Page 17 of Inked Persuasion

His lips softened into a smile, and then he let my hand go. I ignored the fact that it felt chilled now without his heat. “It’s nice to meet you, Annabelle.”

“You, as well, Jacob.”

“I don’t think I ever really hated you,” he admitted.

“I think I was starting to hate you,” I replied, and he laughed.

“I wouldn’t blame you. It’s going to take me a little while to fix things in my head, but let’s be friends until then.”

“I don’t know about friends,” I said honestly. “Maybe neighbors?”

He snorted. “Neighbors, I can do. Now, I’m going to let you have your peace because I haven’t let you have that for most of the night. Just know if you need me to crawl over gravel, I can do that. I do have a deposition tomorrow, though, so I may have to work around that.”

I laughed, surprising myself, and shook my head. “No need to flay yourself. I know you miss your brother. And I know you needed someone to hate. Just don’t let it be me anymore.”

He met my gaze, and once again, I ignored the little ping I felt that warned me something was different.

“I don’t think I can ever hate you again, Annabelle Montgomery.”

Before I could say anything, he turned on his heel and left, and I had to wonder what the hell had happened.

Chapter 6

Jacob

“Ineed you to get me the deposition in the next hour,” I said to my assistant. He nodded, quickly typing on his tablet. I looked at my other assistant, who also nodded as she slid a hand over her dark hair. It had been a long day, and the amount of paperwork—even for lawyers—was insane. It would be a long night unless we figured out our plan now.

“You’ve got it, Mr. Queen,” Dustin said.

“You also have a meeting at seven,” Seressia said, frowning. “You have meetings back to back tomorrow.”

“Understood. It’ll be busier than usual tomorrow because I need to take Friday off,” I said, and they both knew why. Mom had a doctor’s appointment and I planned to be with her and my father. We were structuring my practice the way I needed to, and we’d find a way to make it work, even if it killed me.

“You have court on Thursday, but you should be fine for that,” Dustin said, looking down at his tablet again.

My lips quirked. “I hope so. It is kind of my job.”

“Well, you did bring us up from Denver to this…whatever town you think this is,” Seressia said, looking out the window at the barren landscape behind me.

I snorted. “It only looks like that because this window faces east rather than the mountains. I gave the conference room the mountain view.”

“You’re the boss, you should have the mountain view.”

“No, because then I would never get any work done. We’re doing okay, you guys. Right?”

They both nodded. “Okay, let’s get this done. Maybe you can be out of here before six.” I knew they wanted to roll their eyes at me, but they didn’t. Instead, they gave me tight nods before getting back to work. Sadly, it would probably be more like eight, and they’d be taking work home right along with me. I needed another staff member on the books, and we were working on it. Unfortunately, it was a little slow-going. Mostly because two of the other staff members I wanted to bring up with me from Denver were on maternity leave. Their babies were cute, and I was very happy for my staff, but I sure as hell missed them right now.

I made a note to check in on both of them, not to ask them when they were coming back but because I was honestly interested and cared. I was trying to be a better boss. Attempting to be a better person. And I could do that even if I felt like I had no idea what I was doing.

That only reminded me that I was failing even worse at life and choices when it came to Annabelle. I had been such a fucking asshole. I needed to work on who I was and determine why I had acted the way I did. She seemed to take it with grace, but I had a feeling that was just Annabelle, and had nothing to do with my apology.

I’d be seeing her soon. Not that we had anything planned, but she would be at my parents’ house the next time they had a big family dinner,andshe lived next door to me. There was no escaping that, even though I was pretty sure she worked as many long hours as I did, and both of us were rarely home.

I pushed Annabelle and that weird moment between us the last time I had spoken to her out of my mind. I did not need to think about the heat or awareness I’d felt. I had simply been exhausted and losing my mind a little. I wasn’t thinking anything else when it came to her. I let out a breath, pinched the bridge of my nose, and forced myself to focus.

I worked for another couple of hours, Dustin having to bring me lunch when I lost track of time. I smiled my thanks, and he pointed to his eyes and then at the sandwich. I snorted.

“I’ll eat it. Thank you for taking care of me.”

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