Page 49 of Melted by a Man

I felt my bottom lip tremble, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“I don’t want an apology,” Leo shook his head, “I want to know what the fuck is going on. What is it about me that ruins every day of yours?”

I shook my head; a rock was forming in the base of my throat, and my eyes were starting to sting with tears. I was a dam about to burst, and even though I actively fought against it, I didn’t want to.

I was sotired.

“I—” I inhaled a shaky breath, “I struggle with how we met.”

Leo stared at me.

And stared at me.

It wasn’t until he realized I wasn’t going to say anything more that he tilted his head and asked me, “That’s it?”

I frowned, “What do you mean, that’s it?”

“So we shagged one time—before we worked together,” Leo had the audacity to lift his shoulders and inspect the crinkled leaf of my potted fig, looking totally at ease having this conversation in my office, “It’s not a big deal.”

Most everyone was home right now, but still, this was not the building to have a conversation like this.

“But it’s a big deal to me,” I spoke through clenched teeth. I felt my knuckles strain against the tight fist I was making, gripping the company iPad to my chest like a shield to protect me from the handsome, charismatic Brit, “And it feels impossible for me to pretend otherwise.”

“Why?” Leo furrowed his dark brows before turning those icy blue eyes towards me. I felt my heart thump, remembering how those eyes looked hovering over me. How they looked hooded, concentrated, in the shitty lamp light of his hotel room all those months ago.

I felt myself squeeze my thighs together, my body also remembering the last time he looked at me like that.

“Because,” I grumbled, turning to practically slam the iPad down on my desk.

“That’s not good enough, Jacqueline,” Leo’s voice lowered on my name, and I found myself closing my eyes because my skin heated at the sound of him saying it like that, “What can I do to make you more comfortable? To make you hate me less?”

I was ovulating.

I was horny.

I hadn’t had a sexual partner sincehim.

Those were all the reasons I was so flustered right now, and nothing else.

“I don’thateyou,” I spoke behind the safety of my closed eyelids, “I can’tstandyou.”

A frustrated sound came from him, making me snap my eyes open to see him with both hands on his hips as he tilted his head back to glare at the ceiling, a muscle in his jaw popping as if he was grinding his teeth together.

“I am failing to understand what I did, exactly.”

“Me,” I replied without hesitation. He was getting ready to say more, but I interrupted and he snapped his lips closed to turn his glare on me, “You didme. I don’t think you understand what that nightmeantfor me.”

Leo’s brow smoothed, “Jacqueline…” he took a step or two closer, coming to brace his hands on my desk. He had to bend at his waist, but it helped maintain some distance between us. I wasn’t on the opposite side of the desk; I was on the right side. We had ninety degrees of desk keeping us apart, “I…you said it was just a hookup.”

“It was.” I was confused about where he was going.

“A no-strings-attached thing…if I had known—”

“Oh my god!” I threw my hands up in the air, “I’m not in love with you.”

Leo threw his arms out wide, fingers splayed as he looked around and he practically yelled, “Thenwhatis the problem?”

“I haven’t—” I stopped myself, grinding my teeth together as I dug my fingertips into the back of my neck in frustration, before trying again, “You’re the first that—ugh. I mean, I’ve had sex before. Lots of times, actually.”

---