Page 48 of Burn With Me

My fingers still over the keys of my MacBook. I’m right in the middle of working onanothercounteroffer because WhirlTech is playing hardball dirtier than I thought them capable—though I can hardly make sense of the last few sentences because my Little Ember took over my thoughts.

There’s no way I should stop what I’m doing to entertain him.

But he’s leaving tomorrow for the Doctors Without Borders program, and I have a feeling there’s a significant reason he’s here to seeme.

Probably the same reason my aunt texted me earlier with a message that read:

The apartment was for gingersnap? You’re lucky I love you, kid.

A photo taken of me and Ginny at the adoption fair had gone to print the next day, capturing the moment when she was holding the puppy up to her face as I watched with what appeared to be fucking stars in my eyes. The headline read, ‘Take two Tailor: Jackson Tailor has been seen around town numerous times with a mysterious redhead. The playboy billionaire has never been photographed with a woman more than once.’

The psycho probably wants to havethe big brother talkbefore he takes off for a few months. Although, I’m sure his intentions are anything but brotherly.

“Sure. Send him in,” I call out to Stacey.

Finishing up the clause I’m working on—no, youcan’thave casual Fridays—I don’t even look up from my screen as she escorts him into my office before closing the door behind her as she leaves. “What can I do for you, Mr. Calloway?”

The fucking weirdo is silent for so long that I finally tear my eyes away from my screen to find his dark beady eyes glued to me—a snarky grin on his ugly face.

“Did you just come here to waste my valuable time?” I ask, eyes returning to my computer.

“With all due respect, Mr. Tailor, I think you know why I’m here.”

Sighing, I make sure my progress saves before I shut my laptop. “No, I really don’t. Care to enlighten me?”

“You were photographed with Ginny in the park a few days ago. Ring a bell?” His eyes grow wide as his brows rise. He’s the picture-perfect image of a looney toon, and something unfurls within my chest at the reminder that Ginny had to grow up with him.

“I wasn’t aware it was a crime to talk to your sister.” Folding my hands in my lap, I lean back in my chair.

Relaxed. Unbothered.

Annoyed.

“She’snotmy sister!” he all but shouts while taking two quick steps toward my desk.

It doesn’t phase me, and I give him a bored, unamused expression. “Is there a point to this?”

“I want you to stay away from her. She’s not right in the head, and you’re going to confuse her. See, she belongs to me, and I happen to be leaving for a while for work. So I wanted to make it clear that she’s off-limits.”

Fuck this guy. Shebelongsto him? She’s not fucking property. But if she’s going to belong to any man, it’s going to beme. Not some fucked in the head asshole with some serious boundary issues.

If she’d let me, I’d move her out of their apartment tonight. How the fuck does she handle being around him?

As it is, I respect her decision to do things her way.

Which is why I continue letting her walk away when I really want to rip the clothes from her body and chain her to my fucking bed.

“I wasn’t aware they let medical students participate in the MSF.” Completely ignoring his warning, I fix him with a cold gaze. “Seems like a pretty big opportunity for someone like you.”

He makes a face and shrugs as if it’s no big deal. “I’m a talented surgeon. They made an exception. It’ll look good on my resume moving forward with my career.”

“You know what won’t look good on your resume? Threatening a Tailor when my uncle is a top donor for the hospital—not to mention mygenerouscontribution.”

The smug smile drops from his face, and his lips curl into a sneer. “I’m not threatening you.”

It occurs to me that this little interaction could very well convince him to stay, no matter how good of an opportunity it is with the medical program. And that is something that just will not do. I want this fucker as far away from Ginny as possible.

So, I decide to deal with him in the only way heapparently knows how. The only way disgusting men like him understand.

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