“Maybe ten minutes?” Stella said.
He jerked a nod. “I think I’ll wait after all. Spend that time setting everything up for tomorrow.”
He shot me a warning look and stomped away.
Stella released a shaky breath and grabbed a paper towel to wipe at her mouth. Afterward, she tossed it my way. “Here, clean your face off.”
I flicked it onto the floor. “Ew.”
She rolled her eyes. “Your tongue was just cleaning the back of my teeth.”
“Doesn’t mean I want to use your dirty rags.” I reached past her and snagged the roll of paper towels myself.
Somewhere nearby, a loud noise sounded, like her coworker had slammed a drawer.
Stella glanced toward the hallway. “I don’t think he likes you very much.”
“Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual,” I grumbled, wiping my lips clean, but maybe I should have been thanking him instead. Seducing Stella would have been fun in the moment, but it also would have complicated things further down the road.
I didn’t need to fuck her to play my part as the villain; what I had planned was more than enough to make her hate me forever. And plus, that kiss had quickly gotten out of hand, had been a littletoogood. Even now, I felt the ghost of her lips over mine, working, coaxing, and it made me want to reach out and haul her back up here, to hell with her grouchy employee.
I chucked the used paper towel onto her work tray and then handed her the roll. Our eyes met as she took it, held for a moment before her gaze dropped to my lips.
“That won’t be happening again,” she said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself.
“Then maybe you should stop staring at my mouth like you’re about five seconds away from re-attacking me.”
She yanked the paper towels out of my hand. “I didn’t attack you.”
“Yes, you did,” I said, gesturing toward the doorway. “I’m half-tempted to invite your buddy back in here to make sure you keep your hands to yourself.”
“You aresoegotistical,” she said, spinning away to set the roll down and scoop her design from the floor.
“I like to think I have the appropriate level of self-confidence.”
“Sir, you are a blond man. Calm down.”
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She scooted back toward me, repositioning the transfer paper. “I can’t explain why that’s a burn. It’ll ruin it.”
I eyed her while she refocused on her work, wanting to say more, wanting to keep taunting her because I didn’t like how quickly she was getting herself back under control.
More loud sounds came from nearby, another reminder that we weren’t alone.
A wave of irritation washed over me, and this time, I did nothing to stem the tide, letting it distract me from Stella’s nearness and remind me of how I should havebeen feeling this whole time.
Her coworker’s return had fucked up my plan to reveal myself. I’d booked this appointment so late because Stella had a (bad) habit of closing the shop herself, and I’d wanted us to be alone when I explained my true intentions. I couldn’t do that now with Lurch loitering nearby. Not that I couldn’t take the old bastard in a fight—I still met Josh at the dojo once a week so we could kick the shit out of each other. No, it was because I didn’t want witnesses, especially not a dude who looked like he might have ties to the seedier side of this city.
So I’d just have to sit here and suffer through Stella’s nearness in silence. Getting her alone again was going to be a pain in the ass. She never seemed to leave this place except to run across the street for coffee, and unlike my best friend, I didn’t have the time to sit around watching people like a creep. I had places to be, another event to prepare for.
Goddamn it, I was going to have to book a second late-night appointment, wasn’t I? Hopefully she had something open in the coming days, because the sooner I laid out my cards, the better. Stella and her brother were incredibly close, and my blackmail banked on that. Blake and I had only interacted briefly, but between my “research” and being a good reader of people, I’d determined a few crucial things about him: he was young for his age (having obviously grown up sheltered), gullible, naïve, and in a vulnerable state because of a recent breakup. It made him the perfect victim, and he’d fallen easily into my trap.
Now he was in trouble. Trouble too big for his frat boys to get him out of. This was blood-is-thicker-than-water trouble. The type you’d only bring to someone who’d feel obligated to help you. Someone who’d been protecting you your whole life, so you wouldn’t repeat their mistakes. Which meant there was a very high risk that Blake might go running to Stella for a bailout before I could break the news to her myself.
Would that be the worst thing?I wondered, eyeing her as she taped the transfer paper into place. If Blake got to her first, she’d have all the pieces she needed to figure out my identity. He hadn’t seen my face at the party, but he knew my hair was blond, and that I was tall, muscular, and went by Mr. Strickland. Plus, if he told her, I wouldn’t have to deal with the fallout. The yelling. The potential tears and pleading for mercy I didn’t have. God knew I dealt with that shit enough with my regular clients.
Was I worried about Blake going to his parents instead? Or worse, the cops? Absolutely not. Because I’d done my homework. Thanks to Stella’s checkered past, I was convinced that Blake wouldn’t want to cause their parents any more grief or embarrassment. And going to the cops risked a public scandal, something the McCormicks would do anything to avoid.
