Cassandra answered the questions that she was asked, but went out of her way not to volunteer any information. She was trying her best to play the charade that they did not know each other, but it was hard. Cassandra had conflicting emotions. She wanted to kiss him, her eyes falling to his lips as he spoke. And then she wanted to ask him what the hell he left her for, after he slammed into her car. She could not go down both routes, she had to pick one, and Cassandra hadn’t decided which one yet.
That in and of itself told her a lot.
“You aren’t listening to me, are you?”
“No, not really. It’s lunch time.”
He smiled and agreed. “You’re right. It is. I don’t know why I am talking about work, anyway. Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself.”
“Not much to tell. I live up on the mountain.”
“Oh, yeah? I live out that way as well.”
“I don’t think you’re my neighbor. I would remember seeing you at the little store that is out there. It’s the only thing for miles. Everyone goes there.”
“Wilma drops off an order once a week for me.”
Cassandra was surprised that he knew who she was talking about. It made her believe him, even though Cassandra didn’t know where on the mountain he lived. There were only so many places. It was remote and sparsely populated.
“Must be hidden well. I thought I knew everyone up on the mountain.”
“Obviously not.”
And just like that, Cassandra was aggravated at him again. One minute, he could be the most charming man, then the next, he was just a rude jerk and she wanted to push the truth between them.
When lunch was over, she was glad to get back to the office, even if they were still together. At least there, she wasn’t forced to talk to him. He left her alone to do her work and spy on him on occasion. There were also the yelling matches that he had on his phone. They were quite entertaining, as well. Cassandra knew that she had a lot that she wanted to say to him, but she kept it in.
By the end of the day, she was ready to run out the door. He stopped her as she was leaving. He thanked her for coming, and Cassandra still wasn’t sure how she felt about it all. She was building a website that he’d just started and a social media base, that he’d never had before. It wasn’t writing that she was doing, but something else. Cassandra should have walked away. Thanked him nicely for the job and opportunity, but just walked away.
Instead, she told him that she would see him that coming Monday and hurried out of there before she said something to ruin everything. Cassandra still wasn’t sure how she wanted it all to go. Her feelings for Antoine had not become any less confusing.
All she knew for certain was the longer she was around Antoine, the less she thought about the wreck and the more she thought about a kiss.
Chapter 4
Antoine
“So, how is it going with the new girl?”
Antoine cut his eyes to Nathan.
“Do you know how quiet my life was before you came back into it?”
Nathan agreed that he did. “You should be thankful that I pulled you out of your rut. You didn’t go out last night, so I figured things were getting interesting. Cassandra, that human, is pretty. If I weren’t with someone…”
“Well, you are.”
Nathan chuckled and Antoine couldn’t believe that he had been baited so easily. It had only been a week and already it felt like an insurmountable task, just to deny himself the pleasure of the women he wanted. Antoine wasn’t used to being in such a tizzy over a woman, especially not a woman that was a human. He had never really liked them, even though many of his friends had sustained that fetish. Antoine didn’t think it was a fetish. It wasn’t that she was human, it was the woman herself. The rest of it didn’t matter.
“Something has your panties in a bunch. Tell me that you are still staying away, pretending that you didn’t fancy her when you saw her after you wrecked her.”
Antoine wasn’t going to say anything in that way at all. He knew that he would just be wasting his time. It had been a while since the two of them had been around each other much, but his friend knew him well enough.
“She’s human.”
“You have never been with one?”
Antoine shook his head that he hadn’t.
