Page 12 of Deal Breaker
I nod, making the change. “Got it.”
And then I feel it.
That shift in the room that makes the hairs on the back of your neck rise before your brain has a change to catch up.
Jesse notices it too. His smirk pulls a little wider. “Well,well,” he drawls quietly so that only I can hear him. “If it isn’t our brooding leader.”
I glance up and there he is.
Ford.
He’s standing in the doorway, his eyes locked on us. More specifically, he’s glaring at Jesse, who is sitting only inches from me despite there being plenty of space at the table. The workspace in front of us is cluttered with things Ford hasn’t been included in. His expression is unreadable, but the tension in his jaw gives him away. Barely.
“Not like you to work through lunch, Jesse,” he says, voice clipped.
Jesse leans back in his chair, unbothered. “Nice of you to notice,” he replies with a grin. “Just trying to save the brand from total combustion.”
Ford doesn’t look at him. His eyes are on me now. Cool and unreadable. “We agreed she reports to you. That doesn’t mean you do the work with her.”
I lift my chin, keeping my voice calm. “Jesse’s been very helpful. We’re getting a lot done.”
Ford crosses his arms. “Funny. Looks like flirting.”
Jesse snorts. “That’s just my face.”
Ford’s gaze sharpens, but Jesse keeps going like it’s all a game.
“Relax, brother. We’re just trying to fix the mess we’ve found ourselves in. You want in, or are you just here to glower?”
For a long second, Ford doesn’t answer. He just watches me, like he’s trying to decide what exactly I am now—an asset or a mistake. Maybe both.
“I’ll pass,” he says finally. “I’m needed elsewhere.”
But before he turns, I catch it—that flicker in his eyes. A crack in the facade. He doesn’t like seeing me here. Doesn’tlike seeing me with Jesse. But why does he care after all this time?
The question lingers like smoke, curling through my chest. I thought walking away would be enough. Leaving town and not looking back, giving him the space he needed to make his dreams come true. But now that I am back, I can feel it again. That current. That impossible pull.
And the worst part?
I’m not sure I hate it.
I turn back to my laptop, hands on the keys, mind nowhere near the work in front of me. This job was supposed to be a fresh start, but the past has a way of finding you. Especially when it has the same gray eyes that have haunted me for years.
“Well,” Jesse says, stretching his arms behind his head with a dramatic sigh, “On a scale from one to nuclear, I’d say that was about a six-point-five. Maybe a soft seven.”
I give him a look. “What are you talking about?”
“That whole ‘I’m Ford Winters and I hate feelings’ routine he just did? Yeah, I’ve seen that look before. Usually right before he goes full blast on someone.”
I sigh and close my laptop. “He doesn’t want me here.”
“He doesn’t want anyone here. That man would run this company on his own from a cave in the Yukon if we let him.”
Jesse stands and leans a hip against the edge of the table next to me, voice a little gentler now. “Look, he’s going to come around. He has to. You’re too damn good at this. Even he won’t be able to ignore it for long.”
I nod, even if I don’t believe it.
“I just…” I hesitate, then meet Jesse’s eyes. “I didn’t expect it to hit this hard.”
