He casually leaned against the door frame. "Surprised to see me?"
She smiled. "Yes. What are you doing here?"
He raised one eyebrow. "What do you think? You're a hard woman to find. I haven't had any help from your asshole boss. And do you know how many Guillot's are in the book?"
She laughed. "A lot, I would suspect. Has Robert been giving you problems?"
"Yeah, I've called five times and he gets more pissed with each phone call. Yesterday he threatened not to finish my project. And do you know how much I'm paying him? Christ, the guy has it bad for you." He paused and looked at her bare legs in the shorts she wore. "And now the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Does the guy have the right to be that jealous? Or will you have dinner with me tonight?"
Renee was stunned by his bluntness. And irritated with herself for not feeling at least a little bit thrilled. James Cameron was seriously good-looking. And wealthy enough that he must have women beating down his door.
And nothing.
She didn't feel a thing. Nothing except a secret thrill that he thought Robert was jealous. And had it bad for her. Did he? It was such a tempting thought.
She focused back on her visitor. "That's two questions. You said one."
James smiled. "You only have to answer one of them. I just need to know which one it is."
"I really don't know what to say. I think it's a bit premature to say he's jealous. Five times? You spoke to him five times about me? And he was pissed? Truly?" The door opened a bit wider.
James scowled. "You probably don't realize it, but you just answered my question." He reached out and ran a finger down her cheek. "Too bad. You're seriously hot and we could've had a good time together."
A deep, angry voice intruded from behind James. "Cameron, get your mother fucking hands off her."
James's eyes lit up with the challenge and he gave her one last grin as if
he was about to enjoy the confrontation and took his hand from her face. He held his hands up indicating that he was no threat and turned to face an enraged Robert Thibodeaux. "Christ, man, calm down. She shot me down. Where's your off switch, dude?" The two men sized each other up and even though James was backing down from her, he made one last comment in retaliation. "Listen buddy, she doesn't want me, but she damn sure doesn't want you. The lady is dead set on keeping her status as single. I'm leaving." He looked once more at Renee. "You going to be okay with King Kong, here?"
Renee was too horrified to speak. She nodded her head once and watched James leave, sidestepping out of Robert's reach.
She came to her senses all at once and started to slam the door shut. A large hand and a booted foot stopped her. The door pushed open. She stepped back. "Get out of my house."
"Not going to happen, baby." Robert closed and locked the door and leaned back against it. He lounged indolently there, all the while watching her.
Renee tried not to hyperventilate as a barrage of images from the past few weeks pushed through her mind. Him, pushing a mixed drink at her and entwining her hair in his fingers. Her, up against the door in his office as orgasm washed over her. And last night, his fists in her hair as he pushed inside of her.
And that was when he was being gentle. He didn't look gentle now. She moved back another step.
"He can't protect you from me." His voice was deep, guttural. "Nobody can protect you from me."
Renee moved behind the bar and into her kitchen to put some space between them. She dragged in a breath. "Do I n-need p-protection from you?"
She received no answer. She pushed her hair behind her ear and saw her fingers tremble. She was a mess.
Robert pushed off the door and took two steps toward her but stopped when she let out a whimper.
He eyed her up and down and then spoke his mind. "There's one thing we have to get straight before this goes any further."
Her big eyes stayed glued to him but she didn't respond.
He held his ground and attempted to control his tone but his voice still vibrated with jealousy and suppressed sexual tension. "You can't see Cameron. You got that? No lunches, no dinner dates, nothing. I don't even want to catch you talking to him at the office. Understand me?"
She moved her head slightly in a negative motion.
He started advancing on her again. "No?" His voice was a growl. "No? You don't understand, or you think you're going out with him?"
She held up one slim hand to stop him. She was about to come unglued with him stalking her. "Stop!"
