Page 25 of Christmas With the Jerk

I push those thoughts aside. This isn’t about that. I’m here to get this job done, and fawning over his good looks will do nothing to that end.

“I'm guessing you saw the text?” he asks, rubbing a hand through his wet hair, clearly surprised to see me, as if this is no big deal. I guess he can calmly take a relaxing shower after learning about the postponement.

I don’t wait for an invitation. I push past him, into his room. “Yes. You don't seem too concerned. But this is not cool. We need to talk about this now and figure out how we will respond.”

"Um, I am concerned. You need to dial it back a little."

He closes the door behind me, but I’m already pacing. “We can’t just sit here, Thorne. Like I said, this is not cool. We need to get ahead of this today, not tomorrow. Waiting until tomorrow is practically handing this account to someone else.”

He frowns, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re overreacting. The meeting’s been rescheduled. There’s nothing we can do about the weather. Are you in a rush to get back to Tennessee, after all the hell you gave me about it at the airport?”

I'm not sure if he is projecting or attacking me. Hmph, if he knows anything at all about me, this has nothing to do with getting back home. What is home, anyway? This is about doing everything and anything to succeed at this job.

“Overreacting?” I stop, turning to face him, my heart pounding. “Are you kidding me? The longer we delay, the lower our chances of landing become! We can’t just sit around twiddling our thumbs and making s’mores while they second-guess whether or not they even need us!”

Thorne sighs, clearly irritated, but also clearly trying to keep his cool. “We’re stuck in a snowstorm, Woodley. You think he is staging this storm so he can interview someone else? This is Mother Nature. The roads are dangerous, half the city’s shut down. Get a grip.”

“Don’t tell me to get a grip! I don’t care about the roads!” My voice rises, fueled by the frustration bubbling inside me. “We’ve worked too hard for this. I’ve worked too hard for this. We can make it work. Hell, I’ll drive to wherever they are if I have to. Anything’s better than waiting for him to only postpone it further.”

He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “You’re going to drive through a snowstorm? In what, your tiny Kia Sportage rental car?” He lets out a short, humorless laugh. “The natives don’t even want to drive in this, but you’re going to trudge through a blizzard and present a pitch? Got it. You have lost your mind.”

I feel the heat rise in my cheeks. He’s mocking me. “Don’t be an asshole, Thorne." I don't know why I'm surprised by him resorting to acting like a petulant child. I guess I thought that with what we've been through these last thirty-six hours we would have been more of a team…that he cared more.

"We need to push for today, that's all there is to it. I don't care whether it’s in person or video or whatever. I'm not going to sit here and watch this storm get worse when I know we can beaggressive to handle this now. We have to seize the moment and the moment is now, today.”

He raises an eyebrow, his expression hardening. “You think pushing harder is going to fix this? Sometimes you have to wait, Woodley. Sometimes the moment isn't in your control, and right now, pushing them is going to make us look desperate.”

“We are desperate!” I shout, the words spilling out before I can stop them. “This isn’t just some random account, Thorne. This is our careers, our reputations. I’m not going to do it. You can either join me or sit in here and watch the world pass you by.”

He takes a step closer, his eyes narrowing. “You think I don’t get that? I want this deal just as much as you do, but you’re acting like a maniac. Pushing too hard is going to screw us over. You need to calm down and take a breath.”

“Don't ever tell me to calm down,” I laugh bitterly, shaking my head. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

His jaw tightens. “No need to throw out the low-blows, so cut the bullshit.”

I scoff. “I’ll cut the bullshit when you stop acting like a child who doesn’t own this. You might as well be throwing in the towel.”

He glares at me, his voice lowering. “I’m not throwing in the towel. I’m trying to be smart about this. If we rush into a half-baked meeting, we’ll blow it. We can't make them sit down and do this if they've already said they want to wait.”

I shake my head, feeling the anger and frustration boiling over. “Fuck you.” I’m so angry I could scream. Why doesn’t he understand how urgent this is? I don’t know why I thought wewould be on the same page. This is why you don’t sleep with your counterpart.

Thorne takes another step forward, his voice cold. “I'm done talking to you. You're being unreasonable. If you push, you're on your own. God, you're such a control freak.”

His words hit me like a punch to the gut. I feel the sting of them, and for a second, I can’t speak. My chest tightens, the air of the entire room is charged with anger.

“Asshole,” I mutter under my breath, storming past him toward the door.

“Where are you going?” he asks, his voice sharp.

“Anywhere but here.” I pull open the door, stepping out into the hall, my heart pounding in my ears. I don’t look back.

I stomp down the hall, my footsteps thumping in the otherwise quiet space, even with the wall-to-wall carpeting. I don’t care where I’m going, I just need to get away from him. From his stupid smirk, his calm, rational arguments that make me feel like I’m the one losing control.

If he had shown even a little bit of the same anger at the situation as I feel, then maybe I wouldn’t have exploded like that. I’m not sure if I’m more mad at myself for expecting more from him or the postponement. This whole conversation went off the rails fast and I don’t know what to do with all of my rage.

I spot the emergency stairs and push through the door, taking them two at a time. I need to move, need to walk off the anger boiling inside me. How did everything get so messed up?

Maybe he’s right. He’s not the first person to tell me I’m a control freak, but damn it, I’ve had to be. I chose to forge my ownpath, not having the luxury or desire to fall back on my family’s wealth or influence.

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