She met my eyes and twisted her lips to one side, thinking. Finally, she confided in me. “I don’t want to be a weight, dragging y’all down. It’s been almost two weeks and all I’ve managed to do is fuck each of you, after swearing I wouldn’t. I haven’t done anything useful. With how busy you three have been this week, I haven’t even managed to break my own rule against sleeping with you.”
I turned her around in my lap, frowning darkly at her. I wasn’t into the bondage stuff like Dom was, but fuck if I didn’t want to bend her over and spank her for talking about herself like that.
“Sugar, I picked you for the job because I know you’re right for it. That being said, you had one week of Dom forcing you to learn about the company and another week of us being so busy with this new place that we could barely talk to you, much less give you any instructions.
“You’re not a weight. As soon as we get you started, you’re going to be a force for us.” I cupped her neck and ran my thumb over the hollow of her throat. “You’re crazy if you think you haven’t already improved our lives.”
Her brows furrowed in anger. “Because I put out?”
I tightened my fingers just enough to bring her face down to mine. I let her see my own anger. “I don’t know what’s going on with you today, from putting yourself at risk to putting yourself down like this, but it’s not okay. If you need something, tell me. If there’s something bothering you, tell me. This isn’t working, though. I can’t read your mind, but I can tell there’s something else going on.”
She stood up and walked over to her seat again. Instead of sitting down, though, she gathered up her laptop and the notebook she always kept at her side. “I’m going to head back to the office.”
I watched her, feeling frustrated. “If that’s what you want to do, Sugar.”
She glared up at me and then stomped toward the exit, only stopping to yell back at me, “I’m calling a car! No one worry!”
I gripped the edge of my chair to keep myself planted in it. I wasn’t going to chase after her. She was ready for a fight and I didn’t want to give in. I’d spent my marriage to Sam’s mom fighting and I wasn’t interested in doing more of that. Still, it was hard to stay still when all I wanted was to have Sugar in front of me again, in my lap.
A few seconds later the door to the building opened and she stomped back in. She was silent with bright red cheeks as she dropped her things on the table and slumped back into her chair. “I’m having a bad day. I’m sorry.”
My chest tightened. “No worries, Sugar. It happens. Want to talk about it?”
She opened her notebook and shook her head. Then, she shut it and sighed. “Are you guys done with me?”
My jaw almost hit the floor. The question shocked me so much that I opened my mouth and closed it a few different times before I could get words out. “What?”
She chewed on the tip of her pen and stared at the table. “None of you have tried to see me. I know what I said and I know you’ve been busy, but…I just thought that if you wanted me, you would’ve tried. Right?”
I didn’t know how many hours I’d slept over the last week, but I knew it wasn’t a lot. I had barely been home, slept in the office two different times, and eaten like shit. My free time had been spent barely functioning, but even then, I’d thought about Sugar damn near constantly. I sat forward in my chair and rubbed my jaw. “Sugar, I’m sorry. I—”
She stood up again and forced a smile. “No, it’s okay. I’m just overreacting. This is dumb. I’m the one who said no funny business. I must be getting my period.”
“Sugar, let me—”
“Really, Barrett, this is silly. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to leave by storming out like that, but I do want to get back to the office. Cindy brought in cookies. She said she’d save me one, but if Hank from accounting found out, he’ll make eyes at her and I won’t have a crumb left.”
I stood up and braced my knuckles on the tabletop. “If you’d slow down and listen to me, I—”
“Want me to save you a cookie if there’s an extra one left?” She yanked her things up again and started backing away. “Of course. Who wouldn’t want a cookie? See you later!”
I stared after her as she ran out and rapped my knuckles on the wood top, hard. Pulling out my phone, I dialed Dom. I didn’t even wait for him to speak after hearing the line click open. “She’s spiraling and I thinkImight want to spank her right now.”
He chuckled and then said something to someone in the background. I could hear the noise behind him change as he moved. “What’s she doing?”
“Well, she just stormed out of here, for starters. Twice. Called herself useless, except for fucking. Suggested that we must be done with her because we haven’t tried to do just that this week.” I walked toward the front of the restaurant and looked out the windows. “She wouldn’t let me get a word out when I tried to talk to her about it. She’s got her mind set.”
“It sounds like we need to have a talk. I didn’t have time this morning to do much more than shout when I found out how she got to work. I wanted to redden her ass to hell and back, but I had Richard Dwayne trying to walk into my office after only being able to talk to her for a few minutes. I should’ve taken more time with her.”
“This is ridiculous. We need to clear this up, starting with throwing out whatever rules she thought she needed.” I growled and tugged at my hair. “For the record, I can’t remember feeling this frustrated over a woman in nearly two decades.”
Dom grunted. “Got a feeling it’s just beginning with Sugar, brother. See you at the afternoon meeting?”
I agreed and hung up, looking toward Holden in the kitchen, cooking away without a care in the world. “Lucky bastard.”
41
***Holden***