He pushed off the doorframe and came fully into my office. “Well, because you’ve been locked in here all day. Not really your norm, that’s all.”
I glanced at the clock in the upper right-hand corner of my screen and blinked in shock at the time. “Oh, wow. Is that really the time?”
“You’ve been in the zone. None of us wanted to disturb you.”
“Oh, well... thanks.” I hated that my very next thought was about Raylan and whether or not he was still out in the bar.
“Of course.”
Instead of leaving like I assumed he would, he stood there with his hands stuffed in his pockets. My brows climbed toward my hairline as I waited for more. “Is... everything okay?” Ifinally asked when the silence started to get a little awkward. “Did you need something else?”
Davis cleared his throat and shuffled his feet in a way that made it seem like he was anxious. “I was just wonderin’... you and that guy... are you guys a thing?”
My spine shot straight. I wasn’t sure what I was more concerned about—the fact he was prying into my personal life or the possibility he was asking because he was interested. I made it a huge point never to get involved with anyone who worked for me. I didn’t care if they dated each other—even though that could sometimes lead to drama—but I never dipped my pen in the company ink, so to speak.
“What? Of course not! That’s not—that’s ridiculous.What—why—I don’t—” I sputtered uselessly. “Why? I mean... why do you—why are you asking?”
Please don’t ask me out. Please don’t ask me outI mentally chanted.
He moved to the chair across from my desk and sat, balancing himself right on the edge and leaning forward to brace his elbows on his knees. “It’s just... that guy’s known for bein’ a player. I’ve seen him pick up women from right here more times than I could count.”
A prickle of anger shot up my spine, making it go rigid. “Excuse me?”
He heaved out a sigh. “I just... I don’t want to see you get hurt. And that dude seriously gets around. I’ve seen it first-hand.”
I rocked back in my chair as surprise slammed into me. Surprise and an unexplainable and intense need to defend Raylan. “You don’t even know the guy. And I’m not really sure you have much room to criticize.”
Davis huffed out a breath and scrubbed his palms down his thighs before pushing to his feet. “I don’t have to know him. I knowyou, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“My personal life is none of your business, Davis.” My voice was so icy cold I was amazed it didn’t freeze the air between us, and I knew he felt it too when his chin jerked into his neck. “But like I said, there’s nothing going on between us.”
I wouldn’t allow myself to delve too deeply into why those words felt like shards of glass slicing my throat to ribbons on their way up.
A muscle in Davis’s jaw ticked and his cheeks flushed like he might have been angry, but the expression was there and gone before I could be absolutely certain. He blew out a heavy sigh and raked a hand through his hair. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
My whole body sagged with relief and I forced a smile to my lips. “Of course I am,” I teased, trying to ease the tension for both our sakes. “I’m always right. About time you figured that out.”
His smile held the same relief I felt. “Of course. How stupid of me,” he teased back. “Well, now that I’ve made things inappropriately awkward, I’ll see myself out.”
I let out a small chuckle and lifted my hand in a finger wave, but as soon as the door closed behind him, I slumped over in my chair, lightly banging my forehead against the desk. I left a few minutes later, going out the back to avoid any more super awkward conversations.
I was so over this day. All I wanted to do was starfish in the center of my mattress and pass out. I hoped when I woke up, things in my life would suddenly become less complicated. But I didn’t see that happening when the first thing I saw when I pulled up in front of my house was a certain gorgeous cowboy, sitting on my front steps. Havoc ran and jumped around him, hopefully burning off some of his boundless energy.
God, why did he have to be so beautiful? It really wasn’t fair, the way my heart fluttered every time I laid eyes on him. I kept waiting for the day when I woke up and was suddenly desensitized to his sharp cheekbones, his rugged square jaw, and the sexy way his throat flexed and bobbed whenever he swallowed. I kept hoping to stop being affected by that teeny tiny dimple that popped out whenever his smile went lopsided. I waited and waited... but so far that day hadn’t come, and I was beginning to think it never would.
With no other choice, I shut off the car and climbed out. The instant Havoc spotted me rounding the hood, he bounded down the steps on his tiny legs and raced toward me. I bent and scooped him up, basking in his puppy kisses until he began to squirm to be let back down.
“Thanks for bringing him home,” I said as I paused at the base of the porch steps. Raylan slowly rose to his full height, the extra steps he had on me making him tower over me even more than he already did. “You could have left him with me at the bar.”
Raylan’s boots thumped against the wood of each step, in time with the heavy thud of my heartbeat. As he closed the space between us, the smoky, woodsy scent that was all him filled my head, hitting me like a dopamine rush and almost making me forget all the reasons I had to be mad at him.
“If I did that, I wouldn’t have an excuse to see you again.”
Any other day, that sentence would have been a blow to my solar plexus, knocking the wind right out of me. But in that very moment, I was struggling to sift through the myriad of emotions raging through as I tried to figure out exactly how I was feeling. All I knew for certain was that I was exhausted.
“Raylan.” I said his name on a weary sigh. “It’s been a long day.” It had been a really longweek, at least, and it all had to do with him. “I’m really not in the mood to do this right now.” Ipushed by him, up the steps to my door. As I fished around in my purse for my keys, I turned to look for Havoc, letting out a sharp whistle that he’d already learned meant I wanted him inside.
“Five minutes.” Raylan was up the steps and right in front of me in a blink. “That’s all I ask. Five minutes to tell you how goddamn sorry I am.”
