“No, Mavis—we are not sleeping in the same bed.”
Tonya and Legos watch us intently.
His eyes pop open. “What are you going to do put me out of your room again, captive,” he grits out.
“This time I’m locking the door,” I yell.
“Sweetheart, keep it up and I’ll lock you in my room.”
I slam the plates together in the stack, the clatter echoing off the walls. “You locked me in a fucking jail cell, Mavis. And now I’m supposed to forget that, let you kiss me, and sleep next to me. Fuck no, asshole.”
“Asshole? Whoa,” Lego’s laughs.
“You got your hands full there, Ruthless,” Lego chuckles.
I stalk toward the kitchen and glare over my shoulder. Mavis attempts to rise.
“Don’t even think about it,” I snap. “I’ll help you into bed and that’s it.”
In the kitchen, I pause, chest heaving. I place the dishes in the sink with a little more force than necessary, take a breath, and load the dishwasher like it personally insulted me.
When I exit the kitchen, I notice Tonya helping Mavis up the stairs. I walk toward them.
“Tonya, I got him,” I say.
“Ok, darling,” she replies.
I pull Mavis’s arm around my neck and glance at her. “You two have a good night.”
“I’d say you too…you know just don’t kill each other.” She laughs.
Legos burst into laughter. “If he was in good shape, he’d have that girl bent over a chair,” he mumbles into a beer bottle.
I shake my head as I guide Mavis upstairs.
We stroll into the master bedroom in silence. I lower him to the mattress. He stares at me while I grab clothes from the dresser and position myself on the floor at his side and get him dressed for bed.
“I can help you into the bathroom,” I offer as I rise.
“I’ll manage, Sophie.” His green eyes darken as he stands to his full height, his blond curls falling around his face like a storm cloud as he towers over me.
“Go to your room.”
My lips twist into a snarl. And I storm out of the room.”
While getting ready for bed I think about the way he stared down at me. How I felt locked in his trance. All I could think about was his lips on mine. My body zings with need despite what he’s put me through. I put him out of my mind as I get ready for bed.
Tomorrow, I need to talk to him—about my business, my life, everything I left behind. I’ve been off social media too long. My clients are probably wondering if I fell off the face of the Earth.
Coaching creators, helping them grow their followings—that was my world. I made my last company a fortune, and when I asked for a raise, they told me to wait a year. Meanwhile, my boss was popping champagne on a new yacht bought with the money I made him. I vented to Neecka, my closest coworker. She was livid. That night, we built the blueprint for my coaching brand.
She’s probably called me a dozen times by now.
I pull the sheets to my chin and sigh. My phone was fried in that explosion. I’ll have to ask Mavis for a new one.
My eyelids flutter and I yawn.
I come to not realizing I’d dozed off. My face is buried in the side of a man’s chest. A familiar one. His chest. I curl into his side and inhale his natural scent. Soap and clean laundry.
