The familiar squeak of his desk chair had me sneaking a peek in his direction while hatching a cowardly plan to slither out of here and never come back. It’s just easier to avoid things, even if it means throwing away the last person you have on earth that honestly gives a shit about you.
I leaned forward, masking my face in my hands for a few breaths, then straightened my back, threading my fingers into the hair hanging in my face. It felt like straw. Greasy, stringy straw.
I needed to get to the bathroom and out to the bar for a glass of ice water and a shot of something before disappearing out the front door.
Through slits, I allowed myself a look at him. The star in so many of my midnight fantasies.
Jesse wasn't busy surfing through paperwork or staring at the screen on his Mac with that furrowed brow of annoyance as I expected. His hands were folded perfectly across the expanse of his rock-hard abdominals as his eyes burned into mine from across the room. The carved steel of his jaw flexed as a rush of Judas warmth exploded between my legs.
God, he’s handsome.
No, not handsome. Fuckable, but more. Lovable, sure, but still more.
Like a father you don’t want to disappoint, but even if you do, you know he will love you and protect you and forgive you.
And fuck you.
Oh my God. The little bit of glue that was holding me together was melting. I could feel it.
"Explain," he said, his voice calmer than I deserved. "Start at the beginning. Tell me what happened last night."
"I didn’t have a ride and…or a place to crash.” I desperately tried to form some sort of realistic story that didn’t include several misdemeanors, but I was in no condition for this.
Fuck it. I had to get a drink.
With a deep exhale, I pushed off the sofa, stumbled, reached out for the door handle, and the floor turned to liquid as my equilibrium sent me nearly crumbling into the wall.
“I’ll be back. I’m gonna grab some liquid breakfast.”
My friend Black Cherry White Claw should make this all better.
“Sit your ass down, little girl,” Jesse barked from behind his desk.
My feet stuck to the uniquely pristine floor of Jesse’s office as I processed each thick, sexy word.
“Did you just call me a little girl?”
He bolted upright, the desk chair slamming into the wall, banging both his fists on the top of the desk and sending my heart like a rocket into my throat. Dry air prickled my throat as I took in a sharp breath.
“I said sit your ass down.” His booming voice echoed inside the room and in my head.
“Jesus, Jesse. What the fuck?” He’d never talked to me like this before. I took note of the veins in his neck, like fire hoses ready to burst.
His dark eyes cut into me as I rolled my eyes and shuffled back toward the couch, secretly relieved to not be upright anymore. I flopped down, exhaling hard.
“Do you have any idea who you are hurting, Kat?”
“I’m not hurting anyone,” I mumbled, picking at the peeling blue nail polish I borrowed from Jenette’s stockpile.
“You’re acting like a selfish brat, Katrina. Everything your brother gave up to raise you and this is where you end up? Don’t you remember your parents?”
“Who the fuck are you? It’s none of your god-damn business what I do. You don’t want me to work here? Then I’ll go. But I don’t need the fucking lecture, okay?”
Bullets of pain shot through my head and my heart as Jesse glared in stony, sexy silence, his fists balled, and I felt a quick jab of fear as I put together just how much damage he could do to me if so inclined.
In so many ways.
“This ends now. It’s over, Kat. Done. I tried to do things your way, because I promised Kent after that night I would never interfere with your life, because that’s what he wanted, but my oaths to your brother don't trump this.”
