Page 6 of Liar For Hire (For Hire 1)

He growled under his breath at her, and she grinned, unaffected. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, sending all kinds of sensations through his body.

“Now, you want to talk about it?” she encouraged him.

“About what?”

“Whatever made you drink.” She pursed those beautiful thick lips and narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m the one who struck out yet again, but you’re the one who’s depressed.”

“I’m not depressed!” He realized too late that he spoke with too much heat and cleared his throat. “Like I said, I’m just bored.”

She walked over to the desk to get something and returned to his side with a glass of water. When she held out her hand, he sighed. The stubborn woman grabbed his hand, turned it right side up, and dropped two pills into his palm.

“Take them and drink this.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Take it. I don’t need you grumpy all day because you feel bad. You’re a big baby when you’re sick.”

His feathers ruffled. “I am never sick.”

“You keep saying that, but the fact that you have a headache says differently.”

He started to protest again, but it made no difference. The easier path was to take the pills. It would do no good to explain to her that the medicine wouldn’t affect him.

Sure, his head hurt, but he would have to endure until it went away on its own. Medicine didn’t affect his system in any way at all. He would know because he’d tried various ways to forget the past, and nothing worked. Not even a stir. Alcoh

ol was a different matter, oddly enough.

“About last night,” he began.

She turned her head. “We were discussing you.”

“Oh, I’m okay to dissect but not you?”

“Please, you don’t have to be dramatic. Dissect? Really?” She laughed. “Fine. He was a dud, kept running off to the bathroom, but I’m not an idiot. He kept checking his phone constantly. My guess is he was married.”

“You’re determined to find a husband. Why not enjoy single life like me?”

“You?” She eyed him up and down with a smirk. “I’m trying to think when the last time was you had a girlfriend. Oh wait, never. A lover? Been a while for that too.”

“I don’t kiss and tell.”

She snorted.

“Maybe we should be friends with benefits.” He didn’t know what made him say it. The words slipped out.

She went silent, and he imagined she blushed behind that smooth cocoa brown skin. Tangling her fingers together in her lap, she stuttered and then found her voice. “Don’t suggest what you know isn’t going to happen.”

“Because you don’t want a white guy?” He mentally kicked himself for continuing this conversation. A man knew better than to give a woman notions he wasn’t ready to back up.

“White?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You know I don’t care about color. I’m talking about a relationship.”

There it was.

“I want one, and you don’t.”

“You want a husband.” He shuddered. “And kids.”

“That’s right. I’m not getting any younger. I’ll be thirty-five in three years, and that’s considered high risk for pregnancy. If I want time to get to know my guy, then I have to get after it now.”

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