The Troublemaker

“Four.”

“Four?” I blink up at him. “It would take me a year to work up to that.”

“You stay in shape.” He eyes my bare stomach. “I’ve seen you jogging with Jo.”

“First of all, I went jogging with Jo like four times and you happened to see me one of those times. Second, Jo only runs one mile a day. Third, I do Pilates. It’s much more . . . effective for this.” I signal toward my displayed abs. “Which, at the risk of sounding like a total douche, is really all I care about.”

“That’s fair.” Mitch lets out a deep chuckle that I feel all the way to my core. “So, how’d it go with your date?”

“It went well.”

“Not well enough for him to stay over though.”

“Do you judge how every date does by whether or not they stay over?”

“Yes.”

I shake my head. “That’s why you’re still single.”

“Why are you still single?” He shoots me a look.

“I don’t know. I guess I like it this way. There’s a certain freedom that comes from not being tied down to a man.”

“There’s a certain freedom that comes with being tied down by a man.” His eyes smolder as he says the words and I can’t not think about him tying me down to a surface.

“Yeah.” I look away quickly. “Well, maybe I’ll experiment with that with Austin.”

“Shame. Here I was hoping you’d experiment with me.”

“Mitch.” I stop walking just outside of the apartment building and turn to him. “This is an assignment for me. Nothing more. I can’t have you throwing things like that at me right now.”

“Because I still affect you.”

“Yes.” I keep my eyes on his. “Even though you shouldn’t.”

“Maybe if you gave me a chance, we could both get over this once and for all.”

“Really?” I let out a laugh, shaking my head as I move to brush past him and walk into the building. “No, thank you, Mitchell.”

“I’m just saying, it might not be such a bad idea.”

“It’s a terrible idea.” I shoot him a look that begs for him to drop it.

He does and pushes the elevator button and we take it up to the tenth floor, where we both get off and head toward our respective apartments. As he stops in front of his and I walk by, I hear loud voices inside and remember he lives with two other guys on the team. Mitch doesn’t move to go inside. He merely stands outside, holding his key, waiting for me to go into mine.

“Maybe we can do this again tomorrow.”

“You want to add torture to the list of requirements for this assignment?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Aw, come on. You enjoyed it.” His lip turns up slightly.

“It wasn’t terrible.” I purse my lips as I turn the key to my apartment and open the door. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

“See you in a bit.” He gives a nod, looking like he wants to add more to that statement, but I disappear into my apartment before he gets a chance.

It’s not until I’m in my kitchen, which is also fully stocked, that I realize my heart is beating out of control and it has nothing to do with the run and everything to do with Mitchell. I shake my head at myself. I cannot go down that road again. And I won’t. I’ve been able to resist the temptation that is Mitchell Cruz for years now and this will be no different.

Chapter Seven

“You’re late,” Dylan says as he opens the door for me.

“Good morning to you too.” I step inside and wait for him to close the door. Normally, I would just let his poor attitude slide, but since this job depends on me somewhat getting along with them, at least enough for them to open up to me, I figure I should address this now. He leans against the door and crosses his arms, waiting. “I just want to make sure we’re cool, you know, since we’re going to have to spend time together for this.”

“We’re cool. Why wouldn’t we be cool? Because you ghosted me?” He pushes off the door. “I’m just glad Mitchell was willing to let it go.”

“Mitchell?” I feel myself frown. “What does he have to do with any of this?”

“That night I met you he told me to stay away from you and I didn’t take his advice. I didn’t realize he was saying it because you’d already broken his heart, otherwise, I would have stayed away from you.” He shoots me a look. “To be clear, you didn’t break my heart, but he’s my brother and I never wanted a woman to get between us. We’re good though. I’m not going to let you ghosting me get in the way of this project. We have a reputation to fix and that’ll be on you.”