Chapter 9
“Be grumpy to me. I dare you.” ~ Dakota
Dakota
T he door opens, and I smile at Rhett. “Good morning.”
He grunts in response.
“There’s coffee in the breakroom for those of us who aren’t morning people.”
He doesn’t even bother to grunt this time. He passes my desk without glancing my way. Someone is not a morning person. I don’t love mornings either but I haven’t gone to bed yet since my shift at the motel is from midnight to six a.m.
I stopped by Pirates Pastries for coffee and a snuggle with Viking this morning before coming to work. The caffeine hit should last me for at least an hour.
I hope. My sleeping schedule is completely out a whack. I try to sleep for five hours after I get home from the distillery. Then, I work eight hours behind the desk where I cat nap from four until six.
On Saturday, I sleep all day and on Sunday, I catch up on all my housework. It’s a brutal schedule. I don’t know how long I can keep this up.
I force my attention back to work. It’s my job to read all of Eli’s emails. He gets a ton of emails from people begging for money or mentorship or a job or an investment or …The list goes on and on. It’s crazy. I can barely keep up.
An hour later, I finish with the emails and make my way to the break room. It’s the prettiest breakroom I’ve ever seen – there are actual Baccarat crystal glasses – although I don’t have much to compare it with. I worked for a plumbing company before this. I was glad if the counter and coffee machine there weren’t tainted with dirty handprints.
Rhett is in the room when I arrive.
“Hey, blanket fort buddy. How are you?”
He scowls at me. “Blanket fort buddy?”
“Did you forget we spent a hurricane bundled under a blanket in a closet together?”
I’m never going to forget. Before Rhett arrived, I was terrified. After he joined me, I didn’t feel scared at all. Maybe a bit scared of how my body yearns for the controlling man. But it’s a good kind of scared. An exciting kind.
I’ve spent more time than I care to admit daydreaming about how he touched me when we were in the closet. What would have happened if I hadn’t told him tickling makes me pee? Would he have glided his hands to my breasts? My nipples tingle at the idea. Or maybe south? My panties dampen.
“I wasn’t under a blanket.”
“I forgot. Your body radiates enough heat to warm Antarctica in the middle of the coldest winter night.”
He frowns.
“Do you still refer to it as night when it’s dark twenty-four hours a day?”
“Stop.”
My brow wrinkles. “Stop what? Are you an Antarctica hater? Oh no. Are you one of those conspiracy theorists who believe the world is flat and therefore Antarctica doesn’t exist? What does Eli think of you being a conspiracy theorist? I’m surprised he hasn’t bundled you off to some rehabilitation center to disabuse you of your ideas.”
“I don’t hate Antarctica.”
“Phew.” I run the back of my hand over my brow. “I was worried there for a second. It wouldn’t have stopped me from spending all my time putting articles about how flat-earthers are wrong everywhere in your office, though. Conspiracy theories are scary and should be stopped.”
“You should be stopped.”
I hold up a hand. “I’m not going to plant articles about flat earthers everywhere. I said I would have, not I will .”
“I meant stop talking.”
“Are you telling me to shut up? Have you not had enough coffee yet?”
He sighs. “I think you’re confused.”
“I’m not confused. You’ve made yourself clear. You understand the Earth is round. Noted.”
He growls. “I’m not discussing the Earth. I mean about us.”
“What do you mean? Us? What us?”
“Exactly.” He nods. “There is no us.”
“I didn’t say there was. Hold on. Did you think I think we’re a couple because we spent a day in a closet together? Weirdest first date ever.”
“It wasn’t a date.”
“I know. I said the same thing two seconds ago.”
“You’re speaking in circles.”
“I never understood that phrase. Am I walking in circles while I’m speaking? Are my sentences circular? Admit it. It’s a weird phrase.”
He holds up a hand. “Please stop. You’re giving me a headache.”
“I’m giving you a headache? If we weren’t friends, I’d be offended.”
“That’s the point. We aren’t friends.”
My stomach dives to the floor at his words. “We’re not? But I thought…”
I trail off because it doesn’t matter what I thought. Once again, I was wrong about a man. At least I didn’t jump into bed with this one before realizing what an asshole he is.
He doesn’t respond. He merely stares at me as if I’m a fool. Message received.
