29. Graciella #2
“No, no, Monroe. It sounds like a reasonable request.” I closed the gap between Vincent and me, loving how he took a half-step back.
“The only problem is, I apologize when I’m wrong.
Not when provoked. And we both know you’re a shit father and didn’t stop over here for a friendly chat.
” I hiked my thumb over my shoulder. “Monroe is the most loyal and devoted man I’ve seen, to his child and his team.
Character traits you should be fully aware of, Mr. Langley.
That you want to suggest otherwise tells me either: A.
You’re a shit team owner.” I put down a finger.
“B. You’re a liar.” Another finger down. “Or C. You’re both.”
Only my middle finger was left standing.
His nostrils flared. “Did you fuck your way to this position the same way your slut of a cousin did with my son?”
Anger boiled under my skin. No one came for the people I loved like that.
I got further in his face. “How about I fuck you up the same way I did to yo—”
Monroe clamped a hand over my mouth, arm like a damn steel trap pinning me to his chest. Didn’t matter how much I squirmed—the hold didn’t give.
“Too far, Vincent,” Monroe said, ignoring my muffled “fuck you,” which at that moment was directed at both of them. “Walk away. Now.”
He didn’t say it aloud, but the “before I kick your ass” was heavily implied.
Vincent raised his hands in surrender, backing away. “Nice seeing you again, Josh.” Even through my pissed-off haze, worry climbed my spine at the smirk he flashed.
Monroe continued to cover my mouth, despite my protests. His attention was locked on where Vincent disappeared from the room, leaving us alone again.
I took drastic measures.
“What the hell, Graciella?” Monroe ripped his hand away, spinning me around to stare at me in disbelief. “Did you lick my hand again?”
“I’ll lick whatever I want on you, Monroe, if you’re going to stick it near my mouth like that.”
The irritation and disbelief on his face melted away, a smile teasing at the corners of his mouth.
“How can you laugh at a time like this?”
He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. My breath hitched at the tender touch of his fingertip dragging across my jaw, coming to rest on my lip for a moment before it disappeared.
“Is that a promise?” he asked in a voice so deliciously deep and smooth it had the hairs on my arms standing on end.
I swallowed, desperately needing some moisture for my dry throat. “What the hell are you talking about, Monroe? And why aren’t you more worried about that run-in with Dalton’s dad?”
His lopsided grin only grew.
“Stop smiling. It’s fucking weird.”
And hot.
“You said you’d lick whatever I put in front of your mouth. Is that a promise?”
“I didn’t say…” I froze, replaying what I’d whisper-shouted at him thirty seconds earlier.
Shit.
“My eyes are up here, by the way.” He gripped my chin, pulling my gaze away from the tented front of his dress slacks.
“I had something in my eye,” I lied, rubbing at it and blinking.
He chuckled. “You realize you rubbed the left and blinked the right?”
I stared at his mouth. “Both eyes had something in them.”
I remembered how his lips felt, how they tasted. His fingers tangling in my hair.
“Graciella.” His voice shook me from the daydream, sounding huskier than usual. “Did you hear me? I said thank you.”
Talk about emotional whiplash. I was just envisioning making out with this man as he yanked on my hair, and now I was being thanked?
“If I ask you to repeat what you’re thanking me for, do you promise not to ask what I was distracted thinking about?” I asked. “Because if you’re going to ask, then I’m just going to say you’re welcome and live the rest of my life wondering what you told me.”
Monroe swiped at his face, a smile disappearing behind his hand. I heard what I thought sounded like, “This would be the woman I’d pick,” but before I could pry, his face sobered.
“I was thanking you for what you said…with Vincent. But you didn’t need to come to my defense. I’ve gotten pretty used to people talking shit about me, and I know I’m supposed to take—”
I cut him off, giving him a taste of his own medicine with a palm to the mouth.
“No.” I shook my head. “Not while I’m around, Monroe.
I am not going to let people spread lies about you and your character.
Not anymore. I already told you I had your back, and I don’t say that lightly.
I’m loyal to a fucking fault, which is why I don’t hand it out freely anymore.
But you…you deserve it. You’re a good man, Josh, and an amazing father. ”
He stood so still that I was two seconds away from panicking. Thankfully, I spotted the slight rise and fall of his chest.
I froze when his arm snaked around my waist, pulling me in. Heat seared through my suit at all our contact points, making my head feel fuzzy. The intensity in his ocean-blue eyes entranced me as he pulled my hand away, kissing the center of my palm.
Fuck.
Hot, I could maybe deal with. Purely physical, I could almost handle. But this…
The emotion painted on his typically stony face as he kissed somewhere I’d never been kissed before felt overwhelming—intimate.
“You are the hardest-headed, most stubborn woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, Graciella.” His voice was as soft as the circle he traced over the spot he’d kissed.
“You forgot insufferable,” I whispered, heart pounding so hard in my chest I was sure he’d hear it. “And it was the displeasure of meeting.”
He smiled, letting my hand fall as he stepped away. “I think I’ve changed my mind about those two.”