Chapter 12 #2
That didn’t get a smile. It got an eye roll, and that was almost as good. “Seriously, what’s happening?”
“Nothing. Why?”
Her eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth before letting out a muffled cry. She yanked her phone from her purse and hit a button, but not before I saw missed calls.
A shit-ton of them.
Possessive fucker.
But would I be any different?
Am I any different when she’s not even mine?
That jealousy from earlier rotted in my gut. I didn’t get the chance to ask questions I had no right to ask—but I was damn sure going to—when the phone in her hand lit up again, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
“Excuse me. I’ll be right back,” she rushed out, already storming toward the open doors that led to the back terrace.
She wanted space.
I didn’t give it to her.
Setting the untouched drink on a table, I followed. I dodged people who couldn’t read the damn room and tried to stop me to shoot the shit. By the time I got outside, she was in the far corner with her back to me.
I approached in time to hear her say, “I’m at work. Just give me time.”
At work.
Because that’s all this is to her.
All I am to her.
I knew that. Easton had even reminded me of that fact after the papers had been signed. But fuck, hearing her say it so plainly cut.
She hung up but made no moves to return to the party. She didn’t even turn around as she continued staring at the wall.
“Everything okay?” I asked, wondering about the jilted man who was likely pissed about her running out on him.
I knew I would be if the roles were reversed.
Greer jolted before spinning to face me. I expected the glare she shot at me. What I didn’t expect was the shimmer of tears in that annoyed glare. Quickly swiping at the few that had escaped, she muttered, “Of course you didn’t wait inside.”
“You okay?” I amended.
I assumed she would wave off my question, but she didn’t.
The tears she’d just blinked away returned to stream down her flushed cheeks.
“No. No, I’m not. I have a shit-ton of schoolwork piling up, including a final paper that is a massive portion of my grade that I haven’t even started.
Wait, that’s a lie. I’ve started a dozen times and deleted them all because they were shit.
Now I’m not sure I’ll have anything to submit, much less a subpar paper, because every time I try to write it, I freeze up.
All I can think about is that if I bomb this assignment, my entire future is going to implode more than it already has.
And that future is much closer than I am ready for because the semester is nearly finished, and I only have one left.
One. I’ve spent the last seventeen years of my life in school, and it’s nearly over.
Yet I have no freaking clue what I want to do after that.
Not even an inkling. And if that existential crisis wasn’t enough”—she shook her phone—“my father has decided to start spam calling me like he’s trying to reach me about my car’s extended warranty.
And you—” Her words cut off abruptly as she sharply inhaled.
I filled them in for her. “And I’m a narcissistic prick who dragged you out tonight.”
Her expression softened, and I braced for pity that never came. “You’re not.”
“I am.”
“Maybe a little,” she relented with a teasing smile and a small shrug. Both were forced, and I could practically see her adding bricks as she built her walls back up. “Anyway, that sounded worse than—”
“Is your dad okay?” I asked since I knew from experience how fucked parental relationships could be.
“Yes. My parents are getting a divorce. It’s messy. I don’t want to think about it, much less talk about it.”
I really got that. “Were you doing the assignment tonight?”
“Doing might be too strong of a word.”
It was my turn to glare, and Greer tried to avert her gaze.
I didn’t let her.
Gripping her chin, I forced her eyes to me. “I said from the beginning that your school comes first, and that we’d work around it. Why didn’t you tell me that’s what you were doing?”
“You already pay me way too much for a job I feel like I’m barely doing. And when I am doing it, it doesn’t seem like I’m doing much. And I want to do a good job for you. So badly.”
‘For you.’
Not just in general.
But for me.
If I was a better man, those words wouldn’t have hardened my cock. And the streaks of those tears I was working to ignore wouldn’t have pushed that arousal until I was worried one wrong move would set me off.
But I wasn’t a better man.
As we’d established, I was a narcissistic prick.
Which was part of the reason why I used my hold on her chin to tug her closer. “Come here.”
Surprisingly, I didn’t have to force her. She fell forward, her face smashing against my chest.
