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“We meet again,” I say, sliding a long silky strand of hair from her face as a breeze catches it.
She smacks at my hand.
“I didn’t give you permission to touch my hair.”
“It’s more fun this way.” But I drop my hand, the softness of that impulsive, unconscious touch is still there. “Loosen up, okay?”
“Are you going to tell me to smile next?”
“Maybe?”
She’s like an angry cat, and her claws are more of a turn-on than I’m ever going to admit.
“Then again, I’m fond of my balls, so no, I’m not about to do that. Want to get dinner?”
It’s lunchtime.”
“Lunch isn’t as fun. Dinner has more possibilities . . .”
She bristles. She actually bristles. It’s a vibrating thing that fascinates me and makes me want to push further, poke a little deeper, and have some fun.
“I wouldn’t have dinner with you if you were the last man on the planet.”
Now I narrow my eyes. I don’t know what the fuck I’ve done to her, but it’s something. Or maybe this is what she’s like.
“You want to skip straight to sex then?”
“Asshole.”
“That was a joke.”
“Of course, it was.” The bitterness is real.
Now, I’m completely lost and annoyed. I’m not a fool. There are women who don’t like me or want me. I’ve been turned down a small handful of times. But this is different. This is bordering on something because she likes me. Is attracted to me, I amend.
I can see it, feel it in the air when we’re near each other. And yet . . .
She keeps giving me the big shove off, and I don’t fucking like it.
But I’m thinking I can have fun. Push all her buttons. Turn it into a game and piss her the hell off whenever I can. I do anyway, so I might as well go for it.
“I’ll wine and dine you first,” I say. “Just make sure you’re wearing black panties. Lace. I’m interested to see if the drapes match or if there are any at all.”
And then, I give her a lazy salute and head back to my office.
Edgemere is hot, sunny, and humid. I hate the dry humidity. Unfortunately, I took it upon myself to check into this situation with Alpine. Edgemere isn’t where the headquarters of Alpine Energy is located, but it holds one of its branches.
It’s what worries me, what brought me here.
Not that they have branches. I expect these types of things to have offshoots and subsidiaries. No, what worries me is on paper, Alpine looks to be local. State local, but since the letter Dakota got stating someone is coming to town to talk, I’ve been doing some deep digging.
Lawson’s wildcat also showed me offers of outrageous sums of money, and a few letters that just might, if one were to take them a certain way, sound vaguely threatening.
I suspect she hasn’t shown Lawson these. He might shoot and arrest first and never ask questions.
The vaguely threatening ones are more to do with how a business in our out-of-the-way town just might easily go under.
I check my watch, grab my computer, and stretch out on the bed. It’s after five, so I won’t be seeing anyone until the morning.
