Loverboy (The Company #2) - Sarina Bowen Page 0,62

I’m irritating?” he returns. “You act like you’re the only one who has ever missed the joke. You tailed me tonight, and I didn’t even notice. You, with the stealth skills of a kitten wearing a bell around its neck.”

“I CAN BE VERY STEALTHY!” I shriek.

“Obviously.” He unbuttons the collar of his shirt, and my eyes dart to his strong neck, and the few blond hairs visible on his upper chest.

Keep going, my hormones beg. They won’t shut up even when I’m very angry.

And I’m still very angry. “It’s not okay. You can’t just spy on someone’s pie shop with your spy tools and your sneaky friends. That’s my LIFE in there!”

“Look, did it occur to you that I don’t want you to lose your life?” he snaps. “That maybe I realize you don’t need to be at the dangerous epicenter of someone’s grudge against a killer? A menacing person who’s made himself very comfortable in your shop, Posy. I only lied so I could figure out who that is.”

“Well it’s not me!” I squeak.

“I know.” He unbuttons that shirt a little further. I watch the ink from his tattoo appear slowly, one sexy button at a time.

The key comes into view, which reminds me of the handsome asshole’s duplicity. “This was all a game to you. I’m just an unwitting little cog in your wheel. You’re using me.”

“Hey now,” he says, his cool eyes flashing. “I know it’s a lot of information. I realize it’s a big shock. But try to remember that I also busted my ass for the last three weeks, making coffee eight hours a day. I show up early and I stay until the job is done.”

It’s all true. But the lie still burns, because … “I thought we were friends,” I gasp, knowing how pathetic I sound. But I’ve always prided myself on drawing my employees close. We depend on each other.

I thought we did, anyway. But I was wrong.

“We are friends, damn it,” he says. “The pie shop is pretty great, and I care a great deal about what happens there.”

“That’s bullshit. You’re just saying that to make yourself feel better,” I argue. And then a brand new and truly horrible idea occurs to me. “Wait—was it you? Did you and Max break my window? So you could fix it and put cameras everywhere?

“No! Posy—!”

“You did!” I squeak. “You walked me home from the bar at just the right time to witness it. How convenient for you to keep me busy that night. Did you follow me to that bar? You did! And then on the way home you—”

My next realization is so awful that I actually choke on my words. Everything that happened between us that night was a lie. The way Gunnar propositioned me, just so he could walk me home. Kisses on the sidewalk, just to distract me. And after the break in, he stayed close by and held my hand while the cops took my statement.

“Omigod,” I whisper. “Oh. My. GOD. I’ve been played by yet another man.”

“Slow your roll,” he thunders. “I have no fucking idea who broke into your shop. But I’ve just spent the last week trying to figure it out.”

“LIAR!” Spalding was right. I am terrible at sex. I can’t even tell real kisses from fake ones. It’s utterly humiliating, and fat tears spring from both of my eyes. “You kissed the poor, lonely baker so she wouldn’t notice what you were up to.”

“Bullshit!” he shouts. And suddenly he’s right in front of me, all up in my space. “You’ve got it backwards. I just spent the last week trying not to kiss you, because everything got so complicated. The case is still up in the air, and—”

“The case,” I spit. “It’s all about the case. That’s all you ever cared about.”

“It’s not,” he thunders, his face red. He reaches out and grabs the belt loops of my skirt, towing me closer, as if proximity would make his argument more logical. “I’m trying to explain, but you won’t listen.”

“Because it’s bullshit.” I whisper at close range. His green eyes are enormous at this distance. “I don’t believe anything you say.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Then believe this.” That’s when the asshole leans in and kisses me. It isn’t a bashful kiss, either. He tilts his head and consumes me with firm hungry lips. I’m hit with his clean scent and the heat from all that skin so close to mine. Surprise makes my knees wobble, so