Page 19 of Mine Forever
My mouth goes as dry as the sawdust on his ball cap.
His smirk deepens. “With no shirt? Yeah, but this ismywork attire. You, on the other hand…”
Green eyes wander down to my legs. “Well, this would be slumming it for you, wouldn’t it, sweetheart?”
I grit my teeth at the endearment that sounds more like a sneer. “Look, you said you’d give me a chance to give you details before you completely shut me down.”
“I told you I’d listen but I won’t change my mind. I just want you off the island.”
“Trust me, pal. I don’t even want to be on this island.”
He frowns before looking away. I study his profile, the hard line of his jaw.
One might think the broody, grumpy thing would be a complete turnoff.
Not this girl.
Evidently, I’m the sadistic type that enjoys playing with fire and therefore finds his hard lines to be droolworthy.
God, I’m so screwed up.
He sighs and turns to walk away. “Come on. You can give me details while we work. Then I can tell you no without any guilt.”
“Guilt, my ass,” I mutter under my breath, but follow him.
He stops and does an about-face, causing me to almost run into him. When he reaches out to steady me, gripping my biceps, the breath in my lungs backs up as his gaze meets mine.
He moves in close enough that his manly scent surrounds me.
“When you’re done with the details, then you can tell me why you ran.”
SIX
eden
Is he fucking kidding me?
I narrow my eyes and my voice is tight. “You know damn well why I left. And I didn’t run.”
“Don’t pretend like you didn’t get a single message I left you.”
“Oh, I got them all right. Including the last one.”
His eyes search mine, and it takes everything in me not to let the tears show in my eyes.
After a moment, he releases me, and his eyes glitter with bitterness and a shadow of something else. If I didn’t know him any better, I’d say hurt.
But Chase never gets hurt. He only does the hurting.
“I’m not here to rehash the past, Chase. I’m here for business. And if I had another option, I promise you I wouldn’t be here at all.”
His jaw tightens. “Fine, let’s keep it to business.”
I glance out toward the horizon and brush a hair out of my face. “Can we go inside at least?”
His smile is anything but kind. “You’re not the only one with a business to run, Mitchell. The storm is coming in fasterand stronger than predicted, and I’ve got work to do. You can help.”
I scoff at his retreating back. “I don’t think so.”
