“Jesus fucking Christ,” Hayes growled.
It was then I realized that I hadn’t been talking to him, but rather, his windshield. Slowly, I turned my head, and my eyes widened as Ifinallynoticed how he was looking at me.
He looked downright feral.
“Hayes?”
He moved, stepping up to me, blocking my view of the parking garage, taking my chin between his fingers, tipping my head back. He bent, getting in my space, the smell of mint gum onhis breath. “While we’re in here, I’m going to need you to refrain from throwing attitude at me.”
Excuse me?
“Why?”
“Because it makes me hard, and I can’t focus on getting this shit done if you do that.”
All the air in my lungs left me as I gaped at him, my cheeks on fire now.
Were we…were we pretending right now?I glanced at the camera in the corner by the stairwell, the red-light blinking just below the lens.
Had the guys from Red Snake seen us?
“And while we’re at it, even though I fucking love it, stop being sweet to me,” he tacked on harshly. “I can’t handle that shit right now either.”
“Then what do you want me to do?” I whispered. “Be a bitch or be sweet?”
His eyes flashed with heat, and he dropped his head, muttering something I couldn’t hear.
“Hayes, what the hell was that?” I hissed. I looked up to the cameras and back to him. “Was that pretend? Are the guys watching us?”
His head snapped up, his jaw jumping. “Nothing about the way you make me feel is pretend, Margo Bennett. Nothing about what happened between us weeks ago was a lie. Nothing between us will ever be a fucking lie. I need you to understand that.”
My hand wrapped around his wrist. “You told me last night that—”
“I said a lot of shit last night.”
I nodded. “Yeah, you fucking did.”
His eyes dropped to my lips. “We can’t talk about this here. Not now.”
No, I needed to talk about this. I needed to know what was going on inside his head.“Hayes, we need to talk about us.”
“Yeah,” he rumbled. “We do, but not here. Right now, you have to take my hand and come upstairs with me.”
Fear reared its ugly head around the corner, sporting a nasty smile, and aimed it at me.
Swallowing the new lump in my throat, I whispered, “I don’t know if I can do this.”
His hand at my chin moved, cupping my jaw, his fingers stretching back into my hair. He stepped closer, leaning over me in the cab, our faces inches from one another now. “You’re one of the strongest women I know,” he whispered, his minty breath skating across my lips. “You absolutely can do this.”
“They can’t know everything,” I rasped. “They can’t—”
“Shh,” he cooed, his thumb stroking my cheek. “You’re the one with the power here. Last night, I gave you the basis of what my guys would need. Tell them that. Set a boundary, and they’ll respect it. I promise.”
“No one else can know.” I shook my head. “I never wanted anyone to know.”
“Then why did you tell me?” he asked.
My eyes widened. “Excuse me?”