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“Lena, look at me,” he growls.
“No.” I sniffle.
“Lena,” he warns in that hard voice—that Dad voice of his I’m beginning to think of it as— not that I’ll ever tell him that.
“Look at me, right now,” he snaps.
I do. I turn to him and he peers between my eyes. His jaw flexes. The muscles above his cheekbones flex. A sure sign he’s gritting his teeth. If he does this too many more times he’s going to crack a molar.
A teardrop squeezes out from the corner of my eye and he looks stricken.
“Lena, please.” He reaches over, and before I can pull out of his reach—not that I want to, which is why I’m a second too late—he’s already brushing the space below my eyes.
“Don’t cry, please.” His voice sounds anguished.
“I’m not crying.” I shove his hand away and swipe at my face, then paste a fake smile on my lips. “See? No more tears.”
"That’s a terrible smile.” His own lips quirk a little.
“Yours isn’t much better,” I point out.
He wipes the half-smile off his face and narrows his gaze. "Let me help you, Lena. All you have to do is tell me you want to leave him, and I’ll support you in this. I’ll talk to him on our behalf—"
"Don’t you dare.” I shake my head. “Don’t say anything to him, JJ, please don’t." I lock my fingers together. "Promise me you won’t breathe a word of this to him."
"Breathe a word of what?" a new voice says. Both JJ and I turn to find Isaac standing in front of the cubicle.
JJ straightens.
I stiffen. The blood rushes to my cheeks. I jump up, brush past JJ and head to Isaac. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you.”
"To see me?" I blink.
"I was in the building dropping off the first set of my paintings for Jillian to take a look at.”
“You were here to meet my HR manager?” JJ asks.
“You did ask me to use her as my point of contact,” Isaac points out, before turning to me. “I thought I’d come by and see how you were doing." He glances between me and his father. "Guess I’m not the only one who had that idea."
My cheeks warm further. I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t.I was only entertaining sinful thoughts about your father, that’s all.I shove my hair back from my face. "I won’t be done for hours more."
"And I was just leaving." JJ nods toward Isaac, then walks past the both of us. My heart flutters in my chest. And all because he brushed past us. Apparently, not even the fact that his son, my boyfriend, is standing near me is going to tamp down this magnetic pull his father exudes over me.
Isaac searches my features. "Are you okay? You look flushed."
To be fair I’m probably flushed because I’m tired and hungry so I don’t need to lie to him but what comes out is, "Ah, it’s only because the air-conditioning here hasn’t been working properly." Jeez, talk about having a guilty conscience.
"Oh yeah?" He looks around the space. "Feels fine to me."
"Have you eaten dinner?" I blurt out.
"Eh?"
"Dinner?" I mimic shoveling food into my mouth.
"Not yet."
