AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I had to hand it to her. She was playing me as hard as I was playing her these days. It felt like a constant challenge to see which one of us would snap first and drag the other into a closet or something.
“I wanted to run something by you while I have you here,” I said to Michael.”
He raised his eyebrows. “What might that be?”
“Well, I know it can be difficult to keep the financial side of a big project—like a movie—organized.”
Now Olivia did grow tense against me. She knew where this was going, I could tell. But I didn’t care—I was going to get it out. This was important.
“I wanted to make you aware that the new version of the Branches app has a special feature for project management,” I said. “It’s designed especially for the needs of people working on large projects who want to track their spending. Maybe you and I could sit down sometime, and I could show you how that works.”
“I’m not sure I’m going to have time for that,” Michael said curtly.
I had expected that response. He hadn’t shown any particular interest in the app so far, and I was ready for it. “I was also thinking,” I said, “that as long as we’re sitting down together, we could talk a little more about my experience with the SEALs. It might help you inform the upcoming shots in the movie, and you could use the information when the time comes to promote the film.”
Now, I had his attention. He nodded slowly. “That might be a good idea,” he said. “It couldn’t help to have more information. And you can bring along your app thing. I’ll take a look.”
“That sounds great to me,” I said, grinning.
“Olivia, will you be joining us as well?” Michael asked.
“Olivia’s not interested in any of that,” I said. “She isn’t going to want to come along. We’ll make it a guys’ night.”
I could practically hear Olivia grinding her teeth, but I also knew she wasn’t going to dispute the point. She wouldn’t want to make it look like the two of us couldn’t get along.
Michael grinned. “That sounds good to me,” he said. “I’ll have my assistant set something up for us.”
Olivia waited until he had walked away, then turned to me. “You have to stop doing that.”
“You don’t want to spend an evening talking about Branches.”
“Nobodywants to do that. That isn’t the point. You have to stop treating me like I’m some glorified secretary, Jake. Like I’m only here to do the grunt work while you and Michael make all the real connections. Remember, Jake, this ismyjob. The only reason you’re here at all is to assist and consult.”
“You wouldn’t have this job at all if not for me,” I reminded her.
She let out a frustrated growl and began to pack up her things. We were done for the day.
At least, we were done with work.
I could feel the tension between us the entire trip home, but it wasn’t apparent how much of it was anger and how much was something else.
Either way, I was glad I was the one driving because when we pulled up in front of my house, she had to get out of the car. I positioned myself between her and the driver’s side door so that she couldn’t hop in and take off. We were going to talk about this.
“Come inside with me,” I said.
She folded her arms across her chest. “Was I not clear?”
“You weren’t anything like clear.” I grabbed her waist and pulled her close; predictably, she allowed it.
“You never tell me to stop this,” I growled, letting my hand dip lower to grip her ass, and she gasped and arched into me, effectively answering any questions that might have been lingering about what she wanted.
“You never tell me to keep my hands to myself. You never pull away from me. Every night after we’ve had work together, you drop me off at my house, and I ask you in, and you tell me no. But if you think I can’t tell how much you want me, Olivia, you’re crazy.”
I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck, forcing her to keep eye contact with me.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” I said with a low voice. “Tell me you want to leave.”
She was panting, her eyes dilated. There was no chance she was going to reply to me, and I knew it.
