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“Suit yourself.” Turning, she walked towards the futon where she discarded her down jacket and purse, then retrieved her suitcase, and sat it on a chair.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m packing to take the first flight back to Chicago.”
“I don’t think you understand.” Reece stepped inside, closing the front door behind him, standing where he was.
Pivoting on her heels, she looked at him, frowning.
“It is my intention to remain here at the cabin, but with you.”
The pompous ass. He had another thing coming if he believed she was going to endure him and his monumental ego a minute longer.
“I’m a free agent, and I’ll go wherever I please. Nobody tells me what to do.”
“You’ll make an exception this time.”
Had the cold weather outside frozen his brain? How did he think to force her to share the cabin with him? Did he intend to tie her to a chair? That would be about the only trick he could resort to, to make sure she stayed.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Jess asked, genuinely curious to know.
“I have my reasons.”
“Am I supposed to guess them?”
From the dark look he gave her, Jess could see Reece was already starting to lose his temper. Tough. He, along with Johnny and LeeHanne, had organized this nice reunion without consulting her, it was only fair she gave him a hard time.
“I came all the way here because I feel like we need to spend some time together, and really get to know each other.”
“Did LeeHanne coach you on what to say?”
“Why?”
“Those are words only she would use. Hearing you say them sounds funny.”
His face grew, if possible, even more taut. In his onyx eyes a storm was raging. She knew she was pushing him to his limit, but was so mad, she couldn’t stop herself.
“I’m not leaving until Sunday, and you, my dear, will remain here with me.”
“Maybe the message I left for you on my front door wasn’t clear enough. I don’t want to see you again. I have too much respect for myself to be your part-time whore.”
“Yeah, the message. We’ll get to that later. For right now, I swear to God, Jess, that I’ll chase you to hell and back if you so much as take to that door without me knowing where you’re going. And when I’ll find you, because I will, I’ll make sure you’ll regret every single minute I wasted chasing you.”
She paled, recoiling under the impact of his words. A dangerous light danced in his eyes. Jess had seen it before, and knew it meant business.
Reece took advantage of her momentary silence to drill his point home. Stepping so close to her that their clothes brushed, Reece leaned down, looking at her with a piercing stare.
“All I need to do is touch you, and you’re lost. And that’s precisely what I’ll do if you ever dare to run away from me again. I will touch you…intimately. I’ll make you beg for me,” Reece threatened. His voice was heavy with desire.
Panic struck. He could delude himself that by sharing the confining space of the cabin they could get to know each other in a deeper, platonic way, but Jess was too pragmatic to believe that. If he remained there with her, their physical obsession with each other would certainly get in the way, making them end up in bed together.
What if she ran away instead? Jess sighed. Reece had told her he would chase her down, and she believed him. Besides, where would she go? Her whole life was in Chicago, and she didn’t really wish to start a new one somewhere else.
Her boss at The Edge had recently proposed to her to buy the salon, because he and his partner wanted to move to California by the end of the year. Jess was tempted to accept, but was also afraid to take such a life-changing step. She liked her job, liked the people she worked with, but what if she couldn’t meet the challenge? What if once she’d bought the salon she wasn’t able to run it, and was forced to close it? The thought of leaving her colleagues without a job was the reason she’d not accepted her boss’s offer right away. Seeing her indecision, he’d then suggested she take some time off work to make up her mind, and she’d come to Fairbanks.
Again Jess looked at Reece's uncompromising stance. Presently, the only option left to her –which wasn’t really an option, was relent, and let him stay. But how could she prevent them from ending up in bed together? Perhaps they could go out often, engaging in activities involving other people and open spaces.
Gritting her teeth, she looked at him with undiluted hatred. Once more, but this time with LeeHanne’s help, he’d forced his will on her, deciding on her behalf, bullying his way into her life. But Jess silently vowed to him this would be the very last time it happened, the consequences be damned.
