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“Shh,” I whispered against her ear, delving my fingers into her hair.
She moaned as I massaged, her stiff body relaxing immediately. I alternated between using my fingertips and fingernails, working my way over her scalp and down her neck.
Her head lolled forward. “Shoulders. Do my shoulders.”
I moved her long hair to one side and out of my way, the silky strands soft against my fingers. The back of her neck tempted me, but I refrained from kissing the exposed skin. I squeezed her tight muscles.
“Stressed much?” I asked as I worked on a knot.
She grunted and planted her hands on my thighs. They tightened under her touch, closing so she couldn’t escape.
“Why didn’t I know you could do this?” she half wailed, half groaned.
I leaned forward so my breath whispered across the back of her neck. “Because you never took the time to find out.”
She scrambled from the chair. “We’ve got work to do.” She piled her hair up, looking around desperately for her hair tie.
I offered it to her but didn’t let go when she reached for it. “Stop.”
“This is a mistake.”
“Don’t you ever say that again.” I’d had enough of her referring to us that way.
“What are you going to do about it?”
“This.” I yanked her back into my lap and did what I’d wanted to do again since a few nights ago.
Kissed the daylights out of her.
She kissed me right back . . . until her head caught up. Then it was her fists kissing anywhere on me they could land.
“Easton, stop.”
Two words. I would never ignore those words, and I knew in that moment she would fight me fiercely if I continued here. Did I want more with her? Yes, absolutely. She was intelligent, beautiful, strong. She delighted in her family and was who I wanted in my life forever. But not as fuck buddies. And not just as friends. So, I let her go and watched her scramble away from me . . . again. I wanted to fight. I wanted to fight for her, but why? I really wasn’t sure if she’d ever come around.
She grabbed her laptop and moved toward the door, flicking off the light switch. The room was lit only by the glow from the bathroom.
She climbed up to the top bunk, and it wasn’t long after that furious typing combined with the song “Beer Never Broke My Heart”.
I settled in my own bed and found her choice in music ironic since she was the heartbreaker just as my phone chimed with a text. Right below the account number were words that nearly made me drop my phone.
Didn’t say anything earlier. Red flags everywhere in the exploration division. More than I let on.
That was Mulaney’s main division of the company even after she became CEO. Something strange had been going on with my father, but it never once crossed my mind she’d be up to no good. I reread Drew’s text. No question he was pointing the finger in her direction. Everything in me rebelled at that. Was I seeing what I wanted to or was it possible that the woman who had me tied in knots had screwed up the company I thought she loved as much as I did?
Chapter Twenty-One
Mulaney
“Miss Jacobs,how on earth did you manage to get our things here this fast?”
I peeked past Holly into her new apartment a few floors down. There were boxes scattered around the living room though the larger pieces of furniture appeared to be in place.
“Kinda hard to see how it’s going from the hallway,” I said, making a show of trying to see around her.
“Oh.” She jumped aside and motioned me in. “Would you like some coffee? I can put on a pot.”
I waved her off. “No. No. I don’t have time. Just wanted to make sure your things arrived. Where is Firecracker this morning?”
