Chapter Four
My phone vibratedon my desk. Again.
And, once again, I ignored it.
I knew who it was without looking. Since the wedding Saturday night, Landen had been texting and calling me sporadically throughout the last two days.
And I’d ignored him each and every time.
I wasn’t trying to be petty or bitchy. I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to say to him. Even after two days, I still had no words. Every time I thought back to the kiss we shared that night, my brain scrambled and my cheeks felt hot. I also didn’t know what I wanted. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to kiss him again or if I wanted him to leave me the hell alone.
In other words, I was confused as fuck.
I also didn’t know how in the heck he got my cell number. While I knew his from all the times I’d called him from the office to confirm or reschedule appointments, he shouldn’t have had mine. But he was also excellent with computers so it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he’d hacked into Chris’ computer and obtained it that way. I couldn’t say I knew Landen well, but I knew him well enough to understand how his mind worked when he wanted something. He put Chris to shame with his tenacity. And damn me, if I didn’t admire it. Just a little.
He wasn’t going to back off. He might not have the same head for business that Chris did, but he was damn good at designing software. I’d overheard Chris talking about how he would stay up for forty-eight hours straight if that’s what was necessary to fix all the bugs in a program. And that he never backed down from a challenge.
There was no doubt in my mind that he saw my withdrawal and my silence as a challenge. It might not be how I intended it, but that’s how he would perceive it.
Still, I wasn’t ready to talk to him. Not yet. I needed another day, maybe even two, to figure out how I felt. Then again, all my vacillating might be for naught if all he wanted to tell me was that the kiss had been a drunken mistake.
I had to be honest, at least with myself because I wasn’t ready to hear that either.
The office phone rang and I sighed, taking my hands off the keyboard. Though Chris was on his honeymoon and had offered me paid time off while he was gone, I hadn’t taken it. I didn’t have the money to go somewhere fun and sitting at home for a week straight would drive me nuts.
I reached out and snagged the handset.
“Barden Consulting.”
The line clicked and I stared at the phone with a frown on my face. I replaced the receiver with a shrug. Must have been a wrong number.
I reached for my coffee cup and took a sip, wincing at the taste of cold coffee. Glancing at the clock, I realized that I’d been working for longer than I thought. With a sigh, I got to my feet and headed into the small kitchen area.
Instead of making another cup of coffee, I decided to wash out the cup and call it a day. It was nearly five and I was getting hungry.
I heard the electronic ding of the exterior office door opening and frowned. I’d locked it when I came in because I was the only one in the office and there were no appointments scheduled for the day.
Fear trickled down my spine. A hang up call and now some unknown person was in the office. I watched enoughHomicide Hunterto know this wasn’t good. My cell phone was still sitting out on my desk and there was no landline in the kitchenette. I grabbed the heavy coffee mug I’d just washed. It was huge and held sixteen ounces of coffee. It was also my favorite cup. Praying I didn’t have to break it over someone’s head, I silently kicked off my heels and crept forward. Before I’d taken two steps, a large male form filled the doorway. I’m ashamed to say I squealed like a small child and jumped backward at his abrupt appearance rather than swinging the mug as I intended. In fact, I dropped that heavy fucker right on my foot.
Yelping, I lifted my foot and grabbed it between both hands as I glared at Landen Weber.
“What in the hell?” I yelled. “You scared the snot out of me!”
Landen crouched down and lifted the coffee mug, looking from it to where I was hopping up and down on my good foot, still clutching my injured one. “What did you intend to do with this?” he asked, an arrogant tilt to his brow.
“Why don’t you hand it back to me and I’ll show you?” I gasped as I released my foot and hobbled over to the counter so I could lean against it as I took in my injury.
When he smirked, it took everything I had not to reach into the cabinet and throw one of the clean coffee mugs at him. He came over to me and set the cup out of my reach on the counter before hooking me under my armpits and lifting me up like a child.
I squealed again, clutching his shoulders, as he dropped my ass onto the cold granite countertop. The thin, flouncy skirt I wore did nothing to protect my ass and the backs of my thighs from the chilly stone.
“Listen up, Landen—” My angry tirade died in my throat as he knelt, gently grasped my ankle, and lifted my aching foot up onto his knee. When his thumb rubbed over the red spot, I hissed at the pain.
“Can you wiggle your toes?” he asked, pushing a bit harder on the spot.
I groaned but managed to move my toes. “I’ll be okay,” I stated. “I don’t think anything’s broken.”
He continued to rub the spot in progressively firmer strokes. After a few moments, the pain faded and a new sensation replaced it. Something dangerously akin to arousal. Okay, so it was arousal, but I pretended it wasn’t. I bit back another moan, this one for a completely different reason.