“Okay.” I nod. “You’ve made yourself clear. We’re not friends.”
I whirl around and stomp out of the breakroom.
What an asshole! I thought Rhett just had a hard time warming up to people. Which I could understand since he lives on a small island and I’m an outsider.
But he’s not having a hard time warming up to me. He’s just a plain old jerkity jerk.
If he thinks he can get away with being nice to me before dropping a ‘we’re not friends’-bomb, he’s wrong. Considering how the auto-correct prank drove him nuts, I believe another prank is in order.
I wake my computer to research ideas.
An hour later, I hear Rhett’s door open. He makes his way to the breakroom. I wait until he’s inside before following him.
He glances over his shoulder at me. He scowls before lifting the coffee pot. I shake my head. I am not drinking that coffee. I nearly giggle but I clear my throat before any laughter escapes. I don’t want him to be suspicious.
He probably thinks I followed him in here like a lost puppy after he kicked me. I’m no lost puppy and I have some pride. Not much after the whole fiasco with Adam. But I’m building it up again.
Rhett doesn’t want to be friends. We’re not friends. I will not beg him for attention.
I open the refrigerator and take out a bottle of water for a reason to be here. I twist open the top and sip on the water as I wait for him to taste his coffee.
He brings the cup to his mouth and I hide my face behind the water bottle before my excitement gives me away. He sips and his brow wrinkles. He takes another sip before gagging and spitting the coffee out in the sink.
“What the hell?”
I flutter my eyelashes. “What the hell what? What’s wrong?” I lay the innocence on thick.
“The coffee’s gone bad.”
“Gone bad? Can coffee go bad? I didn’t realize.”
He narrows his eyes on me. “What did you do to the coffee?”
“What? What do you mean?”
He nods to my water. “You never drink water in the morning. You mainline coffee all morning. In the afternoon, you intermix your coffee drinking with water.”
Someone’s been paying attention. Don’t go feeling flattered, Dakota. This man is not interested in me.
“Thanks for paying attention, bossypants.” I wink.
He growls. “What the hell did you do to the coffee?”
“I didn’t do anything to the coffee.”
Lies. All lies.
“It tastes like shit.”
“And you have experience with tasting shit?”
“Stop being cute.”
My stomach flutters. Knock it off. Not interested in me, remember?
Zane and Miles stroll into the room. “What’s going on? Are we having a meeting?” Zane asks.
Miles scowls. “No, thanks.”
“No meeting”, Rhett grumbles. “Someone messed with the coffee.”
“It wasn’t me,” Miles and Zane answer in unison.
Rhett points to me. “A female someone.”
Miles meets my gaze. “I’m loving you more and more.”
Zane shoves him. “I loved her first.”
“Shut up!” Rhett yells. “She fucked with the coffee.”
“High five.” Miles lifts his palm and – what the hell – I high-five him.
“You did mess with the coffee. I fucking knew it.”
“My. My. Someone’s language is atrocious today,” Zane says. “If I spoke those words, you’d threaten to wash my mouth out with soap.”
“Stop distracting me.” Rhett waves the coffee pot my way. “Who do you think you are? Coming in to this company, screwing things up, and dividing us brothers.”
“Whoa, dude.” Miles steps in front of me. “You’re out of line.”
I peek out from behind him. “I haven’t screwed anything up and I’m not pitting the brothers against you.”
From what I can tell, Miles and Zane drive Rhett crazy all on their own. No help from little old me needed. Although, I am always willing to lend a hand. I’m helpful that way.
Rhett raises the coffee pot before throwing it across the room. It slams into the wall and smashes into a million pieces while coffee flies in the air.
My mouth drops open. “What is wrong with you? It was a little prank. And you know exactly why I pranked you.” I pause but he doesn’t deign to apologize for his behavior. “Dickhead. I’ll have maintenance come clean this up and order a new coffee pot.”
I hurry out of the room and make my way to the restroom. I lock the door behind me before leaning against it. My heart pounds in my chest.
Rhett’s anger was out of proportion to what happened. And I’m not afraid to admit it scared me a little bit.
Another sign I don’t know how to pick men. The universe keeps dropping them in front of me.
I hear you, universe. I got it. Rhett is not the man for me. No more signs necessary.