Page 11 of Belonging to the Rancher

“I’m going to have a sandwich. I’ll deal with my lunch in a minute.”

He picked up one of his sandwiches, and then slid the plate toward her. “Eat.”

“I’m not hungry.” Her treacherous body betrayed her as her stomach growled, giving way to the fact she was very much hungry.

He raised a brow.

She didn’t know how he was able to do that, and he took a bite of his sandwich.

“Eat, and then be prepared to talk.”

“Talk?” she asked.

“Yes, talk. You and I both know we need to deal with this problem between us.”

“There’s no problem between us.” She looked down at the sandwich on the plate. Her mouth watered and she was hungry.

“Eat.”

Clarissa grew tired of him ordering her around, but she couldn’t think of a good enough reason to deny him. She grabbed the sandwich and took a large bite. It tasted so good.

Glancing across the table, she looked toward Axe and saw that he was staring at her. There was a problem between them, a huge problem, and it needed to be fixed.

****

Axe was not going to have her lying to him, not anymore. He’d seen that she wasn’t eating properly, and he was done playing this game with her. The past month had been a nightmare. He didn’t like it.

Seeing her eat now was a good feeling. He finished his sandwich, and he was still hungry, but he didn’t need to go back out so soon. In fact, the work wasn’t too bad now. He had the time to spend with Clarissa, to resolve their issues.

Sitting back in his chair, he picked up his coffee and took sips as he watched her. She finished the sandwich within a few bites, and then sat, trying to avoid looking at him.

“You’ve been lying to me,” he said.

Clarissa returned her brown gaze to him. She folded her arms and sat back.

“Why?”

“I don’t think we should be having this conversation.” She made no move to leave.

“Clarissa, things haven’t been right for us since that kiss. We need to resolve them, otherwise…” He couldn’t bring himself to say the rest. If they didn’t fix this, he would have to let her go, but he didn’t want to let her go.

It was insane, he knew that. He didn’t want anyone else to have her, but they were also supposed to have a professional relationship.

Silence fell between them. He didn’t like how awkward it was. Tapping his fingers against the cup, he waited, and then Clarissa opened her mouth.

“Was I that bad?” she asked.

Of all the things she could have said, that was not what he was expecting, and it took him a second to answer.

“Bad?”

“The kiss. Was it bad? I’ve never kissed anyone before, and I thought it was amazing, but then we broke the mugs, and you looked so annoyed. I can only think I must be awful at kissing, or perhaps you didn’t like kissing me, which I totally understand.” She stopped to take a deep breath, and then her gaze was once again on him.

He watched as her face went a bright shade of red.

“I was your first kiss?” he asked.

There was no way he could have been her first kiss. She was gorgeous. Men must have been lining up to be with her. He found it hard to even contemplate her being without other partners.

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