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“What for?”
“For kicking you out of my cabin.”
“Forget about it.”
He stood with his legs slightly spread and his hands on his hips. If she’d thought he was intimidating before, he was more so now, even in his nakedness. Whatever softness he’d shown her earlier had been shed along with his clothes.
“Jax…”
“I said forget about it, Avery. What’s done is done.”
She felt a deep sense of foreboding. “I had no idea Trevor would show up tonight. If he hadn’t—”
“It was probably good that he did.”
“What? You don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do. We never should have… I shouldn’t have—”
“I kissed you first, Jax.”
He sighed and looked off toward the mountains, which were shrouded in darkness.
In other circumstances, she would have loved to have joined him in the hot tub. It was a beautiful night, and the steam rising out of it made everything look warm and inviting. However, the man standing beside it looked anything but.
“It doesn’t matter who started it; it can’t happen again.”
She recognized that tone. It was his business voice, the one he used with vendors or employees when he was displeased about something.
“I never should have gone to your cabin tonight. If I hadn’t, this never would have happened.”
She was sick of everybody taking the blame for her choices and actions. She was a grown woman who took responsibility for her decisions.
“So, you’re saying you never would have kissed me? Do you really believe that?”
He sighed again, and her gaze was drawn to the expansion and contraction of his broad chest. The fact that he was trying to push her away did nothing to curb her attraction to him.
“I’m your boss, Avery. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of your vulnerability.”
She threw up her hands. “My vulnerability? You’re as bad as Trevor!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized her mistake.
“That’s it. We’re done here.” Averting his eyes, he went over to the radio and turned it off. Then he moved to the back door and put his hand on the doorknob.
“Are you…? Am I…fired?”
He hesitated for a moment and then looked at her. “No, you’re not fired. But from now on, our relationship is strictly professional.”
She swallowed hard and restrained herself from reaching for him. It was almost impossible to imagine that just a short time ago, they’d been wrapped in each other’s embrace. The man who stood before her now was nothing like the man who’d held her, kissed her, and touched her so tenderly.
“Goodnight, Avery,” he muttered. Then he went inside and locked the door behind him, like he was locking her out of his life.
