Page 49 of The Prodigal

Blinking, I take a look around me, noticing the sun has set, and I’m still sitting in the chair outside our room. “How long have I been asleep?”

“An hour, maybe?” She sits down at my feet and crosses her legs. “I would have let you sleep longer, but your food is getting cold.”

Pulling out a container, Eden sets it on my thigh. “The diner didn’t have much of a selection. I hope you like chicken.”

I want to throw the container.

Not because I hate chicken.

But because I want to shake her.

But I don’t.

Duke would be proud.

“You walked alone?” I nearly growl. “To the diner?”

She fingers that fucking necklace at her throat nervously. What did she say it was? St. Michael? Maybe it’s Saint Naïve because that’s exactly what she’s acting like.

“I feel like the answer should be quite obvious to you, 101. You were here. I wasn’t. Now I have food.” She shrugs like I’m a moron, and I’m about to lose my shit.

“Be brave and say what you really want to.” I lean in, getting in her face as much as I can while sitting. “I don’t do catty. And the only catty pussy I’ll tolerate is one full of my cock.”

Her eyes flash with amusement and something else I can’t catch before she pops back, “Are you calling me a pussy like a scaredy cat, or are you trying to make some weird sexual innuendo? Either way, I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

It’s like she wants me to smoke two packs today. “What I’m saying is a woman like you is a fucking target!”

How does she not understand this?

She shuffles the food off her lap, stands up and meets me nose to nose as she rises on her toes. “A woman like me?”

Bored, I blink, calming my breathing and easing back into the chair, creating the space I desperately need.

“What kind of woman am I, Remington?”

Rolling my eyes, I go for the cigarettes in my pocket. “An annoying one. You’d be murdered the minute you asked for directions. No one has time to draw you a fucking map and answer a dozen questions.”

A grin stretches across her face. “I see you, Remington Potter.”

Oh, hell. I knew she was crazy. “Well, I would hope so, Eden Da Luca.” I fish out my lighter and slide the cigarette between my lips. “Otherwise, you’d make for a shitty research assistant.”

“You can hide behind the threats and snark, but I still see you.”

And…we’re done here.

“Move,” I bark. “I’m going inside.”

She doesn’t move. Instead, she cuts me a determined look and puts her hands on my knees like that is going to stop me. “Eat, Remington, before I smother you in your sleep tonight.”

I’m leaving her here. Fuck her finding danger. This woman will annoy someone to death before they have the opportunity to murder her.

“Take your hands off me.” I flash her a look that scares most men, but it only makes her laugh.

“So, you can bark orders and manhandle me, but I can’t do the same?”

“No.”

There’s no equality here.

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