Page 117 of On the Double

“I think we’re making some progress. That’s actually why I came by. I’ll be out of town for a while on a job.”

“Oh,” I said lightly. Not that it mattered. I wondered why he even bothered to stop by. It wasn’t like he was here all the time and thisinformation would put a crimp in my plans. “Where are you headed?”

“Mexico.”

“Ooh, it’ll be hot. Better take some sunscreen.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Yeah, it’ll be hot.”

“Well, try not to get shot,” I said lightly.

His jaw clenched in irritation and I tried not to grin. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

“Sure.”

“In private,” he bit out.

Oliver shot me a knowing look as I walked back to my bedroom with Edu. When he slammed the door, I knew this wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation.

“It’ll be hot?” he asked. “Are you fucking serious?”

My mouth gaped at his question. I wasn’t exactly sure what to say. “Um…well, it will be.”

He stalked toward me, but I backed up until I was pressed against the wall with nowhere to go. “I’m going on a job and the only thing you have to say isIt’ll be hot. Bring sunscreen.?”

I swallowed hard as his hand slid up my chest, then hovered over my neck. “What…what did you want me to say?”

“Definitely notDon’t get shot.”

“Do you want me to tell you to get shot?” I asked in confusion.

“How about a fucking kiss goodbye? How about something other than this bullshit nonchalant attitude you have going? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you were moving? Or that you got a fucking cat?”

Okay, now I was really confused. I was trying to play it cool and he was pissed at me for it.

“What do you want from me?”

It was clear he didn’t know what he wanted. He was the one who pulled away from me. He was sending me all the signals that he didn’t want this thing between us to continue, but now he was pissed when I was adhering to those wishes.

“What the fuck is going on here, Harper?”

I shook my head, scoffing at the anger in his voice. “Me? You want me to tellyouwhat’s going on?” I ducked under his arm and putsome distance between us. “You’re the one who vanished from my life.”

“I returned to work.”

“And I didn’t say anything about that, or how you showed up the other night to fuck me, but then left without a word.”

“I’ve been busy!” he snapped. “I check in with you when I can.”

“And I’m supposed to accept that? Take the scraps you throw me?”

“I told you I wasn’t in this for a relationship.”

“I know that!” I shouted. “Why do you think I haven’t said a damn thing to you about how you’ve basically cut me out of your life? Why do you think I haven’t told you about my cat or about us moving? Because that isn’t what you want. You want to fuck me. Great. Take me and fuck me, then walk out the door. I have no problem with that. It’s what I agreed to. But then you don’t get to come in here and yell at me when you get butthurt about things not going your way!”

He grabbed me around the waist and jerked me to him. “This is more than fucking and you know it.”

“You just said it wasn’t,” I spat.

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