“Right now I’m still mad. I thought I could separate working with you and what happened...but honestly, I don’t know if I can,” she admitted as they got off the elevator. “I think I’m going to have to cancel this contract.”
He could see the fury in her. Mostly in the way she kept clenching her hands into fists as she stood there talking to him. Also, she wouldn’t make eye contact, which she normally always did. He hated that he’d done this to her. This was precisely why he’d always avoided being with someone like Paisley.
Yet despite everything, he felt his cock stir, his skin grew too tight for his body, and he was holding on to his control by a thread. He wanted to lean in and kiss her. Turn that anger he sensed seething in her into passion. Give them both a chance to express what they were trying to keep hidden.
Two people who were real and who didn’t hide their emotions. She wore them for the entire world to see and now he had to decide if he could do the same. And if not, he should be the bigger person and walk away. But he knew that he wouldn’t.
Paisley hated that she still wanted him and that she had let him get to her. Why couldn’t she stop dwelling on the fact that with the stubble on his strong jaw, she could easily see why he’d been named the “Sexiest Man of the Year” twice. Or help but remember how kissing him always made her weak in the knees?
Gah! She’d had a plan to stay cool, but just being in his presence was making her temperature flare, which made her want to do something to hurt him the way he’d hurt her. And that was proof positive why sheshouldn’tbe working with him. Because revenge had never been her thing. She’d had never been a mean girl; she had always been the one who took care of everyone else. Who always put herself last. But now that she was pregnant, she couldn’t keep doing that.
She’d met Olive and Delaney when they’d all been doing community service—Olive for bullying some of her sorority sisters and Delaney for driving under the influence. Paisley had been there trying to undo some of the bad karma she felt she’d unwittingly attracted when she realized her father had paid for her college tuition with money he’d bilked some elderly widows out of. They’d started their business to use their energy and knowledge for good.
This was—
“Paisley, I am sorry,” Sean said again, jerking her out of her thoughts.
She sighed in frustration. How many times was she going to listen to him say it? She pivoted to face him and shook her head. “I know. I’m not ready to forgive.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.”
He was being so...reasonable. Which, for some reason, was irritating her even more.
“Listen, I won’t stay angry forever, but you didn’t give me a chance to come to you. You forced this meeting.”
“How did I force you?” he asked defensively.
“You dangled a carrot—”
Another elevator car stopped on their floor and the door opened. Paisley grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall into her office. She tried to ignore the tingle that went through her body at his touch. She wasn’t doing this again.
Work with him, get him out of her system—that was the plan.
She closed the door after they were both in the office and leaned back against it, tipping back her head and closing her eyes while she took a deep breath.
“I just didn’t want you to close me out. I’ve seen you do it when you decide to move on,” he said.
She looked over at him, surprised by the raw sincerity in his voice. But should she be? “How can I believe anything you say?”
The words were sort of mean, but she couldn’t help herself. He’d lied to her, and as much as she knew he had his reasons, she was struggling to forgive him. And if she was being totally honest, she was struggling to forgive herself too for not seeing it. Was this what her mom had felt each time her father had made a promise and then broken it?
“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Maybe take a chance and get to know me.”
His offer was way too tempting, but she knew she wasn’t going to take it. She was the sort of person who thought “fool me once, shame on you—fool me twice, shame on me.” However, they had to work together and that was something she could focus on. Also she did want to know what kind of man Sean was. She’d accepted his offer and now she needed to make the most of it.
“Well, I will be getting to know the professional you,” she said. “Let’s talk about that. Your film company wants you to do some events that mirror the movie, so we’ve got singing carols at the Bean, working in the soup kitchen, a weekend stint in the suburbs dressed as Santa and handing out presents.”
He made a face. The Bean was a local Chicago attraction tourists flocked to for photos.
“What?”
“Uh, I don’t usually do that kind of stuff,” he said gruffly.
“I know. The studio knows as well, but you insisted they hire my firm so they wanted to make sure they got their money’s worth. I think there is also a high-ticket charity gala that you will host.”
“Is that all?”
“So far,” she said, realizing that she was enjoying seeing him so uncomfortable. “Today’s Zoom is to finalize the list and get approval.”