He stands and stretches. “Finally. I pull plenty of long days, but you’re a workhorse.”
“I’m not sure I like that description.”
I unplug my laptop and spin my chair around to grab my bag off the floor to pack it up. Once I have it in my hands, I straighten in my chair, intending to spin back around, but Kane is behind me. I didn’t hear him move, but I can feel him there.
“You’re smart. Determined. Disciplined. I’m impressed. I meant it as a compliment.”
I want to curl up in his heat and his clean, spicy scent, but his kind words make me wary. Like I’m missing something.
I spin around in my chair to face him. “Why do I feel like you want something from me?”
He wraps a hand around each of the arms of my chair, caging me in. “Because I do.”
My heart stutters. “What?”
“You, naked.”
Heat flares in my belly, not just at his words but from the need rolling off him. I want to bend. Give him everything he wants. And that scares me.
How did I let him gain this much power over me?
“You don’t need to soften me up with flattery to get that, as we both know.”
I try to look away, but he rolls the chair closer to him and captures my attention once more.
“What the hell does that mean?”
I glare. “I’m already fucking you. There’s no need to turn on the charm now. It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion ... unless there’s something else you’re after.”
His gaze narrows, and for long moments, a heavy silence builds between us like crates of dynamite.
“You don’t see it. How the fuck do you not see it?” His brows dive together as he shakes his head.
“What are you talking about?”
“You still don’t have the first clue about your own self-worth.”
I bristle at his comment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Obviously.” He pushes off the arms of the chair and rises. “Let’s go. I’m hungry.”
20
Temperance
The tense mood lasts until we’re back at Kane’s place.
How dare he say I don’t know my own self-worth? Like he’s some kind of authority on me, and I’m clueless? I have no illusions about who and what I am.
When the garage door closes behind us, I yank the beanie off my head. “Are you going to make me wear that every time?”
He grunts.
Oh, great. Now he’s not speaking. Excellent.
I’m still collecting my things when he opens the door to let me out of the car we drove today. I didn’t see this one in the collection of four-wheel drives, but that’s probably because it’s not quite as tall and was hidden between them. It’s a nondescript black Audi sedan with blacked-out windows that makes me think of theTransporter, which is probably appropriate. Although, Kane has Jason Statham beat on every level, including sheer badass-ness.
He takes my bag from off my shoulder and carries it to the elevator, but lets me keep my purse.