Enjoy!
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“I've never wanted to hurt someone so much in my life. So I reached over the counter, swiped a pair of scissors from her pen cup and jabbed the blade into her neck.”
I waited for the horror. For Jacob to look up at me like I was a woman possessed before his delicious mouth split into a smile when he saw I was joking. If he was listening, that would have been his response after I told him what happened at the hospital. How pissed I was when I went back to the lobby to get Missy and Nurse Deadwood came down with a case of amnesia, politely asking us to leave before she called security.
But Jacob wasn't listening.
He brought the rim of the wine glass to his lips, gave me an absent-minded smile and promptly went back to pretending he was taking in every word that came out of my mouth.
“So she’s fine then.”
“She was after I administered mouth to mouth.”
His brow furrowed as he put the wine glass down. “What?”
I threw my napkin on top of my barely eaten dinner, suddenly not so hungry but plenty annoyed. I’d spent the past thirty minutes telling Jacob about Mia. How I thought she was ready to make a change. How I wanted to literally murder Scott with a vase when he had the nerve to say he was looking out for Mia while he profited from her demise. Right around the time I started talking about the huge sketch factory the guy was and Jacob’s replies interchanged with interesting and cool, I realized I was basically talking to myself.
“Is there a reason you’re ignoring me?” I crossed my arms tight against my chest. “Especially after you asked me how it went?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Leila.” His eyes did a complete 360 before they settled back on me. “I just have a lot on my mind. And I asked about the Mia situation because its in my best interest to know.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes,” he answered coolly. “If the girl is that far gone, she’s in need of a psychiatrist, not Whitmore and Creighton.”
I was familiar with the cold, indifferent tone of the businessman. He was at the head of a multi-billion dollar enterprise and when it came to business, Jacob Whitmore wasn’t someone you wanted to trifle with. But using that mechanical, emotionless approach when it came to a girl nearly committing suicide, especially given his own past? That was too much.
“So what are you trying to say?” I could feel my voice rising along with my temperature. “You’d drop Mia because of what she did?”
“If she proved to be more trouble than she was worth, absolutely.”
Before I even knew what I was doing the napkin covering my food was a white ball sailing toward Jacob’s head.
He swatted it away effortlessly. “Thank goodness there’s no scissors handy.”
“That’s not funny,” I snapped, feeling the indignation flare in my cheeks. So maybe he was listening, but now I was the one wishing there was a mute button. Or maybe rewind...back to before my fiance said the most jackassy thing I’d heard in awhile.
“You didn't mean what you said.” I wrangled the anger boiling in my veins and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself before I said it again. “You didn't mean that.” I knew Jacob. And when Natasha blurted out that Mia OD’d, something flashed across his face. I’d been sure it was sadness but now that he was calm and unaffected like he hadn't just said we might toss Mia overboard, I wasn't so sure.
“I don’t see what the issue is, Leila. If the Rachel Laraby situation has taught us anything--”
I gripped the edge of the table, feeling that flash of anger spark a flame. “I know you’re not going to compare a sick, sad girl to a grown ass woman who isn't happy unless we're miserable.”
The calm was nowhere to be found when his eyes darkened. “I wasn't, actually. If you’re done, I can finish.”
I did a flourish with my hand. “By all means.”
His jaw tightened. Even mad as hell the flare of anger in me was met by one of lust. That look--stern, powerful, in charge--it was one he wore well. Jacob owned that look...and it turned my insides into jelly. But I could tell he wasn’t about to throw me over his shoulder and discipline me.
Not yet anyway.
“What I was trying to say is that we can’t get too close to our clients. It clouds our judgment.”
I flipped a mess of brown curls over my shoulder haughtily. “How interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you told me that my ability to connect and empathize with Mia Kent made me uniquely qualified to work on her case.”
“Don’t do that,” he said brusquely, throwing his own napkin over his plate. “Don’t patronize me.”
“I’m not trying to patronize you, Jacob.” I leaned forward, reaching for his hand. “You’re stressed out because of work, right? That’s why you’re talking crazy?”
“No, crazy is what Mia Kent is.” He snatched his hand away, face storming with fury. Not anger, not annoyance. No--this was something he’d been holding onto. Something that had been eating at him.
I fell back in my chair, not sure what to do with that statement. It was more than inappropriate. It was downright cruel.
I opened my mouth. Closed it. His words took me back to the hospital. I could still see Mia’s eyes. Wide. Piercing. But her hands shook beneath her restraints. She was terrified.
I’d never attempted suicide, but I knew what it was like to be tired of your life. Going to school day after day and dealing with girls that picked me apart--my weight, my hair, hell, my very existence. Feeling like my mother didn’t understand. Couldn’t really because her idea of making me feel better was reciting the old ‘stick and stones’ mantra. I wouldn't wish that loneliness on anybody. And it wasn’t something to joke about or trivialize by calling Mia crazy.
He dropped his gaze to the tablecloth then closed his eyes like he couldn’t believe he’d gone there either.
“I’m sorry.”
It was a start. When he looked at me, I saw the words plain as day and the remorse was real. I gave him a small nod, but I wasn't going to just let it go.
“Why would you even say that, Jacob? That’s not like you.” It was the Jacob Whitmore people probably expected. Coldly handsome. Flippant. Obnoxious. He’s freaking gorgeous so somehow, it works. But that wasn’t the real Jacob. Sure, the domineering, air going out when he came in the room thing was incredibly sexy, but I knew that he was kind. And generous. So this was something else.
He picked up his glass and threw it back.
“It’s just been a long day," he said after polishing off the rest of the wine. "I know what I said was out of line and I apologize.”
He picked up his napkin and dabbed at his mouth. When he discarded it, I saw the familiar hunger in his gaze. “Let’s go to bed.”
There was a part of me that wanted nothing more than to have loud, kinky, after argument sex with him, but there was a bigger part that knew something else was going on here.
I didn’t budge. “What’s going on, Jacob?”
One side of his mouth curved deliciously upward. “I’m gonna take you to bed, love. Tie you to it maybe.”
That wasn’t even fair. A need of my own was building and I blurted out my concern before it won. “We need to talk about what you said. Something is going on with you.”
The smile evaporated. “You’re not gonna drop this, are you?”
I shook my head slowly. “We’re partners, remember? We have to talk about things. The hard stuff, the uncomfortable stuff. Not just the things that come easy.”
He gave me a guarded look. Even though I felt like I knew him so well, there were still moments when I felt like he was good at hiding his emotions.
Too good.
He could tell me I was imagining things. That it was all in my head. And I had no proof otherwise. What would I do if he started hammering home the ‘so tired’ excuse? I couldn’t make him tell me.
But I had hope. That we’d been through enough that he knew he could tell me anything, no matter how horrible or difficult and we’d work through it together.
He pulled his tie loose and ran a hand through his dark hair before letting out a sigh. “I hate that I’m letting it affect me. I wish I could just turn it off.”
“Turn what off?”
“My mother.”
Oh god. If Alicia Whitmore was involved, I knew it was horrible. I reached for his hand again and this time, he didn't pull away.
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The Billionaire's Past will be out in two days! Woot woot! :D
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