Page 110 of Cozen

“Take your break.”

“I can’t—”

“Yes, you can.”

He snagged her arm in his grasp, and pulled her off the restaurant floor. The patrons whose orders she had been taking before he stepped in didn’t look very pleased to have their server removed.

Oh, well.

Sargon wouldn’t be long with Cozen. He only showed himself to give her a warning, and let her do with it what she wanted. Then, she could go back to work like nothing had even happened.

“What are you doing?” Cozen hissed.

He didn’t let her go until they were at the very end of a back hallway in the restaurant. The offices were further up, but all the doors were closed. For a moment, they had a few seconds of privacy. That’s all Sargon needed.

Once he stopped, Cozen jerked her arm out of his hold. “What in the hell are you trying to pull with manhandling me like that?”

“You weren’t going to come with me.”

Her russet gaze narrowed. “I am working!”

“This is important, Cozen.”

“What is?”

“Jett—that’s what.”

Cozen stilled on the spot. “What about Jett?”

“Whatever little stunt you pulled on him yesterday in your apartment … he’s not pleased about it. The little cat and mouse game you’ve got going on with him? He’s over it.”

“I didn’t pull anything,” she said quietly.

“Nothing?”

“He … kissed me.”

Sargon stiffened a bit. “And what?”

“And it got interrupted by a phone call.”

“Does that happen a lot?”

“What, the kissing or the phone call?”

“Both, I suppose. Him being physical, and interruptions in general?”

“Lately he’s trying to be more physical in his affections,” Cozen said. “And yes, I have been trying to distract them elsewhere if I can.”

Sargon wet his lips, and stared over Cozen’s shoulder at a space down the hall. He didn’t stare at anything in particular, but it gave him a moment to think without looking at her. He couldn’t think properly when he was staring at her.

“What are you doing?” he finally asked.

“I don’t—”

“With him, Cozen. Stop playing this fucking shit with me. Jett is not the kind of man you screw around with. He no longer likes your games, and if you continue to play them with him, you’re going to find yourself in a world of trouble. So just tell me … what is it you want from him?”

“It’s not him,” she muttered.