I’m almost at the conference room door when he bends over to take a closer look at the document she is referencing and puts his hand on her lower back as he does so.
It’s a bold move.
Intimate.
It fucking pisses me off.
I shove the conference room door at the same time I see Brooke jerk away from his touch. The door slams into the adjacent wall, and Sebastian jumps about a foot in the air as he turns to me with wide eyes. I give only the briefest of glances to Brooke, but I find her glaring at Sebastian in reproach.
The fact that Brooke thinks it’s as inappropriate as I do makes my rage burn hotter and I come barreling around the end of the conference room table to get at him.
I vaguely hear Brooke gasp, “Oh shit.”
I don’t give any more thought than that, as I am entirely focused on Sebastian, whose eyes have now started bugging out of his head because a six-foot-five enraged hockey player is barreling toward him. He retreats until his back hits the wall and then my forearm is against his throat, with my other hand splayed across his chest to pin him in place.
“Bishop,” Brookes says in a sharp voice. “Back off.”
I ignore her, keeping my eyes pinned on Sebastian. “Did she ask you to touch her?”
Sebastian shakes his head furiously, eyes filled with fear.
“Did she in any form or fashion indicate to you that she was interested in you in any way?” I ask him.
Again he shakes his head.
“This is your only warning. Touch her again and I’ll break whichever arm you use to do the touching.”
“Bishop,” Brookes says in an exasperated voice.
I continue to ignore her. Leaning in, I put my face just a little bit closer to Sebastian’s. “No one touches what is mine.”
Okay, that came out a little like…like…I should run over and pee on Brooke or something.
Shaking my head, I immediately release Sebastian. He nods his head effusively at me. “I got it. Didn’t mean anything by it. I wasn’t thinking. It won’t happen again.”
Jerking my head toward Brooke, who I note is now standing there with her arms crossed and glaring at me, I order him, “Apologize.”
I listen as Sebastian gives a long, and I’ll admit heartfelt, apology to Brooke. He then turns to look at me with his eyebrows raised, questioning whether or not I will demand anything else of him.
I’m done, though. I think I made a good point. I tell Sebastian, “If you don’t mind, I would like to take my girlfriend out to lunch. Do you need some time to finish up this meeting?”
Sebastian shakes his head vigorously and turns to Brooke. “You go ahead and have your lunch. You did a great job with this proposal. So good, in fact, I’m not going to make any changes.”
I can see the conflict on Brooke’s face. She wants to be pissed and affronted at Sebastian, but she also wants to be pissed at me since I made a scene and also physically assaulted what could be her boss at some point. It’s especially conflicting for her because Sebastian just complimented her work, and who doesn’t like a sincere compliment?
I hold my hand out to Brooke and she takes it somewhat reluctantly. We walk out of the conference room, out of the management offices, and straight to the elevator that take us down to street level.
When the elevator doors close on us, I spin toward her and put my hands to her face. She doesn’t resist me as I give her a kiss of greeting and also of longing. I sure missed the fuck out of her while on this road trip. I want her back on the road with me, but if she gets this new job in merchandising that will end. That puts me in a terrible position, because obviously, it’s to my benefit if she stays in team services. But I know that’s not what Brooke wants, and I need to support her desires and ambitions.
It’s what any mature boyfriend would do.
When I break the kiss, all of the anger is gone from her face. Instead she looks at me with warm eyes and says, “I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” I tell her.* * *—
We exit the elevator on the main level, and leave the arena through an employee door that leads out onto the courtyard surrounded by the Vengeance Town shopping complex. We choose a small Irish pub because Brooke said she was craving fish-and-chips.
Once we order, Brooke looks at me with a slightly condemning look. “You know you probably just killed my chances of getting that job in merchandising.”
I don’t want to admit that she might be right, so instead I ask, “Is there really a job? I mean, have you verified it?”