Page 68 of Love Not Qualified

“Are we lost?” she pushed, and I felt the heat of her body approaching. Without looking to my left, I knew we were standing shoulder to shoulder. Haelyn breathed a puff of cold air, dragging her coat tighter to her body.

I still didn’t dare to look at her. “No. This is it.”

Her head moved from side to side and I took a moment to steal a glance at her. She was beautiful with those puffy eyes from the long sleep she had, plumped lips, and red cheeks. Only the sight of her made my blood run hotter in my veins.

My cock jolted in my pants.

Not again.

I twitched my jaw, not ready for another fucking boner after it finally died thanks to the freezing air outside.

“I don’t understand,” she whispered, then pivoted her attention to me. I moved my body to her, watching how her curious eyes surveyed me. “Is this where the business meeting is going to take place?” Haelyn looked around. “In the middle of… nowhere?”

That was a good description of how the place looked. Apart from the cabin we booked, there was nothing else surrounding us except trees. That was why Sebastian and I liked to spend our free time here. Since both of our jobs required media presence and a lot of socialization, coming to the Mountains was a break from all of that. A break from all of our responsibilities.

And we chose it this far in case anything happened, we would have an excuse about not making it, but not far enough in case anything important occurred.

I took air inside my lungs. “There’s no business trip.”

She rounded her eyes and her mouth fell open. “What—Then why are we here?”

A beat passed and I knew that what I was about to say was going to piss the shit out of her. She was waiting with her lips parted, anticipating what my reply was going to be and ready to lash out at any second.

“There’s no business trip, I’m here on a short break with Sebastian, the owner of Yora,” I explained, feeling how my heart beat through my ribcage.

Damn her for having this effect on me.

She blinked. And then she blinked again, tilting her head to the side. “Was there ever a business trip?”

“No.”

“So you just lied to me? Why am I even here?”

“You are here to relax,” I told her, twitching my jaw.

“What makes you think I want to relax?” She lifted her arms beside her body. “You manipulated me to feel bad you couldn’t find a replacement, even though you knew what I was going through.” Her tone sounded disappointed and hurt and for some reason, my heart halted at that.

“It was wrong of me to do so,” I started, my voice low.

“Damn right, it was!” Haelyn screamed, fire puffing out her nostrils. “I have twelve days left to decide what I’m going to do with a life that doesn’t belong to me and you took two away just because you wanted to have your fun?” Her tone skyrocketed.

She was a lot more pissed than I anticipated.

I put a hand on her arm and surprisingly, she didn’t back away. She was too focused on looking at my face, probably imagining ways to kill me.

“I’m not here to have my fun, Haelyn. When we went to Yora, Sebastian asked me to spend the weekend together like old times. I was about to refuse, but after that day in your office, I wanted to do something to help you.”

She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked sideways. Haelyn took a moment, biting her lip before putting her attention back on me. “It’s great you care about your employees, really,” she started with anger in her eyes. “But what would’ve helped me relax was spending time with my friends watching movies, hearing their suggestions, maybe getting wasted one night before work and not coming to a place I don’t know with my boss and his friends.”

My teeth gritted over each other back and forth. She was right. She didn’t know my friends. Hell, she didn’t even know me well enough to come.

“Thank you for your kind gesture.” She bit her lip and I noticed that was not what she meant to say. “But I’d like to go back home.” Her feet started walking toward the front seat and my heart picked up in speed.

For the first time, I panicked.

“The roads are closed,” I lied.

She looked at me over her shoulders, squinting her eyes. Then, she opened the door and grabbed her phone. After a few moments of lifting it into the air and looking for signaling, she gave up.

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