She stiffened and let out a small huff. “My name is Cassandra.”
Joshua grimaced. “You look like a Poppy with your hair.”
But she wasn’t having it. She turned on her heel and flounced away. She was, apparently, the aunt to Lianne’s BFF Julia. Or was it Jane? No! Jewel. Right.
Joshua took a deep breath, masking the fresh irritation with a calm demeanor. Given his career path, going from this place to the military to starting a tech business with his two best friends, he should be better with names than he was. However, there was a reason why Rafael and Michael never allowed him to take on any people-facing tasks. He just wasn’t good with people. He was more likely to insult a person than form any sort of connection.
Women, being people, were the same. The biggest difference was that he always had someone trying to impress him when they discovered how wealthy he was. Apparently, they could stomach him for short amounts of time so long as the dollar signs were right. Though there were others, as Poppy—Cassandra—had just proven who didn’t care how much was attached to his name and wouldn’t put up with his bullshit.
Kira was one of those women. Oh, she most certainly did not put up with his bullshit. The only problem was that if she was in the room, she consumed every spare bit of his attention.
It was madness. Kira had made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. If her actively ignoring him wasn’t good enough, the few times when they were forced to interact, she was hostile toward him. The way she looked at himmade it clear that whatever soft feelings she might have had toward him once were long gone.
And that was a good thing. It was what he wanted, for her to be repulsed by him. So, it was only the gentlemanly thing to do to respect her disinterest. He needed to keep his distance and not start boiling with jealousy whenever he thought about her with another man.
His hand clenched into a fist as his wolf growled. Quickly, he turned away and stalked to the other side of the room, fighting to get himself back under control. Wasn’t that one of the reasons why he went after other women? Making a display of it so that Kira would see it and know that she had every right to find pleasure and love wherever it might come from?
Doesn’t make it any easier,Joshua thought, running a hand through his hair. His agitation was becoming too visible. He needed to get himself under control. This was Lianne’s birthday party. She might be distracted playing with her friends, but she was also perceptive. If she sensed something was wrong, it would ruin her party.
Joshua stole another look at Kira. She was looking at him again. This time, he met her eye. They looked at each other for a long moment, long enough for Joshua’s wolf to start urging him over toward her, for his heart to start beating faster. It was almost as though there was a softening in her gaze—
No, he reminded himself sharply.
Kira looked away quickly. She leaned in close to Gwen, whispering something to her. Gwen looked disappointed, glanced at Joshua, then nodded. Joshua turned his face away, still watching from the corner of his eye. As Kira grabbed her purse and moved toward the door, Rafael stepped up besideJoshua. He blocked Joshua’s vision long enough for Kira to disappear.
“Can you at least try not to look like such a grumpy asshole?” Rafael asked mildly.
Joshua winced. “Am I ruining the party?”
“Not yet.”
Joshua tried to school his expression. “Sorry,” he muttered.
Rafael bumped his shoulder. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. You can stop by later to give Lianne her gift.”
It was tempting. Joshua wasn’t one for parties, and having so many kids around was pretty overwhelming. They were high-energy, and it was a party. Of course they were going to be loud and excited. He didn’t want to dampen their enjoyment by demanding they all be quiet just because he wasn’t used to being around this many kids.
“You sure?” he asked anxiously. “You don’t think Lianne will be upset if Kira and I both leave?”
“Kira left?” Rafael asked in surprise.
Joshua shrugged, annoyed that he seemed to be the only one who noticed. He felt his face twist into a scowl. It certainly didn’t help with the ‘grumpy asshole’ persona. In the business world, he’d managed to use it to his advantage in the few times when he had interactions with others. He channeled it into a confident and no-nonsense demeanor. Keeping it in short bursts worked for him. There were people out there who thought he was simply a hard-driven businessman.
But if they were ever to spend a long length of time with him, that would probably change. Certainly, if they ever asked Kira, she would have something entirely different to tell them.She’d be more than happy to explain just how much of a raging asshole he was.
She’d be right. He was a complete asshole to her. He had to be, again, because he didn’t have the strength to stay away from her if she so much as crooked her finger toward him.
“I think I’d better go,” Joshua muttered to Rafael. His mood was only getting darker. He didn’t want to risk losing his cool at a child’s birthday party.
Fuck, he thought, then felt badly for swearing in front of the children, even if he didn’t swear out loud. I shouldn’t have come. I could have dropped the present off later. Or something.
He had thought that when Rafael and Gwen invited him, he’d be doing something useful. Staying in the kitchen, washing dishes, or monitoring the safety of the bouncy castle. Something besides standing on the sidelines, trying to avoid awkward small talk with the other adults. Not this.
Rafael gave him a sympathetic look and nodded once. “Go on. If Lianne asks, I’ll tell her you got called away. You want to take your present to bring back later?”
“Nah, it’s fine. She can just open it,” Joshua answered, shuffling for the door.
Cassandra looked his direction briefly and seemed for an instant to wonder whether she was going to forgive his behavior and go after him. Apparently, she decided on the negative because she scoffed and turned back to whatever problem her niece was having. Good. Joshua didn’t have it in him to work up a polite way to discourage her.
