Page 12 of The Right Woman

With a shy voice, she says, “Yes, sir.” My heart warms to her already. So respectful and obviously kind.

Eli chuckles obnoxiously. “Essa, this is Adon, my brother. He used to try to light centipedes on fire with a magnifying glass. He’s not a ‘sir.’”

Clenching my jaw, I smirk as his girlfriend blushes fervently. “She can call me sir if she wants. It’s good to meet you, sweetheart. Are you the one encouraging him to get back in school?”

“Um…I didn’t know about that, uh….”

Her eyes dart to Eli, seeking his reaction, and he clears his throat, swallowing as he whispers to her, “It was just something I considered.”

The door opens, and my heart stops. In fact, I think I’m having a fucking heart attack. If I could grab it to restart it, I would, but I’m frozen. My breathing comes to a complete halt.

Wild pink hair skirts past Essa and my brother, enteringmy officelike she owns the place. Here. In my place of business. The rage rising in my blood is so hot, I think it’ll boil over. She saunters over to the table and fingers one of the plastic plants that Emily put there years ago.

Like she’s making fun of the placeIbuilt, with toil and late nights working here since I was a kid, she says, “Nice place you have here.”

Does she know it’s mine? Is she messing with me? And why the absolute fuck is the girl that left me with blue ballshere now? She has to know. Patchouli and vanilla explode up my nose like a bomb as she spins back to face the room. She has to be doing this on purpose.

“Oh, Adon, sorry. This is my friend, Piper,” Essa interrupts my urge to grab the little girl by her shoulders and toss her out the window.

“Does she normally waltz in like she owns a place that isn’t hers?”

Finally, her spring greens gaze up at me as she drops her jaw. The sight of it opening so wide makes my dick spring to life. I want to make her pay for that. “I’m standing right here.”

My eyes narrow, waiting for her to give me some look of recognition. Barely inhaling, I pause. But it never comes. There’s no way she just showed up here on her own…

Everything is closing in on me. The walls feel tight. I think about my mask sitting at home. No pussy for me tonight, and I have to look at this girl here in my place of business. Quick, think of something to get them all out of here. Clearing my throat, I walk back behind my desk and say, “Okay. Well, it’s a bit crowded in here. I’ve got to get some work done. Go ahead and take off for the day, baby brother. See you.”

Eli looks stunned and hurt, but the pink lady leaves with a parting sneer, and I can finally relax a bit. Did I come off as a complete ass? Yes. I can’t leave things that way with Essa, though. Not if I want my brother on the right track.

“Essa,” I say, stopping her from leaving the room. She pauses with her hand on the knob, and I continue. “You’re taking good care of my brother. We’ll take good care of your car. Glad to meet you.”

She turns shy and smiles. “You, too.”

Once the door is closed, I bang my head on the desk, rub my hands against the buzzed sides, then tug on the longer ends on top. What an absolute disaster.

I don’t think she recognized me. At least, she didn’t make eye contact as if she did. If that’s the case, I’m at least getting coffee. I won’t let her take that from me.

Yeah, I’ll show up and take it back as my own territory.

I just have to trynotto beat off to the images of her tight little ass in those bell-bottom jeans she was just wearing…

Fucking patchouli!

Chapter

Six

PIPER

It feelslike everyone is invading my space. That rude guy from the coffee shop is back in his spot. And, unfortunately, he happens to be my best friend’s boyfriend’s brother. The terrifying thing is, he’s agorgeousspecimen of a man. Huge and dark.AdonGriffin. The sight of him is enough to turn me straight as an arrow. But his angry gaze and arrogant attitude make me want to give up men entirely. It’s a perplexing phenomenon.

Instead of speaking to him, I roll my eyes and stare ahead in the ordering line at Rainy Day. A fierce glare burns into the back of my skull, but when I turn to face him, he looks away. His thick arms can barely cross his broad chest. There’s something about his figure that seems familiar…

Worse than him being a few behind me in line is that my father is in the corner with some brunette woman. It looks as if he’s having a business meeting here, of all places. They both talk rapidly with their hands flailing in the air and only pause to glance ahead of me in line, where my mother and sister are getting their hot mugs. Yeah. This is rearing up to be a globaldisaster. The climate is about to fucking change in here so rapidly, everyone better stand on the tables.

As I move forward, I grimace, watching the horror unfold. Maeve smiles at some middle-aged, distinguished-looking gentleman with salt-and-pepper hair, who entered behind her as I approached the cafe. I stalled my steps for the appropriate amount of time so that I wouldn’t be caught near them in line. Thus, avoiding forced awkward conversations. Brilliant, if I do say so.

She then ambles with my mother to the only available seats…at the same table as my father and the woman next to him.

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