Page 14 of Strictly Against Policy

“I don’t hate you, Lina,” he mumbled.

Upon hearing my name, my whole facade, which was teetering on the edge of being professional and personal, dropped. I couldn’t hold my composure anymore and frowned. My brows knitted together, and I finally allowed myself to show him the writhing emotions I felt boiling underneath my cool exterior.

“You sure act like you do,” I spat sharply. “We’re supposed to be adult colleagues. Not petty teenagers.”

Jonathan huffed out a long breath, and it danced across my skin in blazing, hot strokes. “I never said I hated you. I said I never liked you, that I didn’t look forward to working with you.” He repeated his words in a low hiss, as if saying a string of curses.

I straightened my spine and looked him directly in the eyes. “I suggest you keep it professional. Our technicians have noticed the way you’ve been treating me, and they’ve been talking behind our backs. If you don’t want them to gossip, you should stop.”

His lips twitched, ready to lash out again. It was more than enough for me to show more frustration over his unreasonable behavior.

“What the fuck is your problem with me, Jonathan?”

His chest expanded with the sharp inhale of breath. “You’re the rudest and most emotionally constipated person I have ever met in my entire life. You might as well be a robot. I can barely remember some of the names of the people we knew from high school anymore, but you? I remember everything about you,” he answered. “Every time you were rude to our teachers or classmates, I remembered. Every time you looked down at other people with your head held high because you scored better than them, I remembered. That snooty little smirk you’d wear, or that pompous tone you’d use. I remember everything when it comes to you.”

My nostrils flared in indignation. I lowered my eyelids just slightly, as I had done earlier, to look like the ‘ice queen bitch’ my brother often called me. Anger bolted across the plane of Jonathan’s features in his silent response.

“Careful, Dr. Lo,” I cooed softly. “You sound like you have an obsession with me.”

CHAPTER 8

Lina

“Calling it an obsession is a stretch,” he said. He towered over me and leaned in just an inch so our eyes were level. A wide, animalistic grin pulled tight across his face. “But you’re not wrong. If you’re trying to address my obsession with disliking you so much that I’d apparently keep stoking this fixation, then sure. Perhaps I am obsessed with you, Dr. Lee.”

A laugh bumbled out of me before I could stop myself. My hand slapped across my face with an echoing smack. Jonathan Lo obsessed with me? Before my first laugh could die down, another giggle bubbled up right after. My stomach started burning from the aching contraction of each hard laugh. Searing tears budded at the corners of my eyes.

I watched him through my hazy gaze. He wasn’t amused. Another one of my violent laughs tormented him as hot, acidic tears dripped down my cheeks. But the last of my laughter died down as I watched Jonathan stare at me.

Silent. Observing every single detail of my laugh and the contortion of my face. Unlike before, his lips didn’t twist into a snarl. Nor did his eyes glower in a fiery rage. Little emotion showed on his face. Yet, he watched me in a quiet wrath. It unnerved me more than his previously loud words or juvenile actions.

He no longer acted like a teenage boy who wore the animosity he had for me on his sleeves. The childish antics dissipated into thin air as he watched me. He was a predator, waiting for me to let down my guard and find my weakness.

“You have a nice laugh,” he breathed.

I stilled myself at once. He may be a predator, but so am I.

I moved to press my back against the door to create whatever semblance of distance between us. With the limited space we had, my breasts brushed against the tops of his abdominal muscles. His eyes darted to the lack of space between us—to my cold, hard nipples raking against his solid body.

His breath grew heavy with agitation. I almost matched him when I felt a sudden twitch against my lower abdomen. I was about to glance down when Jonathan shoved me gently to the side.

“We need to get out of here now,” his irritated voice rumbled out.

He jiggled the doorknob violently and I thought he was going to break it to let us out, but to no avail. We weren’t going to get out of here with him panicking like this.

“Let me try,” I said calmly.

I fumbled around his larger frame to grab the cold doorknob, but he rudely pushed my hand away.

“I’ll just do it myself,” he snapped. His voice was as bitter as the temperature in this tiny space.

He rattled the doorknob so intensely again he might as well have rattled my bones in the process. It wasn’t until he took a step back from the door that I managed to slip into the space between him and the cold metal door, stepping on his feet.

“What the hell, Lina? I told you I’d do it myself—” he heaved.

“At the rate you’re going, you’ll break something. If you want to sleep here for the night, be my fucking guest,” I snapped back, shuffling into place in front of him.

His body was too close for comfort, but I also wanted to get out. I shuffled again to give him the hint to give me some space.