Page 28 of Bossy Ex's Brother

I gave them a wink as I followed Jane.

ELEVEN

JANE

My mind was a mess as I headed to the kitchen.

I was still heated from arguing with my siblings and then shocked by Luca’s appearance on my doorstep. Between those two things, I was struck with an emotional whiplash, like my mind wasn’t quite sure where to focus.

Until I turned around to face Luca, then all my attention was firmly on him. I didn’t have a choice.

There was just something about the man you couldn’t ignore that demanded every single awareness be on him.

Whether it was the absolute assuredness in his stance, the devil-may-care look in his eye, or that piercing, two-toned gaze, like a wolf analyzing every single part of your body before it pounced. It led to a combination of caution and anticipation that caused my entire being to become attuned to him and his every movement.

And I hated it.

I crossed my hands over my chest to suppress the feeling. “So, what do you want?”

My tone was intentionally rude, but he didn’t even seem phased by it. Instead, he glanced around my kitchen with a lookon his face that said it didn’t quite meet his standards. Then he turned to me.

“Cute,” he said, but his tone was patronizing.

Well, two could play at that game.

“Thanks,” I said in a falsely sweet tone before dropping my smile. “Now tell me what you want.”

He picked up a chipped cup from the tray and analyzed it for a few seconds before he put it down. He did the same to a bent spoon. Only then did he speak.

“Maybe I was a little harsh with you.”

“A little?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Maybe more than a little.” He shrugged benevolently. “You did what you thought was right.”

Obviously. Did he think he was doing me a favor by admitting it? All the indignation that I’d suppressed bubbled up. “I was defending your employee from a creeper. And you fired me for it.”

“You quit, too,” he said. “So I would say we’re both at fault.”

“Seriously?” My voice got louder in my utter disbelief at his audacity.

“Yes. So I say we call it even, and you come back to work tomorrow. Noonish sharp.”

My mouth was open for a good thirty seconds before I could speak again. “Is this your idea of an apology?”

He shot me a teasing grin. “What do you want, a red carpet? Cookies?”

When I didn’t respond, the grin transformed into a challenging look of his own. “If you’re waiting for a special word starting with ‘S,’ then you’re gonna be waiting till thy kingdom come. I haven’t said that word to anyone except my mama since Stacey R caught me with Becca M in the 9th grade. Now, do you want your job back or not?”

I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting. I knew that having a job was important, but so was setting a boundary. I couldn’t let him think he could just fire me whenever he wanted to without any repercussions. At the last restaurant I worked at, I learned my lesson about establishing boundaries early on. If he thought I would be a doormat, he would walk all over me for as long as I worked for him.

And he would never respect me either, so I would never grow in that role.

He smirked at my stance and then shrugged as if he couldn’t care less.

“Suit yourself,” he said, straightening and reaching for the door. But when his hand touched the handle, he didn’t turn it to open the door. Instead, he waited for a second, then two.

I said nothing.

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