“That is very… mature of you,” Miller said, no less surprised. “This right woman, what is she like?”
“Warm,” I said instantly, not having to give that any thought at all. “Open. Someone… softer. A good cook. Who maybe tries to sneak healthy shit into dinner because she gives a shit about my health…”
“You know… that sounds an awful lot like Gemma.”
“Except I could never date Gemma,” I shot back. A little too quickly maybe.
“Really? Why not?”
“She’s too young.”
“She was too young. You know… five years ago. She’s grown up now. You know, I think she may have even had…” she went on, lowering her voice to a comical whisper, “S-E-X before.”
“She’s Jules’ sister,” I added.
“You’re weirdly defensive about this random hypothetical,” she told me, never one for mincing words.
“It’s a ridiculous thing to assume could ever possibly happen.”
“Is it, though? God, she had such a massive crush on you back when she worked at the office.”
“She moon-eyed all of us at some point.”
“Yeah, but she moon-eyed you the most. And for the longest. It was cute, actually. I remember those days. Back before life reminded you that most guys aren’t moon-eye-worthy.”
“That’s a bit cynical.”
“Oh, come on. With the men we meet in this line of work, you don’t agree?”
“Some guy is going to knock you on your ass someday, Mills. I hope I can be there to see it.”
She completely ignored that, gaze slipping from mine. “Were your ears ringing?” she asked, making my gaze shoot forward too, seeing Gemma making her way past us.
Safe.
I don’t know if I realized just how worried I was about her until I saw her there, felt the weight lift from my shoulders.
She was fine.
“Hey Miller. How have you been?”
“Oh, you know me. Bringing strong men to heel. The usual. How are you? You look exhausted.”
“Oh, I, ah… I didn’t sleep well last night,” she admitted, head ducking a bit at the admission.
Miller was right. There were smudges under her eyes, her lids were heavy. Wherever she’d ended up, she’d been as restless as I had.
Guilt swirled, knowing I was the reason she hadn’t been able to sleep, that she had likely been awake kicking herself for the kiss.
Christ, that kiss.
No.
I couldn’t let my mind go there.
“I have to run back to my car to get my gifts,” she added, looking for a speedy exit, a way to get away from me. “I seemed to leave my brain there too,” she added with a wobbly smile that didn’t reach her eyes at all. “We’ll catch up in a minute,” she added, rushing off.
“Hm,” Miller said to her retreating form. “That was weird. She didn’t even lecture me about drinking an energy drink,” she added, lifting it to drink as she moved to walk away.
Once she was gone, I turned, rushing through the house to make my way out front, catching up to Gemma at her car parked to the side of the garage without anyone seeing me.
“You scared the shit out of me, Gem,” I hissed.
A shriek escaped her, not having heard me coming, body jolting upward, making her head slam into the raised trunk of her car.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow,” she whimpered, clutching the back of her head.
“Fuck, sorry,” I said, reaching out.
“Don’t,” she snapped. “Don’t touch me,” she added. Her voice might have been filled with venom, but there was nothing but hurt in her eyes. Hurt I had put there.
“Let me check it, honey. Make sure you didn’t do any damage,” I added, reaching out once again only to have her shrink away.
“I’m fine,” she insisted even as she turned to swipe a tear away. She was going to have an egg there in an hour with how hard she’d hit it.
“You shouldn’t have run off last night,” I told her, deciding to get to the point. We weren’t going to have a lot of time before someone else walked past.
“I’m an adult. I can come and go as I wish.”
“You know why that is not exactly the case right now, Gemma.”
“I know that I was getting by well enough on my own. And I will continue to do so.”
Christ.
I’d never heard her sound quite so cold before. But her words were full-on icicles.
“This doesn’t have to be a big deal. If you had stuck around, we could have talked about that.”
“Oh, you mean after you told me to go to my room like a child?” She’d mumbled it under her breath, but there was no mistaking what she’d said.
“Gemma…”
“No. It’s nothing. Forget it even happened.”
“So you’re going to come back tonight?” I asked as she piled her gifts in her arms.
“Yes,” she said with a nod, allowing me to finally take a deep breath. “To get my things. Then I am heading back out.”
“Gem, come the fuck on. You can’t go back to your place.”