Page 29 of Pretend You Love Me
He closes his eyes and tilts his head to the ceiling. Good Lord, he’s counting again.
“How did you get here, Ginger?”he asks.
I swallow without answering. He spots Hawk’s card on the table beside the computer. His face grows cloudy. “Hawk?”
I stand up. “Yes. I was walking, and he offered me a ride.”
“Ginger...” It’s a warning.
“Don’t be a jerk,” I hiss. I’m stuffing my things into my bag. “And why didn’t you tell me he was your brother?”
Oh, that hit a nerve. His face is bright red now.
“It’s not important,” he says.
I just cross my arms over my chest.
“Did you even check the weather before you left?”
“How would I do that?” I hold up my flip phone and wave it in front of him. “It doesn’t exactly have the weather app, Kip.”
I start walking toward the door, but before I can even take two steps, I feel Kip’s big arms wrap around me, his hand on my stomach. He pulls me back.
“Oh, no you don’t, cupcake. We aren’t finished.”
Rose’s eyes are wide, her mouth forms a little O shape.
I wave at her. “It’s fine. He’s just teasing. We tease a lot.”
He pulls me out of her eye line and turns me around.
“You can’t fucking do things like that.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Do things like what, exactly?”
He gestures toward the window. “Take off in the middle of a lightning storm.”
“I didn’t take off in the middle of a lightning storm. It was perfectly sunny when I left.”
“I texted you like a hundred times.”
“I’m in a library, my phone is on silent,” I reply.
He’s brooding, his eyes raging.
‘You aren’t really my boyfriend,” I whisper.
“I fucking know that,” he snaps.
He points at me. “Don’t you do something like this again.”
“I don’t have to report to you, Kip. I hardly know you.”
His face is like stone. His chest is rising and falling with each angry breath. He’s still dripping wet and between his intense angry eyes boring into me, and the wet t-shirt contest that’s happening in front of me, I’m feeling a tingling sensation all over my body.
Why is my body so inappropriate? Now is not the time.
I’m not sure how to get my brain and my lady parts on the same page, but this is not happening. First of all, he clearly hates me. Second of all, I clearly hate him. And finally, I can’t get distracted. I have a job to do, and I don’t have a lot of time to do it.
