Page 24 of Just a Little Crush

“Finishing unpacking,” Valerie said, more chatty than I’d seen her in weeks. “And I’m submitting my résumé to Dare PR, so fingers crossed that works out.”

“Good luck,” Caleb said with a grin, then glanced at me again. “And what about you?”

I leaned my hip against the counter. “I need to finish writing a paper for one of my classes, along with studying for an upcoming test I have in macroeconomics. And I have a shift tonight at The Back Door.”

That easygoing smile on his face faded a bit. “Are you going to take a leave like we discussed?”

“Yes, but I need to talk to Raven,” I told him. “I’m not just leaving her shorthanded, so it might take a week or two until she can fully cover my shifts.”

I saw his jaw tighten and his eye twitch, and raised a brow at him. “Why do you look like you’re going to have an aneurysm?”

Valerie snickered, clearly seeing the shift in Caleb’s mood, too.

“I don’t,” he insisted.

“Yes, you do,” I argued, pretty sure I knew the cause of his displeasure.

“Yeah, this is my cue to leave and go finish unpacking my things,” Valerie said, sounding amused. She grabbed another donut and disappeared down the hallway and into one of the bedrooms.

Once she was gone, I crossed my arms over my chest and returned my attention back to Caleb—a man clearly used to getting his way—and who still wore a disgruntled expression. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” he replied, his tone gruff.

“With that furrow between your brows like you’re not happy about something, and that little vein popping out near your temple is a dead giveaway, too.” That I could read him so well already was shocking.

His stiff shoulders relaxed, and the look on his face turned to concern. “I would just feel better if you didn’t have to work at The Back Door in the evenings.”

I’d never had a man be so protective over me, and as much as I appreciated the gesture—and even secretly liked it—I wasn’t some delicate, weak female who needed to depend on a man, for anything. “Raven works there in the evenings,” I pointed out.

“And so does Remy,” he shot back, jamming his hands on his hips. “He’s there to take her home every night and make sure she gets there safely.”

“Oh, my God,” I said incredulously, and tossed my hands up in the air in frustration. “You’re being a caveman, Caleb.”

The man had the nerve to smirk, his entire demeanor shifting as he braced his hands on either side of my hips against the counter and leaned in close. “How about you come up to my place with me right now and I’ll show you just how much of a caveman I can be?”

Feeling the light press of his body against mine, a tantalizing tease, I shivered, my nipples tightening and heat settling low in my belly. It was crazy to me how he could flip my own annoyance into arousal so easily.

Trying to distract myself, I reached over to the donut box and took a powdered, pillowy one that looked like it was filled with something. “Don’t you have to go to work?” I asked, and took a small bite of the donut, the powdered sugar sprinkling everywhere—my lips, my chin, and probably the front of my T-shirt, too.

“I’m a partner,” he murmured, his gaze falling to my mouth as though he was imagining licking away the confectioner’s sugar. “My hours are flexible. I can takehoursoff if I want to.”

His insinuation was clear and God he was so damned tempting. I wasn’t going to pretend that I didn’t want him. That there wouldn’t be sex between us during our two-month situationship because I knew resisting him was going to be impossible. But I wasn’t about to crumble and follow him up to his apartment right on the heels of him trying to make some kind of point.

I was making a point, too, and I wouldn’t be swayed by amazing sex or the promise of orgasms.

So, instead, I bit deeper into the donut, purposefully making the Bavarian cream ooze out near the corner of my mouth. A groan rumbled in his chest as I slowly, seductively, licked the dollop of cream away in a very suggestive manner, distracting him from the ridiculous conversation, and also feeling his dick hardening against me.

“Go to work, Caleb,” I said huskily.Before I take you up on your offer.“I have schoolwork to get done.”

He reluctantly pushed away and straightened, desire still darkening his eyes. “Fine, but we’ll talk later.”

I had no doubt that we would.

CHAPTER NINE

Stevie

Ispent therest of the morning and early afternoon writing a paper for my business communication class and also studying for my upcoming macroeconomics test. I wasn’t one of those students that retained information easily, so it took immense concentration and time to truly comprehend what I was reading. I was more about learning from practical application, and there was no hands-on experience for macroeconomics. It was just dry, boring statistics that made my eyes glaze over.

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