Page 22 of Provoke You

7

It's the Only Shot

Ela

“No, don’t be.” I had no idea what I thought would happen in the middle of the kitchen, but I had already undone his apron and three shirt buttons. I slid my hand across his abs and then laced my fingers behind his neck. What else would he let me do?

“This kiss changes nothing,” he whispered.

Except it already had. If I didn’t remember our kiss from last night, I was sure this one kiss would stay with me forever. Too bad he had his orders, and I had a hotel to save. He squeezed both my arms and pulled them down until I let go of him.

“I liked it. Do you ever just do what you want to do? Screw what people might say.”

“You know it’s more than that.” He stuffed his hands in his hair, and my heart twisted some. “You always get what you want, don’t you?”

“You’d be surprised how often I don’t get what I want.” I shoved him out of the way and walked to the small sink at the end of the counter to wash my hands. He stood there and watched me move around the kitchen as I finished getting the dough ready for the oven. I took my time with it, using a cookie cutter to make the scone shapes.

Baking always made me forget about the empty home waiting for me at the end of the courtyard, Mom living so far away, and the fact that Dad was right. I didn’t have what it took to run this place.

Matt leaned on the edge of the workstation, his arms crossed over his chest. He felt sorry for me. I supposed not sorry enough.

“You and I have a lot in common, you know,” I said.

He let out a breath, as if relieved to hear my voice again. “Yeah? How so?”

Out of habit, I waved a hand in dismissal. Maybe if I pretended it didn’t hurt, it would actually stop hurting. “Dad dangled the idea of us working together and being a family. I did everything he asked. I cleaned up my act, stopped drinking, and went to school. Now that I’m here, he simply said no. No explanation. Just I’m selling the Baroness.” I faced him. “Don’t for a second think that just because you’re jumping through all his hoops, he’ll give you what you want.”

He lifted a hand up to the side of my face and then let it drop. “Is that what last night’s antics were about? You getting back at him?”

“I don’t know what last night was about.” It’d been childish to throw away so many months of sobriety just to get back at Dad. I stared at the perfectly cut scones laid out on the tray. I’d gotten so close to getting back on track and doing what Grans always said I was born to do. If she believed it, why couldn’t Dad believe in me too?

“You need to be more careful. I found you way too easy last night.”

I rolled my eyes. “You know no one is chasing me, right? Dad is sending me away so he doesn’t have to deal with me. You can tone down the marine act.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s the job I’m here to do, and I don’t do half-ass.”

My liar pants would catch fire if I said that didn’t turn me on like a thousand fucks. “You sound like you’re very good at what you do.”

A crooked smile tugged at his lips. “Yes, I am.”

The crackle behind the oven snapped me out of my pity party. I knew every nook and cranny in this place, every smell and every sound. That wasn’t normal. Shit. When I turned to find Matt, his arms were already around my waist, pushing me out the door into the main galley of the kitchen.

“Wait.” I spun around, but he picked me up and kept going.

“That’s natural gas. Whatever it is, we need to leave it to the professionals.”

“At least let me turn off the oven.”

“That’s the problem—it is off.” He carried me out.

I made to run, but my feet barely scraped the floor as Matt covered me with his body. The heat from the blast engulfed us before my brain could process everything else: the ear-piercing detonation, the shrill screams, and all that smoke that seemed to have come out of nowhere to replace the air around us.

“Hey.” Matt’s voice sounded desperate and far away as he squeezed my arm with one hand and tapped my face with the other. “Stay with me. We have to get out of here. Can you get up?”

I nodded and placed a hand behind me for support. My hand slipped on a greasy spot on the kitchen floor, and I landed on my elbow instead.

“Shit.” Matt hooked his arms under my waist and knees, and then I was floating.

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