I studied him, wondering why.
Cadmus frowned. “Um, Tessa? I was just kidding.”
“Hmm.” I inched closer and watched him scramble back in dismay.
He coughed. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes. In fact, I feel just fine.” His nearness did nothing to me. I didn’t want him at all, and the fact he didn’t want my attentions made me feel even better. No flirting with his brother’s friend…lover? Whatever I was, it was good to know the Storm brothers didn’t poach.
“You sure?” He looked ready to flee at my slightest movement.
So of course, I jerked toward him and watched him, in his haste to keep his distance, fall off the couch.
I laughed so hard I cried, and when I saw him glaring at me as he stood, I laughed some more.
“Glad one of us is enjoying this,” he muttered.
“Problem?” Marcus asked from the hallway.
I hadn’t heard him come in. He stared at us with curiosity.
Cadmus huffed. “Your girlfriend is more like you than I’d thought.” He backed out of the room. “Evil woman,” he said before leaving Marcus and me alone.
Marcus smirked. “What did you do to him?”
I told myself that being referred to as his girlfriend meant nothing. No reason for my pulse to race or my insides to turn to mush.
“I was messing with him.” I waited for Marcus to sit beside me on the couch, overjoyed when he did. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming home until later.”
He’d just settled into the cushions, so I wasn’t prepared for the scorching kiss he planted on me. After a breathless moment, he pulled away, leaving me stunned and vaguely annoyed he’d stopped.
“Do you want to hear about work?”
Work? No. I want more of the man-candy sitting next to me. “What? Yes. Yes, I do.” I did my best to pretend he hadn’t frazzled me.
And failed. Male satisfaction darkened his eyes. He grinned as he detailed his day.
Everything had been so normal. Not what I needed to hear.
“…so now we know it’s relatively safe to come in tomorrow. I need your help with a few items at work, especially since I’m behind from this weekend and now doing the job of three employees.” His accusatory stare did not go unnoticed.
“Hey, it’s not my fault.” It totally was, since I’d convinced Judy to break up his group. “You really wouldn’t have gotten Conklin’s go-ahead using so many employees on one account. Besides, you needed to be taken down a peg.” I scowled. “You were deliberately cruel mentioning Davis, who, by the way, will never come within ten feet of me without losing a year of his life.”
Marcus glanced away, and I knew I’d hit a nerve.
“I apologized for that already.” He sounded stiff.
“Not only were you rude then, you made a complete idiot of yourself yesterday when I did that teleportation thing into your room,” I reminded him, more curious than angry. “Care to explain that? Why are you so warm one minute, so cold the next?”
He looked agitated, and I regretted, if only for a moment, that I’d confronted him right as he returned from work.
At three in the afternoon?
“Wait. Why are you home so early?”
“I had wanted to be with you,” he said coolly and made to rise.
“Not this time.” I forcibly tugged him back down next to me. “Explain it to me, Marcus. I want to understand you.”
