Page 16 of Burn for You (Flirting with Forever 3)

His gaze swings to mine. “I did. I thought he should know.”

My brows pinch together, as I glare at him, only the longer that goes on, my face becomes warmer, until I’m sure I’m a bright enough pink to match my blouse.

He wets his firm, masculine lips, and it pisses me off that my eyes follow them.

“Well, thanks for that,” I huff.

He chuckles, knowingly. “Why are you mad? I saved your ass this morning, didn’t I?”

My eyes narrow on his as I’m filled with disbelief. “Yes, you saved my ass, but you’re trying to take my promotion.”

He shrugs at me with a grin. “Semantics, sweetheart.”

“Don’t you sweetheart me.”

“Fine. I won’t anything you. And I won’t help you anymore. I’ll just get back to work.”

Thinking back to what I just walked in on, I let out a frustrated sigh.

Quietly, I admit, “You were good with her.”

He shrugs, but doesn’t look up. “She’s my sister. She needed me.”

I’m suddenly curious about the man who has already done two things today that I hadn’t expected, even though part of it will definitely come back to bite me. “You’re close, the two of you?”

“Yes.” He jots something down on a notepad before looking up at me.

“There’s a pretty big age difference between you, huh?” My forehead wrinkles, trying to do the mental math.

“Yeah. She’s the baby

. She’s twelve years younger.”

“Wow. So, do you have other siblings, then?”

“Yep. Two other sisters. We’re each about four years apart. Arabella is twenty-five and Esme is twenty-one.” He rattles it off like it’s no big deal, but I wonder what it was like growing up in a house with so many women.

“Oh.” No wonder it didn’t bother him to offer me something for my cramps. I’d bet money Elena has him keeping tampons in his drawer, too. My lips tease into a small smile, loving the idea of that. A gruff, masculine man who keeps feminine products on hand for his little sister. I press my lips together, trying not to giggle.

“It seems like you’re feeling better?” He says it like he’s asking.

I give him a quick nod. “Yeah, I’m okay now.”

He drops his pen and angles his body toward me. One hand scrubs over the top of his head. “Look, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable by offering the Midol—I was just trying to help.”

I slowly shake my head. “You didn’t make me uncomfortable. Not really. And now that I know you have three sisters, I get why …” I lick my lower lip before I continue. “I don’t think you want anyone to know you’re a softie, do you? It was very sweet to see how you are with Elena.” My gaze drops to the floor, and my voice catches a little. “And even with me.”

He grunts and turns back to his work. “It was nothing.” His jaw goes rigid and he won’t look at me, though I know he can tell I’m still focused on him.

I bite my lip and decide to let it go for now. It hadn’t been nothing to me. For as much as some of it may cause me issues with Jake, Damon had stepped in and helped me today, and I appreciate it. He didn’t have to. And now it’s like he’s flipped a switch and he’s back to the old pain in the ass Damon I’m used to. Swallowing hard, I sit down at my desk to work.

Fine. Be that way. I’m going to have to pull out all the stops to earn this position, anyway. This just makes me feel better in regard to getting approval to include my eleventh graders on the field trip Hadleigh and Sawyer are organizing to see a matinee of Hamilton at a theater in Boston. It’s a tiny bit of a stretch, but I’d approached Jake and told him I want to introduce some different forms of writing, like scripts for plays and musicals. He’d liked that idea—you know, in the name of fresh ideas for his department. He even said he’d like to bring one of his classes along as well, so now there’s a whole crew of us going. He’d helped me push approval through quickly to get us funding. Hopefully, this will show Jake that I can take the initiative to make things happen, too.

Chapter 10

Piper

When I get home, I toss my school bag and purse onto the couch before heading for the bottle of wine I hadn’t finished last night. Full glass in one hand, I deposit the bottle on the coffee table, then head to my bedroom to peel off my work clothes and get into something more comfortable. For every article of clothing I remove, I take another sip of my merlot. Before I know it, I’ve downed the entire glass.

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