Page 24 of Tempt Thy Neighbor

“Bullshit. You’re a Barnes. I know you’re more suited for a CEO position of one of the many companies your father has his hand in. Not this.”

“Is there something wrong with this job I should know about? I mean, you work here, and we come from the same world—it can’t be all that bad.”

Shit.

Truth is, it’s not a bad job. In fact, I love it so far. Sure, I’ve only been here a short time, but I can already tell I’m better suited for this than what I’ve spent the last four years doing.

“Sutton…”

“Holland…” he mocks.

I stare at him, brow lifted, waiting for a real answer.

Instead of answering, he reaches around me, plucking a fresh mug from the cabinet above. He grabs a pod from the rack and pops it into the machine like he owns the break room.

Hell, for all I know, he might.

“I told you, puppet cut the strings. I’m starting over, just like you.”

He pins me with a stare that says unlike me, he did his research and knows exactly what I’m doing here in Harristown.

It makes me want to run to my computer and google just what Sutton has been up to in the weeks since I left Wells Springs so we can be on even ground.

When his coffee is done, he tosses the pod and pulls his mug up to his lips, taking a long gulp from the scalding liquid like a complete and total psychopath.

“Come on…aren’t you excited to work with your old buddy?”

“I’d much rather you still be hundreds of miles away from me.”

“Only hundreds?”

“Thousands,” I answer, not missing a beat.

He leans into me and I hold my breath, feeling his lips at my ear. “That’s not how I remember it.”

I pull away from him, glaring.

He laughs. “Look, I know we have a…history. But can’t we be adults about this? I’m not any happier about being here than you are about having me here, but it is what it is. You work here and now I work here. We can both be mature about whatever happened all those years ago, can’t we?”

I hate the way he’s talking to me, so condescending. LikeI’mthe one who just threw him aside without a second glance and never explained why like an adult would.

“I think we both know that out of the two of us, I’m the mature one,” I say pointedly.

I’ll give him credit. He meets my heated stare with one of his own…and that damn smirk.

“You’re also the one arguing about who is more mature. Which definitely isn’t mature at all.”

Fuck. He has me there.

Instead of keeping my mouth shut, I do the most immature thing I can think of—I stoop to his level.

“I can see you’re already making your way around the office like you did the debutantes.”

A half cough, half laugh escapes his lips. “I wasn’t aware you were jealous of Emma.”

“I—”

“Ah! Holland! Sutton!” Jessa, the owner of Spectrum, claps her hands, bounding into the break room with a wide smile. She’s so animated and has been since the moment I met her. “I should have known you old friends would be spending some time together.”

---