He’s in workout gear, and looks genuinely surprised to see me sitting at Marnie’s desk. Like this wasn’t one of his another attempts to ‘bump into me’ in the facility.
“She’s not here,” I say without looking up from the computer.
“I can see that.” He doesn’t leave. Just stands there, filling the doorway. “What are you doing in her office?”
“Working.”
“Working on what?”
I almost tell him. The words are right there because the problem is that he’s so open and easy to talk to, but I catch myself.
“None of your business.”
“Wow. Okay.” He leans against the doorframe. “You know, most people answer simple questions without making it sound like a personal attack.”
I save my work and close the laptop. “Most people take a hint when someone clearly doesn’t want to talk to them.”
“Is that what you’re doing? Hinting?”
“No, I’m being pretty obvious about it.”
“Right. Obviously hostile for no reasonI can figure out.”
“I have reasons.”
“Care to share them?”
“Not particularly.” I stand up and gather my things. “If you need Marnie, she’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
I move toward the door, but he’s blocking it. I don’t think it’s intentional, but he’s just standing there, all six-foot-two of him taking up space like he has every right to be exactly where he is.
“Excuse me,” I say, my pulse hammering in my throat like I’ve been running. Which is stupid. He’s just standing there.
He doesn’t move. “You know, JuJu, if I did something to piss you off, you could just tell me what it was instead of doing this whole ice queen thing.”
“You didn’t do anything.”
“Then why do you look at me like you can’t stand to be in the same room as me?”
Because I don’t trust myself around you. Because you were kind to me when I was falling apart and I don’t know what to do with that.
Because you’re not like Garrett at all, and that scares me. You’re chaos. You’re genuine in a way that feels dangerous. You look at me like you actually see something worth knowing, and I can’t afford to believe that’s real.
I don’t say any of that.
“I don’t owe you an explanation,” I say instead. “Or my time. Or my attention. Can you just move?”
He looks at me with his brow slightly furrowed, and I can’t quite read his expression. Hurt maybe, or frustration, but it’s gone before I can figure it out.
“Yeah. Sure.” He finally steps fully into the office, giving me a clear path to the door. “Have a great day, Ice Queen.”
The nickname grates every single time. I don’t respond, just walk out and head toward the stairs.
My hands are shaking by the time I reach the first floor. I don’t know why I let him get to me like this. He’s just someguy. A player on the team. Someone I’ll have to interact with occasionally because of this internship, but that’s it. He doesn’t matter.
Except he keeps showing up. Keeps trying to talk to me. Keeps looking at me with those big, brown eyes that seem genuinely curious, like he actually wants to know me instead of just wanting something from me.
No. I’m not doing this. I’m not reading into looks or words or anything else. I learned that lesson with Garrett.
