Page 12 of Love Bank
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Jesus Christ, the lady was madder than a hornet’s nest and crazier than ol’ Johnny with the suspenders over his belly stealing a plastic nugget. She was literally standing on my chair and looking down her nose at me like I was the crazy one in the room.
“Women want sperm that comes with intelligence. Stealing a fake gold nugget off the town sign just reeks of a genetic IQ challenge.”
I scratched the side of my head, looking up at her. “Is that your fancy way of saying dumb?”
She lifted and dropped one dainty shoulder. “If the suspenders fit…”
I rolled my lips inward and swallowed a laugh. Damn, this was fun. “You gonna buy me a new chair now that your heels have permanently dented my leather?”
She glanced down at her feet and scrambled off the chair, nearly tipping over and going down in the process. I reached for her, but she grabbed on to my desk and righted herself. Maybe if she didn’t wear such long skirts, she wouldn’t trip over all that material. Or maybe she was just overheated what with the high-neck shirt, the long sleeves, and the stockings. And even with all that extra clothing a vision flashed through my brain of her bent over that desk looking over her shoulder at me with a come-hither vibe.
I shook my head to dislodge the disturbing image. “You have an issue with the sun?”
Her gaze lifted to mine. And if I wasn’t mistaken, she’d been looking in the general area of my crotch. Oh shit, had the boob gazing followed by R-rated mental images caused an uprising? I shifted, calming down when I didn’t feel intense pressure against the front of my work pants. What the fuck was she looking at then?
Her nose wrinkled. “An issue with the sun? No. Do you?”
“No, but I’m not the one covered in burlap from head to toe.” I gestured up and down her body. She looked down at her herself again as if she’d forgotten the twenty articles of clothing she’d put on that morning.
“I’ll have you know this is silk and real wool, not burlap.”
I shrugged again. “Looks all the same to me.”
Her eyes morphed into lasers, like they could eviscerate me with a single glance. Good thing I was made of tougher stuff than that.
“You could use an oil blend of mine around here.” She waved her hands around the office. “Clear some of the negativity and help you out with your other issue.”
What the hell was she talking about now?
She cleared her throat again. “Getting back to my clinic. I would really appreciate if you informed your inmates to head straight out of town without pit stops.”
I dropped the smirk and got back on topic. I didn’t have time to sit here messing with a woman—albeit beautiful—with a stick up her ass.
“I can’t tell the inmates what to do once they leave here. I’m sorry.”
Her expressive brown eyes narrowed. “My clinic is a high-end medical facility. You of all people should know that.”
Warning bells clanged loudly inside my skull.
My voice dropped an octave to meet up with where my stomach had dropped. “Me of all people?”
She raised an eyebrow and, shit, if I wasn’t scared to death of being outed for beating the pig, I would have been highly turned on by that line of light brown hair giving me sass.
“Yes.Youof all people,” she said firmly.
Well, holy shit. Miss Prim and Proper was threatening me. She knew damn well I’d been in her clinic two days ago and she was calling me out on it. Putting it out there on the table for everyone to see. Question was, would she follow through on that threat?
I took a step closer, enjoying the way her upper lip started to shine. Ms. Eureka was nervous.
“I’d be careful with your threats. I’d hate to let it slip to my inmates that you give out quite a payment for a quick deposit. They might be planning to do a little banking, and as a good neighbor of Auburn Hill, I’d have to point them in your direction.”
Her lips pinched together as she sucked in a deep breath through her nose. The pink on her cheeks deepened to flat-out red. She was ready to blow.
“You may be new around here, Mr. Sutter, but we don’t take kindly to ruining other people’s small businesses. I may be a woman, but I’m not afraid to go to war.”
She spun on her heel and walked to my door, opening it, but pausing there on the threshold.
“Keep your guys away from my building.”
