“You can take an hour, Gemma.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why?”
He was so frustrating. Most guys would just shrug and move on, but not Jesse McCann. He wanted to talk about it. The man loved to talk. He’d missed his calling. He should have been a shrink. He was always asking her why she felt the way she felt. “I…”
He held a hand out. “You think about what you’re going to say. You give it some real consideration. If you’re about to spit something nasty out, you should know that it won’t go over well. We’ve had a nice week. We’ve been talking and getting to know each other. Let’s not screw it up by you getting pissed off.”
“I’m not the one who was pissed off. You walked in and got mad that Cam and I were teasing each other.”
Jesse leaned over the table, his lean body an instrument of both intimidation and temptation. “You were flipping him off.”
Cade stepped up. “Jeez, Jess, give her a break. Cam can be an asshole. She was fucking with him.”
Jesse turned to Cade. “I want her to start fitting in here. She can’t do that if she flips off everyone who makes her mad.”
A little smile curled Cade’s lips. “I don’t see why not. This town has plenty of cantankerous people.”
Actually, now that she thought about it, it was true. Jesse had said he wanted her to fit into Bliss and that he was trying to help her, but the truth was, he was just trying to make her fit in with his vision of what a woman should be. She felt heavier than before. She hadn’t realized how much she’d looked forward to seeing Jesse every day, and now she had to give him up.
“I really don’t want to go out. You two should find some other idiot to run these games on. I don’t want to have anything to do with all this discipline shit.”
Jesse stared at her for a minute and then turned and walked right out the door. Well, that was easy.
Blinking past an entirely annoying set of tears, she turned back to her laptop. At least it was over. She could go back to concentrating on what was important. Doing her job, and finding a way to get back to her real life. This whole relationship stuff was way too rough.
“Discipline shit?”
She nearly groaned. Why hadn’t he left with his friend? He hadn’t been happy to be around her at all. He should be thrilled. “Go away.”
“You would like that, wouldn’t you?”
She turned her eyes up, looking into his way too perfect face. “Yes. I would like it if you would leave.”
“Damn it.” His fingers came out, catching a tear. “Don’t do this to me, Wells. You’re the tough bitch. Stay the tough bitch.”
She slapped his hand away. She could do that for him. “Get out of here, Cade. Go follow your friend.”
He turned to walk off. The door slammed behind him, and she was blissfully alone.
Which was where she should have been all along. With a deep breath, she turned back to her work, thankful that Cam and Nate weren’t around to see what a fool she’d made of herself.
Cade nearly stormed out the door, pausing in between the inner and outer doors to catch his breath. She was everything he’d thought she was. Bitchy. Career obsessed. Self-centered. A little vulgar.
The last part didn’t bother him a bit. He kind of liked her smart mouth. He often thought some of the women Jesse picked up were a little dull since they never talked back. He wanted a little bit of brat in his woman.
And she wasn’t really self-centered. The couple of times he’d sat and listened to her, she’d had real conversations with Jesse. She had talked about the world and her mom and what books she’d been reading. She’d listened to Jesse, allowing him to change her mind about a few things. She was stubborn, but she wasn’t stupid about it. When Jesse had a good argument, she’d followed him. When he didn’t, she’d told him what she thought, challenged him. Hell, she’d talked about some things that had gone over Cade’s head and he’d found himself looking the issue up on the Internet so he could keep up. He wasn’t dumb. He just hadn’t had a reason to keep himself informed.
Fuck all. He liked her. And that whole episode with Jesse just didn’t ring true, damn it. He’d watched her. She’d been a little horrified that he’d found her flipping Cam the bird. Cade had flipped Cam the bird on more than one occasion. The guy could be a dick, but he was just having fun. Cade thought it was actually a good thing that Cam was fucking around with Gemma. It meant she was starting to find her place. But Jesse overreacted.
And allowed his temper to flare.
Cade looked out and Jesse was standing at the street corner, his body a complete study in tension. Jesse didn’t allow himself to lose his temper. He kept it under rigid control. But sometimes that temper was on a hair trigger, and Jesse had shown signs of it all week long. He’d been testy, on edge. The only time he’d been his calm, serene self was when he was around Gemma, as though she had some magical effect on him.
And then she’d spit bile his way. But he was pretty sure Jesse had taken that all wrong. That single tear on her cheek was gnawing at Cade’s insides.
Gemma Wells put on a good front, but what if that front hid the softer woman on the inside?
He wasn’t going to do it. This was his out. He would walk right out there and commiserate with Jesse on what a close call he’d had. He’d call his friend Ty and they could meet him at the Elk Creek Lodge for a few drinks, and before long they would have a nice safe woman between them and Jesse’s cares would melt away. They would go on the way they always had. Sooner or later the shine would fade off this town, and they would hop on their bikes and drive away.
Yes. He would do that.
Except his goddamn traitor feet weren’t listening to his brain. He turned and marched right back inside.
Only to catch her dabbing at her eyes.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Cade spat the question. “He’s been nothing but nice to you and you just treated him like crap.”
“Do we have a problem here, son?” Nate Wright loomed in the doorway, his eyes narrowed.
Gemma flushed. “No. No. Not at all. I just didn’t want to go to lunch.”
“I don’t like the tone of your voice, Sinclair.” Nate ignored Gemma, using that lawman look on Cade. He wasn’t that much older than Cade, but Nate Wright reeked of authority.
Gemma stood, her mouth a flat line. “He was just leaving, Sheriff. Don’t worry about it. I can handle him.”
She walked around her desk and took him by the elbow, trying to lead him out.
Cade wasn’t sure he wanted to be led out.
“Please. Please don’t make a scene.” Gemma looked up at him with those big blue eyes. They were shining with tears again. She was trying to hold it together. Cade could see that plainly.
So Jesse was freaked out at the street corner and Gemma was hanging on by her nails. When had he become the goddamn go-between? He allowed Gemma to drag him along. When they got to the small space between the inner and outer doors, she turned on him.
“Please go away. I don’t need to get fired again. I like this job. I don’t want to have to go around begging for another one.”
What the hell? “You think Nate was mad at you?”
She sniffled a little. “I think Nate likes to run a tight ship and my personal life was causing him trouble.”
How fucked up had her life been before? “He was pissed at me because of the way I was talking to you. He was trying to protect you, Gemma. He wasn’t going to fire you, but he might have roughed me up a little.”
She stopped and looked back through the windows. Sure enough, Nate was still watching them. “I don’t know.”
“I do. I know a protective brother when I see one. I say ‘brother’ because he might beat the shit out of me if I used the word ‘father figure.’” He couldn’t help himself. He reached out and held her arms, rubbing up and down, forcing her attention back to him. “Tell me what’s going on. I don’t mean between you and Cam. That was the two of you playing. Tell me why you said what you did to Jesse.”