“Maybe I should bend you over this desk right now and punish you for punishing me.”
I stick the pen between my teeth, smiling around it at him. “In front of all your employees?” My tongue clicks. “Something tells me HR would think that’s a very bad idea.”
His nostrils flare as he watches me closely. He takes his time answering me. It’s like he can read my mind, knowing that his silence—mixed with his menacing stare—is enough to make me squirm.
My stomach drops when he runs his thumb over his bottom lip before it turns up in a sinister smile. “God, it’ll be so good when I finally have you on your knees. Maybe I’ll punish you just as much as you’ve punished me.”
Before I can respond, he straightens his back. He takes a step closer, his eyes flicking to my computer screen. I hastily try to close out of the tabs that show me re-reading all of our old messages. The smile that had my skin prickling with intense need has disappeared, his mask he uses for work back into place.
“Tell me, how do you feel about Colorado?”
My eyebrows pinch together on my forehead in confusion. “Excuse me?”
He runs a finger down the edge of my desk. His touch dangerously close to my exposed knee.
“We’ve got a business trip to go on. Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
His knuckles tap against my desk. “Tomorrow,” he confirms.
And then he leaves me alone in my office, wondering how the hell I’ll survive traveling with him without finally giving in.
“Beck, I think we should pull off at the next exit.”
I grunt, my eyes focused on the road in front of us. The windshield wipers swipe in rapid succession, but even with their rampant pace, they’re still not very helpful. With the thick snow flurries pouring from the sky, it’s hard to really see anything on the road.
“We’ll be out of the snow soon,” I answer, trying to calm her nerves. She seems nervous as hell sitting next to me. In hindsight, I maybe should’ve accepted the invite to stay at the residence of the man who just agreed to invest enough into the company to streamline a development that’s been in the works for two years now.
I was too prideful to accept. I’d hated the way his son stared at Margo. He’d watched her like he wanted her. The last thing I was going to do was stay in that house with all of them to ride out a snow storm. Not with the knowledge of how bad his annoying, golden-retriever acting son looked at Margo like he was just waiting to sink his claws into her. I know the look of desire when it comes to her well. It’s because I’ve been wearing the same look for a while now.
I shouldn’t have brought Margo in the first place. Granted, part of the reason she thinks she was hired was to travel with me. But the moment I saw the son’s eyes light up when Margo stepped from behind me at the beginning of the meeting, I regretted ever bringing her.
“If this radar is correct, it’s supposed to snow for at least the next twelve hours. And that’s as far as it’ll let me see.”
“Those things are never right.”
“Oh, so you’re a meteorologist now?”
“And you are?” I accuse, throwing her insult back at her. I’m not a fucking meteorologist, although it seems like a good gig because they’re wrong half the time and still get to keep their job.
“All I’m saying is that I’m not trying to die in a snow storm. So if you want to keep driving to try and make it to your little airport, fine be my guest. I think it’s dumb considering there’s no way they’re flying in this, but you can give it a try. I, on the other hand, would love for you to drop me off at the next exit so I can ride out the snow storm in the warmth and not fearing for my life.”
“I’m not leaving you alone in an unfamiliar place.”
“And driving recklessly in the middle of a blizzard is a better option?”
If I wasn’t white-knuckling the steering wheel, I’d look over at her and give her a dirty look. She might have a valid point, but I’m still under the impression that sooner or later we have to make it through the worst of the snow. It came on pretty sudden, the small flurries easy to see through at first before it started dumping snow.
“Beck.” She raises her voice at me. I can feel her gaze hot on my cheeks.
“What?”
“I think there’s a town close called Sutten Mountain. Pull over at the next exit. There’s got to be somewhere for us to stay.”
“No. We’re almost out of it.”
She groans, her hands flying into the air in frustration. “We are not almost out of it. I want to get out of the car and stay somewhere! We should be passing an exit any minute. We’re getting off there.”
“Last I checked, I’m the one driving.”
I have to squint to see through the snow. Maybe she is right. I thought that the snow would lighten up if we just kept driving, but the visibility is becoming worse and worse. Even with the all-wheel drive of the SUV, I can feel the tires slip every now and then on slick patches.
“Oh look,” Margo says sarcastically. From the corner of her eye I can see her holding her phone up to her face as she reads something on it. “Apparently they’ve shut the interstate down three miles ahead due to the storm. Weird. It’s as if we’re in an actual fucking dangerous snow storm!”
“Watch your tone,” I warn, hating that I was wrong in this scenario.
“Watch your tone,” she mocks. “God, you’re so stubborn and frustrating. Can you just admit that you were wrong and pull off?”
“I’m frustrating?” I laugh maniacally, leaning forward in the seat to try and see better through the gusts of wind blowing snow all over the road. “You’ve frustrated me from the moment I met you. So before you call me stubborn, look at yourself, sweetheart.”
“Sweetheart?” she says in disgust. “Don’t talk down to me, asshole.”
I take a deep breath, looking for any indication of the exit she apparently thinks is close. “I’m not talking down to you.”
A sarcastic laugh fills the tense space between us. “Just because you’re mad that you’re wrong and I’m right doesn’t mean you have an excuse to be a dick.”
My teeth grind together as I keep my mouth shut. There are so many things I’d like to bring up to her, like the fact that she’s been the one who's been hard-headed from the moment I kissed her. She may be frustrated with me for the moment, but I’ve been frustrated for over a month now. I say none of this, knowing that we aren’t seeing eye to eye right now to begin with.
“You’re sure the interstate is closed up ahead?”
“Would you like to check yourself?” she seethes. I brave a look at her out of the corner of my eye. She shakes her phone at me, some sort of app pulled up that appears to have traffic updates on it.
“Give it to me,” I instruct, pulling one hand off the wheel to hold it in front of her.
“No freaking way!” she yells. “Put both hands on the wheel now. Are you crazy?”
My fingers wiggle as an aggravated sigh falls from my mouth. “Give me the fucking phone so I can check where I need to get off.”