Page 31 of Keeping the Single Dad
“You’re suspending me?”
“No. Just cool off. We’ll talk sensibly when you’ve calmed down.”
My nails cut half-moons in my palms. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m calm. You’re the one making rash decisions.”
“Enough.” Gabe raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Claire is right. Go home and cool down.”
Claire flicked a speck of imaginary dirt from her dress. Everything about her calm, icy demeanor reminded me of Mel. No wonder we’d never got on. I’d had so much going on. Maybe I hadn’t been behaving how I should have been, but they didn’t have to be such dicks about it. A knot tightened in my stomach. I could tell them. I could tell Claire how bad things had gotten with Dad. Maybe she’d be more lenient if she knew I was struggling.
But I couldn’t betray Dad like that.
I blew out a breath. Silence swept the neat office. There was no point arguing. My shoulders slumped. I had no energy to fight people who had already made up their minds about me. I could never win with Mel. Claire was no different. Everybody was always so committed to misjudging me.
“Fine. Whatever.” I swung the door open and left before I embarrassed myself with tears.
Chapter 16
Alexander
??Irolledmyshoulder,attempting to loosen some of the tension after the deep tissue massage. Physical therapy was supposed to make me feel better, but I swore the physios enjoyed inflicting pain. I rounded a corner. A flash of vivid red caught my eye before I banged into something solid.
Lana stepped back with an expression of surprise. Her profile was sharp and confident and her flowing auburn hair gleamed with rich shadows of gold. She looked ethereal in the half-light spilling in through the tall windows. Then I noticed the tears glimmering in her eyes.
“Is everything okay?”
She glanced down the hallway, grabbed me by the hand, and pulled me into the small empty room where I’d just had a massage. She shut the door behind her and locked it. A frown pulled at my brow. That door had no business being locked. The rich outlines of her athletic shoulders and firm breasts strained against the fabric of her pale blue jersey as her chest moved in sharp pants.
“What’s wrong?”
“Everything. All of it.” She threw her hands up in the air. “I’m just so sick of everyone. I can’t get anything right with anyone. My sister…Claire…I’m so fed up...”
A shadow passed over her face. It was the same look her father had always worn, as though he was furious at the world. What was she angry about?
“Slow down. Tell me from the start.”
Her eyes froze on me, and her gaze sharpened. “I’m tired of talking. I want to feel something different.”
With one fluid motion, she pressed her hard body against me. Her soft lips took my mouth with savage intensity. A hot shiver of need made me stiffen. My heart lurched, madly. Resisting the urge to succumb to her punishing kiss, I pushed her away lightly and held her at a distance. “What are you doing?”
She didn’t look at me as she grabbed a bottle of massage oil and coated her hands. She spoke in an odd yet gentle tone. "I need you, Alex."
The air scented with a sweet heady aroma of sandalwood and balsam, like a walk through a pine forest in the rain. My senses reeled. "What do you need?"
A shadow flickered across her face and she gave an impatient shrug. "I have all this churning inside. I need to feel better."
"Then let's go for a coffee and talk."
Her gaze dropped to my lips. A sensuous flame danced in her eyes. "No. I don't want to talk." Her brittle smile softened slightly. "Can I touch you?"
I swallowed. The correct answer was no, but I was so weak for her. "I told you, I'll give you anything want, sweetheart."
She watched my face, seeking permission, before her hand slipped under the waistband of my gym shorts. Her slick, oil-coated fingers wrapped around the base of my shaft, and pleasure jolted through my body. She pumped her hand up and down in a tortuous slippery motion. A groan left my lips. My head fell back, and my fingers tightened around the edge of the massage table.
A pulsing knot formed in my stomach as she worked my shaft. My body screamed for release. I grabbed her wrist, stilling her. “We can’t do this. Not at work. People will gossip.”
“You’re so hard for me. You don’t really want me to stop, do you?”
“I can see you’re upset. Don’t you want to talk?”
