Trouble

“Doug,” Joselyn interrupts. “Listen to me. A man used Mr. Santiago’s office to schedule a fake appointment with me yesterday. I need you to circulate a memo that the offices need to do a better job locking up on the weekends, and I’m going to send a letter to Mr. Green. The building needs better security.”

Doug’s eyes grow rounder with every word. “I’m sorry… They don’t like it if we ask too many questions or hassle the visitors. They don’t want us to seem unwelcoming—”

I’m ready to say more, but Joselyn grabs my coat. “Do better, Doug. I believe in you.”

She drags me out the door, but I’m not ready to let this go. “You’re going to let him off the hook?”

“He’s right.” She’s walking fast to my car. “A building this size isn’t going to question visitors. I had a name, an office number. It’s normal to assume I had a legitimate appointment.”

“Assume? You could’ve been killed.”

“It’s not a building with only one office like Antiques Today. I don’t want to get Doug fired. It’s not his fault.”

Grabbing her by the shoulders, I turn her back to the car. “It’s not your fault either.”

She blinks rapidly, looking away over my shoulder. “I knew not to come here. My gut told me it was the wrong thing to do, but I ignored it. This is just as much my fault as it is Doug’s.”

My jaw grinds. “I disagree.”

“Either way, I’ve got an interview in thirty minutes. Are you going to drive me there or argue?”

Reaching out, I grip the back of her neck, pulling her to my chest in a hug. I want to pull her mouth to mine. I want to pull her body to mine and hold her tight.

She trembles slightly, and her hand fists in the back of my coat. I hold her until her breathing calms, until she seems to have recovered control.

My hand relaxes and I massage her neck. I turn my face and inhale her hair. The idea of her being hurt or worse is unacceptable to me.

“You okay?” My voice is rough, and she nods. Stepping back, I meet her misty eyes. “Yes, I’m going to drive you to your interview. Now get in the car.”

Chapter 23

Joselyn

“This place is incredible.” Court sounds better than she has in weeks. “Did you see that garden tub in the bathroom? I’m going to take the longest jacuzzi-bath evah! I might not come out. Girl, you’ve seriously got to hang onto this guy. He is a keeper.”

I’m sitting on the foot of her bed as she doctors my eye with Neosporin and a fresh butterfly bandage. “He’s not my guy to hang onto. I told you. He’s been very up front from the beginning. He doesn’t do relationships, and I do. We’re at an impasse.”

“But you said he’s super-hot in bed, right?”

Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth, I blink away from her eyes. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not repeating the same mistakes I made with Elliot. I gave up my independence and turned into someone I wasn’t, and look how that ended. He was fucking his secretary, and I was getting screwed.”

“This guy is definitely not Idiot Flick, and I don’t know…” She grins down at me with her huge brown eyes. Her name should be Bambi with those gorgeous peepers. “Can’t you sort of, have a little fun while it lasts?”

“Last time I slept with him, I sneaked out because I wanted to curl up in his arms and hold him forever. That is how I get screwed. He can love it and leave it, but I get attached. I want more.”

She presses her lips together and makes a whatever face. “Say what you want, the way he freaked out over your shiner and moved us all in here in less than twenty-four hours tells me a lot.

Mr. ‘I don’t do relationships’ has it bad.”

Standing, I exhale heavily. “I can’t build my life around wishful thinking. I can only go off of the facts, and the facts are he’s said plainly and repeatedly, Don’t get attached.”

“I can’t hear what he’s saying. His actions are too loud.”

Waving her away, I look down at the incoming text on my phone. It changes everything, and I jump to my feet. “I got it! Look, Court, look! Troy says I’m on the roster. I should start getting calls next week!”

She squeezes my waist. “I knew he’d give you the job. I’d kick his ass if he didn’t.”

The tension of the last two days drains from my body in a rush, and I want to sit down and cry with gratitude.