Page 21 of Wanted

Realizing she should appear to be somewhat professional, sheplastered on a fake smile before answering me. “Is there anything I can helpyou with, sir.” TheSirtumbled fromher lips as if it was poison.

Before I came back with a retort, Sara walked into the front ofthe store, her head thrown over her shoulder as she yelled something back atMatt about an order.

When she turned her head in my direction, she stopped dead in hertracks. Looking at me as if she’d seen a ghost, she grabbed onto the edge ofthe counter top to steady herself.

What the hell is wrong withher?

“Alek? What are you doinghere?”

I walked closer and reached for her hand. “Can I talk to you? Outside?”

I didn’t even give her a chance to respond before I pulled herout the door and away from the woman shooting daggers my way. Ushering hertoward the back seat of my town car, I opened the door. Without reservation,she stepped inside, scooting across the seat to give me some room.

The air instantly changed. I hadn’t realized how much I missedSara until she was two feet away from me. The skirt she was wearing rode up onher thigh when she tried to situate herself on the smooth leather of the seat. Myeyes were immediately drawn to her supple skin, remembering her on top of me asshe rode me the last time we were together.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” she asked, pulling thehem of her skirt lower. Her breathing quickened when she noticed me ogling her,but she tried to seem unaffected.

I thought she’d be all smiles and hugs and kisses when she saw mebut weirdly, she looked annoyed to see me. I couldn’t blame her, really. I’dbasically pulled a disappearing act on her over the past week.

My lips parted to answer her question, but she cut me off beforeI could say a word. “Oh, and thanks for basically causing a scene back there,too.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t cause any scene.”

What the hell is shetalking about?

“You dragged me out of there like you were pissed. Anyone cantell by looking at you that you’re annoyed and itching for a fight. So what? What’sthe big problem this time?”Oh, great.I wasn’t with her two minutes before she started in on me.

Well, let’s go, sweetheart.

I should have allowed herthe time to settle down and not fueled her bad mood because I knew I was thecause for it. It was all my fault, so I should’ve kept my mouth shut. But I didn’t.Of course.

Instead of delving into the fact I was going away on business, Ichose another topic altogether.

“Who’s the woman?”

“What woman?” she asked, irritation laced around each word.

“The strange woman working the counter in your shop.” My eyes flashedanger and my body tensed as the seconds ticked by. But I kept my temper incheck, knowing damn well Sara didn’t deserve any of it.

“She’s my new employee. Her name is Megan and I hired her on part-time,on a temporary basis. If it’s any of your business,” she chided.

I leaned a little closer toher. She was hiding something from me but then again, wasn’t I keeping my ownsecret? The more we sat in silence, the more it looked as if she wanted tosmack me. But there was something besides anger looming behind her gorgeouseyes. The faint appearance of fear and sadness were hiding in there, as well.

I fought against every instinct I had to reach out and pull herto me, to ravage her mouth and claim her. Exhaling a deep breath, I leaned backagainst the seat and decided the best course of action right then would be to findout all I could on the mystery woman.

“What do you know about this woman? Where did she come from? Didyou do any background checks on her?” I rattled off questions faster than shecould answer me.

“Of course, I did some checking on her. I called all herreferences and they all gave her high recommendations.” For a split-second, shelooked like she was going to tell me something else but decided not to at thelast minute.

“I want her social security number, Sara. I’m going to run my ownbackground check on her.”

“No, the hell you’re not. I got this, Alek. I’m taking care ofit.”

“Well, why didn’t you at least tell me you hired someone?”

“When was I going to do that? During all of our lengthy phoneconversations? Or maybe I could have told you when we actually spent some timetogether.” Yeah, she looked like she wanted to hit me right about then.She shifted her body and moved closer. “Wait,”she said as she raised her finger in the air. “None of those scenarios happenedbecause you’ve been avoiding me like the plague.”

I immediately broke eye contact and looked out the window. Yes,she was upset with me, but it went much deeper. I was being a coward because Ididn’t want to see that look, the look which told me I was chipping away at herheart little by little.

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