“You can’t just stroll in here, all sore from moving furniture, and demand I move in with you.” My voice comes out steadier than I feel.
“No?” He drags his finger across his lips absently, and dammit, I’d really love to kiss those lips right now. The gesture is thoughtless, almost lazy, which somehow makes it worse. Noone has ever come for me before. Granted, I wish he had come three days ago, but I guess I shouldn’t be so picky.
“Yes, I mean, no. You can’t just come for me like I’m a hoodie you forgot at someone’s house.” My hands fly out as I talk, because apparently, my dignity has left the building and taken my composure with it.
A barely there smile pulls at the corner of his mouth. Slow and dangerous, like he knows exactly how much it irritates me. “I don’t wear hoodies.”
“That’s not the point,” I clap back. “Maybe I’ve made other plans.” I stand up straighter, lifting my chin like confidence can be manufactured through posture alone. “Maybe I’ve moved on.”
“Hmm…” He steps into my space, and the masculine scent of soap and pine surrounds me. Ah, fuck me. He’s about to say something very hot or very mean. Either one, I’ll likely enjoy. His shadow falls over me, broad shoulders blocking half the light from the hallway.
“Have you moved on, love? Is that what’s happened?”
I nod. “Yes. I’m moving.” My voice is steady enough to deserve an award.
He takes another step closer so we’re nose to nose. The heat rolling off him is unfair and probably illegal. “No, you aren’t.”
There it is. The blatant, shitty, masculine, territorial behavior that I loved so much in undergrad. The kind that should annoy me on principle and instead lands somewhere much lower in my body.
“Yes, I am. I already have a job.” I puff out my chest, hoping he won’t see past my lie. Hoping he won’t notice the way my pulse skitters when I challenge him.
“Oh, yeah?” I can feel the humor wafting out with the mintiness of his breath. “And where would that be?”
“I’m not telling you?” The answer comes out less confident than I intend, curling upward like a question because even my lies betray me.
He smiles a full-blown smile this time, and it’s seriously annoying. Why must he be this way? Why can’t he just leave me to sulk in my own failures and tuck tail all the way back home?
Because he’s a shit, that’s why.
“You don’t have a job, my love.” He reaches up and finds a piece of hair, wrapping it around his finger in a gentle movement. The softness of it clashes horribly with the arrogance coming out of his mouth. My stomach flips anyway.
“How do you know?”
There’s that damn smile again. “Because no one would hire you without my permission.”
Fuck him and his network of assholes.
I step back, putting some distance between us again. I need air. Possibly holy water. “It’s not in this county. Besides, why do you want me to move in with you? I’ve already cost you a job.” My voice drops on the last part, the bruise of it still tender.
His features darken as if mentioning last weekend is a no-no. The amusement vanishes so quickly it leaves the room colder. “You didn’t cost me a job.” He takes back the space I created. “In fact, you opened quite a few doors for us.”
Wait. Did he just sayus?
The word hangs there. Us. Not a slip. Not an accident. Us.
“Uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I highly doubt Hale & Brooks will ever hire us after what they found out about me.” My throat tightens around the confession I didn’t mean to make. Shame has a nasty habit of sneaking into sentences.
“Hale & Brooks are done.” He chuckles. “They won’t be hiring from Havemeyer ever again.”
Color me intrigued. My irritation tilts sideways into curiosity so fast it gives me whiplash. “What? Why? What did you do?”
“That information will cost you.” He folds his arms across his chest, looking entirely too pleased with himself. Like a man holding matches beside a fire he started on purpose.
Of course, it will. “How much?”
Do I really want to know what happened after I left? Do I want to know why this man seems so confident, like nothing happened this weekend in the Hamptons?
He stands there, calm as a king returning to inspect his land.
