Page 64 of Ace of Spades

“I don’t know how to do this,” he admits. “With you.”

“Do what?”

“This,” he motions between us softly. He’s speaking low enough that the music coming from the front is drowning us out. “It’s killing me to pretend nothing happened between us that night. To pretend like I can just move on.”

His lips are moving. But the words he’s saying aren’t registering in my brain. Does he resent me working for him because of how he feels about me?

That can’t be right.

“It happened,” I say. “But now circumstances have changed.” I clear my throat because I’m fighting my own body’s need to be close to him.

He leans his head back against the cushion, a long exhale leaving him.

“That’s the problem, Sienna.”

I shift closer to hear him better. The words are coming out softer and softer each time he opens his mouth.

He doesn’t continue right away. He just watches me. Eyes flicking to my mouth like he’s already reliving the taste of it.

“Because I know the second I let my guard down…” he murmurs, “I won’t be able to help myself around you. Consequences be damned.”

“What are you saying?” I ask in a whisper.

The car bounces as we leave the island pass, jolting us just enough to send me off balance.

His arm shoots out, catching me. And once I’m stable, he pulls it back like I’m a hot stove and he’s not wearing any mitts.

“I’m saying you do something to me that I don’t understand.” His eyes flash with heat and intensity. “And the best thing for me to do is to stay way the fuck away from you.”

I swallow past a lump in my throat.

Is he pre-firing me?

“You don’t plan to keep me on past the thirty days,” I say, catching his drift.

He sighs.

“It’s for your own good. Trust me.”

I push away from him and look out the window as beautiful, quaint historic homes zoom by.

The actual nerve of this man.

Okay, maybe I can’t keep my crush on him a secret.

Maybe he notices everytime I watch him from across the room.

Maybe he senses the way my heart beats just a little bit faster when he says something to me while we’re working.

Maybe I’m doing a shitty job at keeping my adoration at bay. But for him to think he knowswhat’s good for me?

No. Been there, done that. Dumped the fucker. I’m not playing that game again.

“That’s fine, Levi. You can fire me.” I turn to face him head-on. “But I’m going to make it damn hard for you to do so,” I say in warning.

He shakes his head with a slight eye roll and looks out the window in thought.

No. He’s not getting rid of me that easily.

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