Page 16 of Turn

Cassie took two steps in my direction and held the bag out. “There weren’t any burritos left at Circle K. I thought a hot dog would be a suitable substitute. You like hot dogs, right?”

Instead of listening for my answer, Cassie turned to her father to offer an explanation. “I ruined his burrito.”

Cord looked at me. “She ruined your burrito?”

“It was an accident,” I grumbled.

“Nevertheless, I felt terrible,” Cassie said. “So I ran out to get Curtis a replacement lunch.”

Cassie was still shoving the bag at my chest so I had no choice but to take it.

Meanwhile, Cord had lost interest. “I’m going back to my office,” he said. “Cassie, please make sure the phones are covered. Curtis, enjoy your hot dog.”

“Okay, Dad,” Cassie said and strolled around to her desk, tossing her purse underneath it and smoothing her skirt before sitting down. She frowned slightly when she noticed I had made no move to gobble up my new lunch.

“There’s ketchup and mustard packets in there,” she said.

I peered inside the bag. I detested hot dogs. Of course Cassie had no way of knowing that. And the gesture had been kind. I just felt funny about accepting anything from her.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

I closed the bag and rolled it down. “Nope.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t find a burrito.”

“It’s fine. The stale potato chips were just as good.”

I almost winced over the sarcastic tone in my voice. I wasn’t going out of my way to be rude. I just thought there was nothing to be gained by opening up the lines of communication between us. And the worst part was I was pretty sure I’d be beating off to the memory of Cassie in her skirt later tonight. Judging by the way my pants were tightening right now I’d say it was my destiny.

Cassie stared at me. She seemed annoyed that I was still standing there.

“You can go eat now,” she said as if she was granting me a rare honor. Something about it rubbed me the wrong way even though I knew I wasn’t being fair. Cassie had done everything in her power to make amends over something that had been completely accidental. But that didn’t stop me from being a jackass.

“Thanks for granting me permission to eat, princess,” I said.

She cocked her head. “What the hell is your problem?”

“I didn’t know I had one.”

“Seems like it from where I’m sitting.”

“Well then,” I said, starting to retreat, “I’ll just get out of your line of sight.”

I thought I heard her mutter the word “Fucker” before I was out of earshot. It seemed like an unlikely word to come out of her prissy mouth and I kind of felt sorry I’d done nothing to improve my reputation with her today. If I was any kind of an adult I’d march right up to that desk, shake Cassie’s hand and ask if we could start over.

But I didn’t do that. I had my reasons, even if I couldn’t quite sort them out. Under ordinary circumstances Cassie wasn’t the kind of girl I’d go for. She was bound to come with too many feelings and complications. But I’d been operating for months on too little sleep, no sex and a whole lot of stress. If I spent too much time alone with Cassie I might end up making a move that wouldn’t do either of us any good.

So instead of visiting the front desk I stuck the hot dog in the fridge and went back to work.

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