She shut her eyes, scrunched up her face, and then snapped them open to look at me. Honey-colored eyes never looked so mean. “Anyone would have taken that offer. Steven isn’t an idiot.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“What?” She stood up fast. “How can you say that? You barely spoke to him.”
“Right. And the grand old speech he came up with wasn’t even original. He finished it off with the line you fed both me and him. ‘A cordial business relationship.’”
“You don’t know that he got that from me,” she said.
I stood up and stalked toward her. “I know damn well he got that from you.”
She glared up at me and put her hands on her hips. “Think what you want. You have no evidence.”
“As a lawyer, you should know there aren’t coincidences that big.”
I could tell she was biting her cheek, probably trying to hold back from agreeing with me. “Either way, Steven’s smart enough to know an amazing opportunity when he sees one.”
“Or he’s just like every other person in this world, Vick. Money talks. Little Stevie’s nothing more than a boy who inherited his daddy’s business a while ago and has bent to whichever way the wind blew, the water flowed, and the sun shined. I’m sure those guys have been telling him what to do with that company since the day he walked through Samson and Sons’ doors.”
She shook her head. “You’re wrong.”
I smirked. “He doesn’t have a backbone, doll. You and I both know it. He’ll probably make a perfect husband for you. He’ll roll over when you tell him to.”
She spun away from me, paced back, then threw up her hands before she stomped around me to grab her file. “It is official. I hate someone. I literally hate you. I thought it was impossible. I really do try to see the good in everyone, but there is not one thing good about you.”
The satisfaction I thought I would feel slipped a little. “Surely you don’t mean that.”
“Oh, I mean it.” She folded her belongings under her arm. “Walk me back to where my colleagues are. I really don’t want to be alone with you anymore.”
“Not what you said this past weekend.” I knew I should have quit. Should have left well enough alone. Yet, she’d walked in here today like we were playing chess and she’d already won. She stood tall with so much confidence in that dress. She ran her hand along its logos, as if the dress could have formed a crease.
Acting like that dress was prim and proper was a joke though. It fit her like a second skin. Every guy in the room had been looking at her if they weren’t already distracted by Gloria. She couldn’t hide the fact that she had legs for miles and curves that every guy wanted to explore. And that high neck just reminded me of all the sensitive spots she had under it.
It ignited a feeling inside me I couldn’t name. It snowballed quickly when I saw the way Stevie looked at her, like she was already his.
Did he think that? Did she want him to think that?
“You made it perfectly clear last weekend what we were,” she replied.
I tilted my head a bit at her accusation, not knowing exactly what she meant.
Her eyes narrowed and her finger poked my shoulder as she whispered, “You left my bed and my house without a goodbye. Obviously, I was a one-night stand—or whatever number we’re on—but I won’t be one again.”
I stepped back and shook my head a little in surprise. “That’s not what that was.”
“Oh, please.” She turned back toward the door, leaving me behind.
I grabbed her elbow and spun her back to me, pulling her close. “I had work, Vick.”
“You always have work.” She looked down at my lips. They were so close to her I could practically taste the strawberries.
“Yes, that’s true. I really did have time-sensitive obligations though.”
“Well, you didn’t wake me or leave your number.”
“You already have my number.”
She shook her head. “So, you wanted it to be something more than—you know what? That’s not the point.” She stepped back and jerked her elbow out from under my hand. “My point is it shouldn’t have happened. I don’t ever want it to happen again. I just don’t want to be around you. You’re …”