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“Sass.” He moved closer. “The sort of sass that would end up in you over my knee if you were mine.” He stepped past her. “Hux, you’ll escort Ms. Reed to the coffee shop.”
“Happy to.”
“I just made you both coffee, though,” the assistant said. “And I baked some cookies last night. Why don’t you stay here? I’m sure Ms. Robin is perfectly capable of getting coffee on her own.”
“It’s Ms. Reed,” Hux said easily. “And thanks for the coffee and cookies, but I have to go. However, Judd is staying. I’m sure he’d love some cookies and coffee.”
Hux quickly hustled them out of there as Judd glared over at them.
“Quick. Go quick before he makes me stay.”
“What was that about?” Chloe asked as they hustled their way down to the end of the passage. She had to fight hard not to show how much the fast pace was hurting her ankle.
“Judd hates cookies and coffee and small talk. That woman has been trying to get him to notice her for the last hour and he hasn’t even been aware of her flirting. But he’ll get the full force of it now. And he’s going to hate every second of it.”
“Why? She seems, uh, nice.”
“Nice? Darlin’, she just messed up your name deliberately to make it seem like you weren’t important enough to remember.”
She winced. Yeah, she’d picked that up. She had just been trying to ignore it. Or she’d hoped that she’d misread what the woman was doing.
Benefit of the doubt and all that.
“Right,” she whispered.
Hux brushed his finger down her cheek. She had to suppress a shiver—the urge to lean into his touch was riding her hard.
“I suppose that wasn’t very . . . nice,” she said. “She could be having a bad day, though.”
“No, little darlin’, it wasn’t nice at all. And you don’t deserve for anyone to treat you that way. Okay? You don’t make excuses for anyone else treating you badly, you hear me?”
She gazed up at him in amazement. She’d grown used to Hux being all jokes. But he wasn’t. There was far more to him. And she wondered what easygoing Hux was hiding underneath the surface.
“How do you know?”
“How do I know what?” he asked.
“How do you know I don’t deserve that? I might be a terrible person.”
“Hmm, that’s true. It’s always the cute, quiet ones you have to watch out for, after all.” He leaned in to whisper to her. “They’re usually the kinky ones too.”
A shiver ran through her before she took a step back. Did he just want to sleep with her?
“I’m not looking for sex. Thank you, though.” There, that was polite and firm.
He stared at her for a long moment. Oh no, had she hurt his feelings? Then he started to laugh.
Was he laughing at her?
Her breath froze in her lungs. She hated being laughed at. Feeling like everyone was watching.
Taunts filled her mind.
Look at her . . . she can’t even afford clothes that fit.
Eww. I bet she has fleas. She’s so dirty.
Filthy.
Disgusting.
Slut.
Whore.
“Whoa, little darlin’, hey, look at me. Breathe, sweetie. Just breathe. In. Out.”
She opened her eyes to find him staring down at her with worry. He had her face clasped between his hands. She felt cold and he was blazing hot where he touched her.
“Hey, there you are.”
“W-what?”
She hadn’t gone anywhere. Had she?
Hux stared down at her intently. “What just happened? Where did you go right now?”
“Nowhere. I’m right here. But I . . . I need to leave.” It felt like there were eyes on them, but she couldn’t see anyone watching them. Still, they were close to the elevators. Anyone could come along at any time and see her losing it.
Not acceptable.
Jonathan would kill her.
“Come on, little darlin’.” Hux leaned over and hit the down button for the elevator. He wrapped an arm around her and she stiffened and went to step away. “Nope. You stay where you are. You’re trembling and I’m worried you’re going to trip and hurt yourself.”
“I never trip.”
“So what happened this morning?”
Right. Shit. She was so clumsy. Why was she being so clumsy? This wasn’t her. She didn’t break down like this. Didn’t let the memories slip into her mind, at least when she was awake.
She’d built up shields so that people wouldn’t hurt her.
This was unacceptable.
The doors to the elevator opened and they stepped in. She felt jittery, anxious.
She’d made a fool of herself. She’d thought Hux wanted her.
Idiot.
Why would he? And he’d laughed at her.
She forced herself to draw away from him. She stood stiffly in the corner despite the way her legs trembled. Chloe was all too aware of him staring at her, studying her. But she wouldn’t look back.
Don’t let any cracks show.
Cracks led to bleeding and once she started bleeding then she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop.