Keeping my distance enough that she didn’t feel my body’s reaction, I wrapped my arms around her. “Greer, you’re the best assistant I’ve ever had, and it’s not even close.”
“That’s not saying much,” she whispered, her words coming out muffled against me.
“It is.” Moving my hold to her shoulders, I leaned her back just far enough that she could see the sincerity on my face. “You’ve already gotten my shit together.”
“I also wouldn’t go that far.”
“Hush,” I ordered.
I assumed she would roll her eyes or tell me to fuck off, but she pressed her lips together.
That shot to my dick, too, and I took advantage of her momentary submission. “You’ve earned every last cent of your paycheck, so put that shit out of your mind.”
Sudden tears filled her eyes again, and she hid them by dropping her face back to my chest.
I cupped the back of her head, holding her to me. “And no one says you have to have your life mapped out by graduation. You’ve got time to figure it out, and I’ll be lucky to have you until you do.”
“Stop talking,” she tried to order.
“No. I don’t give a damn if you can only work one day a week.
Hell, one day a month. I mean, I do because I like having you around,” I admitted before I could catch myself.
“But you’ve already shown you can get more done in that one day than my other assistants did in the entire time they worked for me.
Take the time you need to focus on school and work for me when you can.
I don’t want you to fail a class because you’re stretching yourself too thin. ”
“I’m not going to fail,” she said softly, her words coming out stifled since I still held her to me.
“I know you won’t. You’ll get this done—”
“No, I mean, I can’t. It’s impossible. As long as I hand in something, I will pass. It just won’t be with a good grade.”
Moving my hold to her arms, I leaned her back again. “Then why are you stressed?”
She gestured to her head. “I’m insane. And neurotic. And clearly very, very dramatic.”
I didn’t get it, but I also hadn’t been a great student.
I never had to be. As much as I wished differently, I’d always known I wanted to follow in my old man’s footsteps—or more accurately, his Walk of Fame handprints.
I’d done just enough to graduate from the overpriced private high school and had never even bothered to apply to college.
But it was clearly important to her, so I didn’t have to understand.
“You’re not any of that,” I said. “Do what you need to do. I’ll hold back being a prick until you’re finished. Got it?”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she nodded.
“After that, though, it’s game on. At least until your next semester starts.”
She started laughing, and more of the tension left her face. “Something to look forward to over the holidays.”
I smiled, stupidly proud I could do that for her. That I could make her feel better.
Her laughter faded as she studied my face. Her words were a barely audible whisper. “Your eye color really is amazing.”
“Thanks, our kids can have it, too.”
She rolled her own mesmerizing eyes. “Do you use that one often when you flirt through interviews?”
“Never said it before in my life,” I said honestly.
She let out a soft scoff as she dropped her gaze and tried to shift away.
I didn’t let her.
My hands around her upper arms tightened, and she froze instantly.
Her sharp inhale.
Her parted lips.
Her wide-eyed shock.
It all fueled the need I couldn’t fight.
That I didn’t want to fight.
My focus dropped to that damn mouth in time to see her pink tongue dart out to swipe across her bottom lip. It was more than any man could take. I was about to haul her to me.
To let her feel exactly what she did to me.
To let her feel without a shadow of a fucking doubt how badly I wanted her.
But I didn’t have to.
She leaned in.
She fucking leaned in.
And then she jolted away just as fast, taking me by surprise. She used that to her advantage and quickly dislodged herself. That wasn’t enough for her, and she took a few stumbling steps back until she hit the wall.
With her out of my arms, the world around us snapped back into place, and I noticed a loud group had come outside, laughing and talking as they smoked.
“That was… I’m sor… I should…” Greer started before taking a shuddering inhale. “I should go.”
When she took off without another word, I wanted to follow her. Fuck, did I want to stop her and hold her in place as I finally took her mouth until I never forgot the taste.
But I gave her the space she needed.
It killed me to do it, but I knew if I pushed her, I would lose her before I ever got her.
And that wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.