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“You had no right to do this!” Will barked. He walked away from her toward the kitchen. She followed. Grabbing a beer from the fridge he turned toward her and glared. “I told you not to mess with my stuff, and what do you do?”
“What did I do?”
“Spill the beans on thousands of dollars worth of prints that aren’t going to be worth jack shit once everyone in the whole world has already seen them.”
“You’re overreacting. You must be.”
“Don’t bet on it.”
He was too angry to talk anymore. One last glare and he brushed past her on the way to his studio, slamming the door after him.
It was innocent. The gesture a favor. Of course she never did anything with Will’s work without his consent, but this move to the museum was everything thing they’d talked about, at least until he left for Alaska. If something had changed, she knew nothing about it. Unfortunately that didn’t hide the fact that she was guilty, and there wasn’t much defense for that, except that she meant well. In her heart of hearts she thought it was an act of kindness taking care of this tiny piece of business that appeared to have slipped through the cracks in his hurry to make the trip north.
She rapped lightly on the studio door an hour later, hoping his rage had died down. Will didn’t answer her knock, the door swung wide instead.
“I’m sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing,” she said.
“I guess you did,” he replied. This admission was comforting, but he hardly looked happy, and there was still no decent welcome home. The best she could say, he was calmer, at least for the moment.
“Maybe you could take it out of my ass?” she proposed. “You probably want to do that anyway.” She tried flirting with the idea, being coy, thinking a little humor might relieve the tension and get them into bed where they belonged.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “When I’m not thinking of what a mess you’ve made of my career, I’m thinking up ways to make you suffer.” His expression was as grim as his words, and not humorous at all.
“Well then, how about taking me to Reggie?” She tried again, but the attempt backfired.
“Hell no!” he snapped. “And why would you say that, anyway? Is that what you want?”
“It’s just a joke. Though right now, I think he’d be easier on me than you.”
“You’re likely right. But right now you can go to your room like the negligent brat you are.”
“And wait until you pass sentence?” she wondered aloud.
Will glared. “Frankly, I’m surprise
d you weren’t out finding some other man to spank your ass.”
“That’s unfair,” she retorted. Any attempts at playfulness quickly lost their inspiration, reminded of one particularly dark hour in their rocky years together.
“Maybe so, but I’ve lost my perspective on this,” he said. “So let me handle that, then I’ll take care of your backside.”
“Why can’t we get it out of the way now?”
“Because we can’t,” he snapped. “You need to suffer and I need to stew.” The nasty flash in his eyes drove her from the room without another word. It was a sinking feeling being caught in Will’s massive web of anger; so, try as she might, she couldn’t escape its grasp, not at least until he’d punished her.
While Alex waited in the bedroom for Will, the phone rang.
Jocelyn’s voice on the other end sounded so sweet.
“So he’s home?”
“I think I’m regretting it,” Alex answered.
“You’re in trouble so soon? You don’t waste time.”
“Don’t kid. This is serious. I screwed up without knowing it, and I haven’t even begun to pay.
Standing in the doorway listening, Will heard the nasty singsong in her voice.
