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“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, Maeve, I really didn’t. My intention wasn’t to ruin your night.”
“Then why? Why did you do it?”
Silence filled her small office as his expression shuddered. He crossed her arms and drew in a deep breath.
“You’re friends with my sister and Anna…and I’d like to consider myself your friend as well.”
“So, you were acting as my friend when you hurt me?” She couldn’t believe this was happening. Friends. Friend-zoned.
“Dammit, this is coming out all wrong,” he grumbled, his beautiful face pinching, his jaw clenching in aggravation. Why did he have to be sexy even when he was being an ass?
“What I mean is that…well, like Sally, I think of you as a brother would a sister. An overprotective brother who wants to keep his sister safe from men who would use them, hurt them, and then throw them away.”
Now, he thinks of me as a sister?Sister was worse than being friend-zoned. At least as friends, there was a slight chance of there being more. As his sister, it would be impossible. Heart shattered. She should have known.
No man could ever look at her and picture more with her.
But he pictures more with Swan. Yeah, but she wasn’t real. She is. She is you when you aren’t hiding behind your weight and fear.
Standing from her desk, she marched toward him.
“Do you usually look at your sister with disgust on your face?” Angry, frustrated, Maeve couldn’t filter her words. “Do you usually make your sister feel like she was making a fool of herself?”
His eyes wide, his naturally tanned face paled. AJ threw his hands up, waving them frantically. “What? No! That isn’t what I meant. I’m not disgusted by you, Maeve. Far from it. I—”
He cut himself off, his mouth slamming shut.
Deep within her, hope once more sparked to life. He wasn’t disgusted by her. Far from it. What was he going to say that made him clam up like that?
“What do you mean, AJ? If I don’t disgust you, what could you possibly have to say that will make this all better? Because from where I was standing on Saturday night, you thought I was too fat and ugly to be shaking my ass and begging those men for attention.”
His eyes narrowing, their emerald depths turning to green fire, he growled, “That’s bullshit, and you know it! You’re fucking gorgeous, Maeve. A total goddamn knock out. And I was pissed that all those men were too close, and you were too naïve to realize the danger you were in.”
Her mouth dropped open as she gasped.
Her voice came out thready, breathy, like she’d just run a mile. “You think I’m gorgeous?” she asked…then the rest of his words clattered through her hazy brain. “Wait…you think I’m naïve?”
“Not naïve as much as…reckless. In the office, you’re this quiet, unassuming…mouse. It’s like you hide and hope no one notices you. Then, at Velvet, you were…someone else. And I couldn’t believe that you could possibly know what you were getting yourself into. Sally and Anna pushed you too far—”
Mouse.
Mousy Maeve.
Brown and boring and small and quiet.
And forgettable.
Hurt turned to vitriol in her blood, rising into her chest to burn right through her fear. Maeve growled, her eyes narrowing on the asshole standing before her. “Watch it! Those women did nothing but pull me out of my shell and help me feel amazing. At first, yeah, I was uncomfortable. That dress wasn’t my first or hundredth choice of attire. But once we got there, and I started having a good time, I actually felt good about myself for the first time in a long time.” She watched his expression harden, his nostrils flaring. His green eyes darkening. Maeve stepped toward him once more, raising a single finger, and poking him in his hard chest. “Then you came and ruined everything. Why would you do that?” Poke. “What right did you have to step in where you weren’t wanted? Despite whatever fucked up idea you have in your head, I am not your goddamn sister. And, right now, I don’t even want to be your friend.” Poke.
He grabbed her finger, holding it captive against his chest where his heart was racing. Her breath caught—his eyes peered down at her, dark and devastating.
“You don’t want to be my friend, Maeve? Well that’s too fucking bad, because you can’t be anything else, despite how goddamn sexy you are. Despite how much I wanted to rip off that fucking red dress and devour you. Despite how many times I’ve fucked my own hand, thinking about those curves of yours wrapped around me, beneath me.”
Maeve couldn’t think, couldn’t speak. She could only breathe, her chest heaving with the increase in blood flow as lust flooded through her body.
“Y-you don’t mean that,” she rasped, the words escaping in short gasps.
AJ stepped closer, his height making her look up. She blinked, unable to fathom what the hell was happening. She was in her office with AJ…and something was happening between them.
