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“I don’t knowwhat he’s talking about.”
Mulaney grabbed my arm as soon as she caught me in our room.
I spun, clutching the thumb drive with evidence I wasn’t so keen to look at. “How could you not tell me about a big project? You always come to the three of us for everything. Or at least, I thought you did. It has nothing to do with approval and more to do with being a team. A family. We’ve always had each other’s backs.”
“I’m not the only one,” she shouted.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Her slender face turned a shade of red that didn’t look healthy. “You waited weeks sometimes to sign off on projects. I lost out on a huge deal in South Texas because of it, so you can’t blame me for taking matters into my own hands on a few occasions.”
“I’ve signed everything that you put on my desk, and nine times out of ten I did it before whatever else was waiting. If I questioned anything I immediately came to you, so I’m not sure where you get off accusing me of holding you up.” I loosened the top buttons on my shirt. “And I did sign the papers for that South Texas project.”
“A week later,” she cried, throwing her hands up.
“Bull. I signed them as soon as I saw them,” I said. “If I was holding you up, why didn’t you ask me about it? Since when have we had a communication breakdown?”
“You know when.” She looked away, her temper curbed.
“Apparently it was better for you to lose a project than have to talk to me.” I unzipped my suitcase to keep myself busy so I didn’t feel how much that stung. “I couldn’t have signed the papers any faster. I’m telling you, I did it as soon as I had them.”
“I thought you were punishing me,” she said quietly.
I balled a pair of flannel pajama pants in my hands. “Is that how little you think of me?” The jabs just kept on coming to the point I wasn’t sure how many more times I could duck to avoid them.
“This wasn’t the first time you’d done something like this.”
I yanked on my hair. “Mulaney, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She bristled. “Never mind. Let me brush my teeth, and then we’ll go through what Drew found to see if we can make sense of it.”
She grabbed her toiletry bag from her suitcase and disappeared into the bathroom. I finished unbuttoning my shirt and shrugged it off before doing the same. Her eyes flared when she caught sight of me in the bathroom mirror.
“Ever heard of privacy?” The glob of toothpaste sitting on her brush fell into the sink.
“Nope.” I unscrewed the cap on mine and replenished hers. She shuddered as my chest grazed her back.
“I’m outta here first thing in the morning.” She tried to escape but I didn’t move.
“I know. We’re going to work.”
“I meant this living arrangement.”
“If that’s what you want.” I shrugged as if indifferent, but I’d do what it took to keep her here. I had no clue she’d missed business opportunities, especially from me not signing off on anything. Our issues ran deeper than I’d imagined.
She paused brushing and our eyes met. This woman stirred something in me no one else ever had, and the years had done nothing to diminish it. I was irritated, a lot of it directed at her, but my strong feelings for her cut right through my annoyance. She resumed brushing her teeth, her strokes more aggressive.
“This is cozy, isn’t it?”
She choked, spitting toothpaste in the sink. I smiled innocently at her before shoving my toothbrush in my mouth.
Heartbreaker glared at me with an intensity I’d only ever seen in her.
“This is temporary.”
“Guess so since you’re headed out in the morning,” I said around my toothbrush.
“It’s my brother’s apartment. You should be the one to go.”
