Page 36 of Rosabel and the Billionaire Beast

Frustration scattered through me all over again. Leaving my suitcase near the on-ramp, I stormed back down, my shoes thumping heavily on the metal until they hit the pavement once more.

“Aren’t you coming?” I said, exasperated. “We’ve already delayed fifteen minutes. Let’s go.”

Rosabel folded her arms. “Have you really forgotten?”

Forgotten what? I ran through our conversation from the previous day but could only concentrate on the urgencyhammering me to get her away from Westville. Away from Ulrich.

“You’re here. I’m here. The plane is here. What more do I need to know?”

My tone was too clipped. I was on edge by the threats, by Maddox’s insinuations that I should confess my feelings, by my fear that something had happened to her. I knew I should dial it back, but it was too late.

“My terms,” she said.

Other aspects of our conversation from the day before wafted through the edges of my mind. I vaguely remembered her mentioning something like that.

I rested a hand on my hip, feeling the August sun beat against my neck.

Time ticked its urgency against my sternum, but I pushed my impatience down.

“All right, then. What do you want, other than what I’ve offered?”

A muscle tightened along her throat. She lifted her chin.

“I get my own room. My own schedule. We tell your family the truth—I am your assistant. I’m there to assist. Nothing more.”

I fought the urge to finger the ring box in my pocket. “Anything else?”

She abandoned her suitcase and crossed the remaining distance with so much irritation burning in her expression I braced myself to either be hit or kissed.

I wasn’t sure which I preferred at this point.

Who was I kidding? I’d take the kiss.

Rosabel did neither. But that didn’t mean her presence was without impact. Her perfume wafted toward me, and she was close enough I caught the light glinting off the rage in her pretty brown eyes.

What was she so upset for? Did she know? Maddox didn’t say anything about The Pact, did he? Or worse—had shegotten a mysterious, threatening note, too?

“I am my own person with opinions and interests, Duncan.”

The tension in me released like a punctured tire. “I never said you weren’t.”

That irritation flashed. Her tone elevated. “You no longer shoot me down just because our opinions on things don’t coincide. If I’m going on this trip, you treat me with the respect I deserve?—”

“I treat you like I’ve treated all my assistants?—”

“As a HUMAN BEING,” she finished, raising her voice and talking over me.

She gave me a sexy little smile that was anything but friendly. Her voice lowered so much I had to step closer to hear her.

“I like soft answers. I like being treated like I’m intelligent rather than ignorant. I expect you to hold my door, ask how my day is going, and gauge my feelings in each situation we’re in. Act like you value me as a person.”

How could she think I didn’t?

“Like you did when you thought I burned my hand.”

She had to bring that up.

If she had any idea just how much I valued her, she’d probably never speak to me again. I was doing thisforher.

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