Page 20 of The Yeah Baby Series: Vol 3

“At our place. Our home,” he corrected.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Ourhome.”

As he started up the engine and pulled away from the curb, I turned towards the window and stared out, watching another tear trail down my cheek. It hurt, thinking about how I’d come to view his house as my home. Depending on how our conversation went, I might not feel the same way about his house by the end of the night. The pain was almost overwhelming as I sat there, silently crying the whole drive.

When he pulled into the driveway, I didn’t even wait for him to cut the engine off before I ripped off my seatbelt and flung my door open. I heard his footsteps behind me as I raced into the house, near desperate for the privacy and comfort the house offered.

“Why did you do it?” I cried out as soon as the door shut behindus.

“Bedroom,” he growled, stripping of his clothes as he walked away fromme.

“What the hell?” I grumbled, following afterhim.

“You wanted to have this conversation in our home, and I let you have that—stuck listening to you crying without being able to do anything aboutit.”

Shit, so much for thinking I was doing it silently.

“You got what you wanted. We’re going to talk about this at home, in our fuckingbed.”

“But—”

“Don’t,” he hissed. “I get that I fucked up and need to explain to you what happened with Kassidy and Harbor House. But you’re mine, and this shit isn’t going to change that. Nothing everwill.”

There was vulnerability and pain in his voice, almost as much as I was feeling. It made me pause, reminded me what was at stake. I was willing to bend, but only a little. Toeing off my shoes, I sat on the edge of the mattress. “Fine. I’m on the bed. But I’m not getting naked.” Because if I did, I knew exactly how this conversation would go—and there wouldn’t be a whole lot of words involved.

“I can live with that. Fornow.”

“Then answer my question,” I demanded.

He plopped down next to me, sighing heavily. “Because I fucking hate the idea of you working at Dirty Players. Of douchebags thinking you’re fair game because of it when you’re mine. Of not being there to protect you while you’re working.”

“I know you hate it, but the job there is only temporary until I geta—”

“Publishing deal,” he finished forme.

“One that I earned, though.” My voice cracked in the middle. I’d been so proud of myself when I opened that email, and it was devastating to know I hadn’t earned that offer because of my talent.

“You did,” he vowed. “Kassidy’s my friend, but she would never have pushed for the deal they offered you unless she loved your book as much as Idid.”

“You really loved it?” Gah! I sounded so insecure, but when it came to my writing that was exactly what I was in someways.

“Yes, angel. So did Harbor House.” He moved away from me, grabbed his pants off the floor and pulled his phone out of the pocket. “And I can prove it toyou.”

He jabbed his finger at the screen and the sound of it ringing on the other end filled theair.

“Hey, Peanut Buttercup! Did your girl tell you thenews?”

“Peanut Buttercup?” I mouthed athim.

He grimaced and shook his head. If it had been under any other circumstances, I would have joked about his friend’s play on his name. But we had serious stuff to work out. There was definitely a story there, but it was one for another day when we didn’t have serious stuff to workout.

“Yeah, Kassidy. I’ve actually got you on speakerphone, and I need you to clear something up for Macy before she does something stupid like turn down the deal you guys offered toher.”

“No! She can’t dothat!”

Kassidy sounded panicked by the idea, and some of the tension left mybody.

“Then you’d better convince her that you didn’t make the offer because of who she is tome.”

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