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“So you’re jerking off while the woman is downstairs?”
“Why do I put up with the two of you?” He didn’t even respond to Linc’s question. Why not? Because he may have been ready to pull one out but he wasn’t going to admit that to them. The last thing that duo needed was more ammunition on him.
“You love us,” Linc retorted without hesitation. “And I know you’re ignoring my question, which is fine. We already know.”
He frowned and pushed up so he was on his elbows. Staring across the room to where his computer sat on the table, he wondered what she’d been thinking when she’d woken and had seen him working.
“Mitchell!”
“What, Tully?” he snapped as he sat and slipped off the bed, pausing to straighten it up before grabbing his phone and walking to the laptop taunting him.
“We lost you there. Did you hear anything I said?”
“No. I have to go.” He hung up. Muttering a curse, he scrubbed his hand down his face and kicked the chair from the table before sitting. Phone by his elbow, he cradled his face in his hands and sat there for a while.
His game was important. The one he was working on currently was the third installment. The first two had sold like hot cakes and there was intense expectation for this one. When it released. Surprisingly, he didn’t do sports games. He was deep into the fantasy and sci-fi world. Inicio had a fantasy series, Shroud of the Fae, which had put them on the map and now he was working on a sci-fi series, Rulers of the Macrocosm, that had players battling on different planets in outer space. This was the future of his company that he was contemplating ignoring. Damn her.
She had to go and worm her way into his heart. Which, for the record, had been firmly and securely behind a wall of iron. Or should have been. Fort Knox would have been an easier breach.
Along came this woman who defied everything he’d thought he’d wanted in a partner and found a way in. Not only that but she’d put down roots and sunk her claws into him.
He didn’t like it.
Like that fucking matters. Why can’t I respect her decision to sleep downstairs?
A loud crack snapped his attention and he bolted to the window in time to see a heavy branch fall from a tree and bring down a line with it. The lights outside didn’t even flicker, they were out.
Yeah, that wasn’t a good sign.
Back to his computer, he saved what he had done and shut it down. After picking up the mug he’d brought for Hope, he walked out into the hall and let the door close behind him. He made sure the door was locked, then went downstairs.
He’d gone up thirty minutes after Hope had vanished to make sure she was okay. Finding her sleeping had stirred his protective instincts. But he’d taken advantage of the time and worked while she hadn’t moved in the bed…at all. Heck, she’d barely breathed and he’d stopped working to check on her a few times.
She’d woken up about a half hour after he’d put the hot tea beside the bed. Now, she was down here and that’s where he wanted to be.
It didn’t make any sense, these feelings. But it wasn’t about making sense. Mitchell liked that she treated him like a person and not a dollar sign. And that she wasn’t someone who wanted something from him and threw herself at him.
He went to the kitchen first and washed the mug in the sink of cooling soapy water. The air in the room was thick with the savory, mouthwatering scent of pot roast.
“You do realize you’re a guest here, don’t you, Mitchell?”
He smiled as he faced Naomi. “Yes, but I also know this isn’t the easiest of situations for you.” Reaching for the towel, he wiped his hands off on it then draped it on the hook. “I saw some branches come down. Everything okay?”
She flattened her lips. “My husband’s out there cutting them up.”
“I’ll go help.”
“Guest.”
“Also a guy who grew up in this area, and I know how much something like that can cause issues.” He moved to her side. “Just keep an eye on my girl for me?”
“Of course I will.”
He gave her a smile and retreated back to his room to switch out the sweats for jeans and a thicker shirt. Shrugging into his jacket as he went down, he cast a final look over his shoulder before stepping out into the still-raging winter storm.
Chapter Five
“No way!” Hope shook her finger at Wendy who sat there, looking smug. “That has to be under the realm of cheating.”
“I sneezed,” Wendy corrected her. “You can’t punish me for allergies.”
Hope crossed her arms and glared at the woman who was putting up her hair in a black clip.
