Page 15 of Good Enough

Stapleton’s eyes cut to hers, and his molars were grinding again. “For now.”

“Well, Waters and I have a lot of work to do, so I’ll see you at our meeting on Monday at one o’clock.” And with that, she turned her attention back to her computer screen, picking up her conversation with Waters right where she left off. Waters held Stapleton’s gaze for just a moment before devoting what appeared to be his full attention back to her. When it became clear that the pair would completely ignore his presence, Stapleton muttered an expletive and stormed back out of the trailer.

With the banging of the door, Kai looked up and was going to apologize to Waters, but he put a finger to his lips, giving a minuscule shake of his head. He then pointed at the obstacle course drawings and made a circular motion with his hand. Instantly, she understood his message. Stapleton may have blown out of the trailer like a hurricane, but he was likely standing just outside that same door, hoping to overhear their discussion. She took his cue and kept rattling about the obstacle course wall.

Waters slid around and out of the opposite end of the booth, and he silently stepped to the hinged side of the door, flattening himself along the wall and sneaking a look out the porthole. “He’s gone.”

Just as silently as he’d left, Waters came back to the table, but instead of returning to the inside seat next to her, he motioned Kai to slide inside and perched on the outside edge of the bench, effectively boxing her in. Kai stopped speaking and grabbed her water bottle, finishing it in several swallows. Her heart beat a bit faster. In this position, his hip, thigh, knee, calf, and foot were just barely touching hers, making her blood run like lava. When they’d been immersed in working, she’d been able to suppress her physical attraction to him. Now, it was like her insides were doing the red alert Klaxon.

“What’s going on? Why are you in protector mode?” she hissed.

He looked at her quizzically.

“You’ve put yourself between me and the door." She shook her head. “I highly doubt Stapleton knows how to hurt someone unless it’s by cutting off their funding. And dick he may be, but he’s got no reason to physically come at me.” Her eyes narrowed again. “What’s going on, Waters?”

“Nothing.”

She snorted. “I’m not dumb. And I don’t need protection from the shitweasel.”

“It’s ingrained. I always put myself between a target and a threat. He may not be a physical threat to you, but he definitely has you as a target.” His tone softened in explanation. “I don’t like his method of approaching you. You should lock your door so he can’t come barging in whenever he wants.”

“While I appreciate the alpha male concern as much as the next female, if I lock that door, no one will be able to get in, and I will get zilch accomplished. Do you understand just how many people need access to me on a daily basis? Easily over a hundred, sometimes more. There’s no way appointments can be made for that, and you can’t be with me every second of the day.”

“I will if I have to be.”

All the time? Did that mean all workday or twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?

She could tell he didn’t like that her practical explanation was accurate, but he did concede a bit. “If the circumstances don’t fit my recommendations, then we change the circumstances. Your trailer is off limits to that douchebag.”

“You can’t be serious?” Stunned, she looked at his completely stone-cold expression. “You are serious.”

Waters put his left arm around the back of the booth seat behind her and his right forearm on the tabletop, basically hemming her in. “As a terrorist attack.”

Kai threw her hands up, and they fell on the tabletop. “Waters, what the fuck? He’s an executive producer. I haven’t met one who isn’t a dick yet, so it must be a requirement in the job description. He’ll never agree to that.”

“He either works under those parameters, or he doesn’t see you.”

“You act like he’s going to barricade the door and demand my virtue in payment for letting me do my job.”

“He doesn’t exactly seem like the type that wouldn’t.”

“Well, I hate to inform you, Sir Galahad, but my virtue was officially handed over a long time ago. And not to some fucknut that thinks his cock controls every woman’s world.”

“Glad to hear it.”

She shifted arguments. “Look”—she smiled, shaking her head—“it’s really sweet that you want to defend my honor, or… whatever the hell you want to call this,” she admitted with a wave of her hand, “but I’ve been handling him for weeks now. He doesn’t scare me, and he can’t hurt me. Other than running my mouth, I haven’t done anything even remotely close to being fired for, which is the only power he has over me. And doing that hurts him more than it does me.”

“And I repeat, I don’t care. This way or no consult.”

What the hell is going on?

“This is a bit over-the-top for consulting on Navy SEAL procedures.”

His pupils flared minutely, the green flames surrounding them seeming to spike in the blue of his irises. Had she not been paying extremely close attention, she might have missed it.

He’s thinking about what to say.

“The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. Like someone is watching. They have been since we met at the gate.”

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