She cuts off abruptly, and damn it, now I am smirking so hard it hurts.
揥hat was that, Miss Poe? Something about my looks??I wait. Crickets on the other end of the line. 揑 do put my time in maintaining this body for my health and appearance. It抯 nice knowing you appreciate it.?
揑 shouldn抰 be the one appreciating anything,?she whispers. 揧our mama has a point.?
揝he does not. I manage my own dating life very well,?I growl, drumming my fingers on my knee.
揇o you??she snickers.
Why did I call to apologize again?
揥hat??I snap.
揟hey call you Mr. Undateable in the Seattle press,?she says. 揑抦 sure you抳e seen the Google footprint? Either you don抰 handle your own dating, or you don抰 handle it very well. I抦 not sure I抎 admit the second.?
揝talker,?I grind out. 揂lso, there are things journalists will never know.?
揈xcuse me??
揧ou抮e Google stalking the boss. Barely a week after you called me psychotic,?I remind her. 揇oes hypocrisy run in the family and precede crazy? Should I worry I抣l wake up buried alive next??
She snorts pure derision. 揧ou think you抮e so funny, don抰 you??
揟hat makes one of us.?
揝ee how antsy you get when someone asks personal questions? And there isn抰 even a room full of people here.?She clucks her tongue like the annoying damned bird she is.
揑 apologized and even picked up your coffee duty梱ou抮e welcome.?
揥hich was never in my job description,?she throws back.
I抦 about to rip out my hair.
揥hy did I call you??I growl slowly.
揑f I had to guess, to annoy the hell out of me. Or to soothe your guilty conscience. Guess it isn抰 working, though.?
揧ou抮e ridiculous,?I spit.
揙ff the record, you抮e a jackass. You抮e rude, crass, kind of oblivious, and mean,?she hisses.
揟ell it to the next person whose cinnamon roll you try to snatch.?
揙h my God. Could you drop that already??She sucks in a harsh breath.
揥hy??
揃ecause you抮e just…？She trails off, probably running out of ammo.
揘ot a good reason, Miss Poe, and it sounds like your well has run dry. Tell you what, I won抰 keep you struggling through new ways to insult me. I抣l see you Monday to discuss your latest efforts in person.?
She doesn抰 answer.
揚oe??I move the phone closer so I can check the screen.
She抯 already hung up.
Glowering, I chuck my phone across the room.
I don抰 realize I抦 hard enough to hit a home run until I stand, my face twisting with disgust.
Why the fuck am I hard after that?
Maybe I should see a shrink.
How does this girl get me so worked up like nobody else?
I pace the room like a caged animal, only stopping to stare at the fireplace before I take a few steps the other way.
Enough of this fuckery. Enough of Nevermore, too.
There抯 a calming predictability in weaving a path across my floor, at least until my eyes catch on the photos.
I get a glimpse of my once happy parents perched above my fireplace. My mother has the biggest, most beautiful smile of her life, and Dad has his arm around her.
She hasn抰 smiled like that since the day he died.
She may still smile a lot, but I doubt I抣l ever see that high-on-life look of hers again.
The next picture houses another ghost from the past, a man I haven抰 seen for too long.
I抦 almost ten years younger, hunkered down with Wyatt in a landscape painted shades of tan.
We抮e both dusty as hell, two clean-shaven boys sitting around a fire at a base camp about twenty miles outside Mosul.
One more smile that will never be the same again. Wyatt had all of his limbs then and was smitten with his wife.
Less than a year later, he was discharged with a purple heart and no leg from the knee down, abandoned by the woman he trusted most.
Bitterness floods my veins, remembering how quickly the descent came after she left him.
First his addiction to the painkillers梐 beast he managed to get a handle on梑ut only after it cost him everything. He couldn抰 hold down a job and he抎 lost his wife and son.
Now, because he loved, he lives on the street.
Barely alive except for his obsession with fucking pastries.
Love is a tricky business, just like I told Dakota Poe.
It抯 the most hellish, unforgiving, ass-biting business I know with razor-sharp teeth designed to kill.
Some people who get bit wind up torn to pieces, digested, and shat out with all the care of an owl swallowing a mouse.
I can抰 forget that. No way in hell am I falling into that trap again.
I can抰 end up in a tent like Wyatt or at the receiving end of a knife in my back.
I can抰 do anything except the only thing I抳e ever been good at梤unning this company.
People depend on me.
Mother still receives a pension like countless others who need it even more than she does. My employees depend on their livelihood. It抯 my job to keep this machine thriving.
Love is a fucking landmine, all too capable of blowing everything to kingdom come.
I抳e seen what happens when people fall for cupid抯 schemes, that sneaky little shit.
For every Happily Ever After, there are a dozen hearts fractured and stomped into the ground like shattered ornaments.
I have rules when it comes to women for good reason. Hookups are fine as long as everyone knows it抯 a hookup, though I haven抰 even bothered with one-night flings in a long time.
Feelings梤elationships梩hose are for suckers. And if my parents did one thing right, they didn抰 raise one of those.
I don抰 date. I damn sure don抰 have any business being interested in Dakota frigging Poe. Being an employee makes her forbidden fruit of the worst kind, and that抯 all she can be.
I move to the wet bar and pour a scotch, downing it so fast I almost choke, coughing into my hand.
Yeah, it抯 that kind of night.
The silvery city lights can抰 banish the looming blackness that pulls up bad memories like imaginary monsters from my closet.
When you抮e a boy, it抯 easy to get through nights like this with a flashlight and a brave face.
When you抮e a grown man with regrets, obligations, and failures梬hen you抳e had your own heart hammered to a pulp and you抳e seen everyone you care for emotionally mutilated by romance梱ou need something stronger.
Tilting the glass bottle over the shot glass, I pour two more fingers, down it, and repeat.
I抦 on my sixth gut bomb when my phone rings.
Her name flashes across the screen. I almost drop the glass.
What the hell? Does this chick have multiple personalities or something?
揌ello??I answer.
揑抦 sorry I cut you off. It was nice of you to call and apologize. Before you went off with your usual BS, I mean. I shouldn抰 have egged you on. And shit, I realize it抯 probably too late to be calling my boss桰抦 sorry梖uck, I said shit. Ugh. I抦 screwing this up.?
揑t抯 fine,?I mutter, a crooked smile on my face.
She sighs. 揕ook, because of the way we met with you going bananas over my cinnamon roll… I sometimes forget I need to be professional around you. I抦 working on it. I promise you I am, even if it may not seem like it.?
I can抰 believe what I抦 hearing. I didn抰 think she was built with an apologetic bone in her body.
揑t抯 fine, Miss Poe. My offer stands. I have other lines you can work on if weddings just aren抰 suitable. You抮e skilled enough to retain on other projects for the long haul, even if they抮e assignments I didn抰 hire you for. We can be flexible.?