Page 36 of Something So Strong

“I am the supervisor. How may I help you?”

I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at the sass in his tone.

Mrs Starwoski lowers her sunglasses and peers over them at Kai before drifting to me. “I don’t think the pair of you could supervise anything if you tried,” she says snidely.

Kai leans forward—his chest against my arm. His voice is low and calm. “And I don’t think your husband would appreciate a call about how his wife won’t pay her bill. That could be quite embarrassing for him.”

In a huff, she dives into her handbag to retrieve her wallet. Her way too long manicured fingernails tap against the plastic as she holds out her black American Express card.

With a tilt of his head, Kai says, “Thank you so much for understanding, Mrs Starwoski,” and grinds against me as he places the bill back in front of her. “Don’t forget to sign.”

I’m obsolete at this point.

The remainder of the transaction is a blur of sarcastically disingenuous pleasantries, and I’m furious at myself for how little effort it took for Kai to completely incapacitate me.

He may have won this battle, but I swear I’m going to win the war.

Once Mrs Starwoski is gone, Kai steps back, and I whip my head to look at him. But I don’t dare move away from the counter. “What the fuck was that?”

His lips contort into a sly simper, and he lowers his chin to look at me through lidded eyes. “You declared the game was on, Jean. I’m just playing by your rules.”

But that’s just the thing. There are no rules. Kai is the Enigma Machine, and I’m Alan Turing, desperately inventing the computer to try and figure out what the fuck he’s playing at.

Gathering my nerve, I glance at his crotch. He may not have been hard before, but he is now. “I’m starting to think you’re full of shit.”

“Why do you say that?” he asks smugly, knowing what I saw.

“You’re turned on. You didn’t think you would be… You thought you could just fuck with me, but it backfired.”

“I’ve made it no secret I find you attractive, Jean. So I don’t understand why you’re still in so much denial.”

“Because you also said you don’t like guys.”

“No. I said I hadn’t, then I met you. And…” He moves closer until his body is at a ninety-degree angle to mine, and leans sideways on the counter. “I remember you saying you were straight. Yet you seem too scared to move. Now why could that be?”

Fuck him. He knows why. But no matter how unashamed he might be about it, for me, that’s more easily said than done. This is what I wanted, though a hypothesis and reality often reach different conclusions. And turning around means putting out into the universe that this is the direction my life will take.

“Would it help if I called you Jesse? I’ll call you whatever you like.”

“It would help if you said what you actually feel. Everything you say sounds like a rehearsed line.”

My eyes follow Kai’s as he looks down, his fingers running over the bulge in his khakis. “I like you, Jesse. At least he does, anyway.” Then his gaze is back on me. “No man has ever done this to me before. And… I think you know how that feels.”

Breathing deeply, I turn to face him and watch his lips curl when his eyes drop to my pants. “So what do you plan on doing about it?”

“Me?” he chuckles. “I don’t plan on doing anything except to continue playing this game of yours. I love a tease. And seeing you get so worked up turns me the fuck on.”

“Fuck you,” I grit out, sickened by how much I enjoy being played with.

“Maybe one day if you’re lucky.”

Lust-fuelled spite has me continuing to stare at Kai as he strolls slowly backwards, because I don’t want the interaction to be over.

“Ah, good, no more guests.” The reception door swings open and in walks another new person.

Quickly, I spin back to the desk.

“Morning, Esther,” Kai greets flippantly from the black-hole corner, already retrieving his phone from the drawer.

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