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“Send me a check—whatever you want.” She shifted impatiently. Almost desperately. “I have to go.”
He’d had enough. It was time to get to the real issue. “If anyone has the right to be angry about last night, it’s me.”
“This has nothing to do with that. Please move.”
She had yet to look him in the eye, so he moved closer and accused, “Liar.”
Now her gaze lifted. “No. And that’s exactly the reason I can’t work for you. Move.”
He frowned. “I thought we put that behind us.”
“Move or I’ll scream.”
“Yeah, right.”
Eyes locked with his, she drew in a deep lungful of air as if preparing to make good on her threat. Fine. With a mocking smile—partly directed at himself—he shook his head and stepped back out of the office, sweeping his arm wide. She wanted to leave that fricken bad, let her.
He watched her stalk away, his gaze lingering on the curve of her hips and her long-ass legs. If only he could smack himself the way she’d smacked him that one day, maybe he’d be able to—
“Where’s she going?”
Justin glanced toward Jordan’s office to find his brother watching Marley the way he had been. His fist clenched at his side to keep from smacking his brother and he shoved both hands into his pockets for added security. “She quit.”
Jordan’s jaw dropped as the elevator doors slid closed with Marley inside. “What if we get the job?”
“We got it already. I just got off the phone with Tess Kemen.”
“Then why’d she quit?” He rounded on Justin with an accusing look. “What did you do?”
Justin leveled a dark glare at him before turning for his office. “Nothing. Not a gol’ damned thing.”
“Justin—”
He spun around, gripping the door hard to keep from slamming it in his brother’s face. “You want to chase her and beg her to come back, go ahead. I’m not doing it again.”
“And the Jenkins job?”
“Figure out what you want to pay her for the design and send her a check.” When Jordan looked ready to protest, Justin added, “Her suggestion, not mine.”
He lost the battle and let the door fly. It closed with an unsatisfactory bang that shook the pictures on the wall.
What right did she have to be mad? He was the one who’d been deliberately seduced, shot at and then ordered to leave! About the only thing she could’ve taken offense to was him calling her family crazy. But where the hell was the comparison in that? If you asked him, they were darn lucky he hadn’t called the cops on their NRA-loving butts. He glanced at the door as he sat at his desk, wondering if Jordan had gone running after her.
“Work,” he mumbled, reaching for a project folder. “That’s what I need to focus on.”
He spent more time in the next half hour telling himself to get to work than he did actually working. A knock at his door brought welcome relief, until a second later when he wondered if Marley had come back. Sitting up straight with his heart thumping, he told himself it didn’t matter. But if it was her, she owed him an apology.
A Wade entered his office, but it wasn’t Marley. The resulting surge of disappointment mocked him, fueling his aggravation with himself and the man invading his space.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Justin growled as Nate shut the door. He rose to his feet, prepared to toss the guy right out of the buildin
g.
Looking a bit nervous, Nate hesitated.
Justin started around the desk, smiling grimly when Nate took a step back.
“Not so brave without that damn gun,” Justin said.
