Page 43 of Cocky Prince
I wave him inside. “No, I’m fine.”I’m so not fine.
He walks past me with the metal toolbox in one hand.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” I ask.
He looks around, taking the place in. “I’m good. This place yours?”
“No, it’s a stranger’s. I asked if I could borrow it.”
His gaze slides to me, eyebrow arched, his mouth turned up. “This how it’s going to be today?”
I let out a sigh. “Of course it’s mine,” I wobble into the living room, pinky toe feeling better, but not fully recovered.
Adam has me rattled. I can’t look at him. It makes me vulnerable. And by vulnerable, I mean I want to jump him.
“So.” He resumes his visual scan of the place. “What’s it to be? You need a lightbulb changed?”
“Haha, you’re hilarious. I believe the bet was that you wouldbuildme something. I see you brought your tools.” I eye the large metal box.
“Mytoolsare ready.”
I flash him a look, and it might be filled with fear and panic. If he starts flirting with me the way he did a couple of nights ago with that naughty text, I’m dead.
“Hayden?” The humor in his eyes has disappeared. “Any chance I can convince you to stay out of my business over the next few weeks while I hire people?”
For a moment, I’m ready to give in. To tell him he can have whatever he wants. Because the look on his face is so unguarded and sincere, all my barriers come down. But I made a promise to myself to find whatever I could about Blue’s underground activities. I can’t back out now. “Sorry, I plan to be all up in your business. Regarding human resources, that is. Why is it such a big deal if I know about the people you hire?”
He looks away. “It just is.”
I let out a sigh and try a different tactic. “What happened with Bridget could have been prevented. If you’d given me the opportunity to go over Blue’s policies with her, she might have thought twice before starting her side business. Which brings up another point. Those men involved were never reprimanded. How is it that Bridget gets fired, but the guys buying dirty images during work hours were never held accountable?”
“It’s been looked into. Most of them made the financial transaction after hours. And if we reprimanded all of them, it would be the entire male staff.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“There were a few who didn’t partake, myself included, but the rest—”
“Because you didn’t know about it,” I grumble.
He captures my gaze. “I wouldn’t have participated even if I had known.”
I wet my lips, studying his blue eyes, which appear to be telling me something his words aren’t. His presence unsettles me, makes me crazy, but the way he’s looking now has my heart pounding faster.
Adam’s gaze drops to my mouth, where the moisture left behind from my tongue cools. He tears his gaze away. “What’s this thing you want me to build?” he says gruffly.
I clear my throat. “Over here.”
I take Adam down the hallway, still rattled by whatever just passed between us, and point to the door of a closet that shares a wall with my bedroom. “I want you to close off this door in the hall and make an entrance to my bedroom. Oh, and built-ins. I would love built-ins for all of my shoes.”
He stares at the door, then turns to me. “You’re joking, right? You want me to build you a master closet?”
Okay, so it’s more of a construction job, but hey, he agreed to it. “I’m dead serious.”
He chuckles and scratches his unshaven jaw. “Hayden, this is not even close to what I had in mind. Originally, the bet was for me to fix something.”
“Oh no, that’s whatyousaid. But I agreed to youbuildingme something. And I’d love a walk-in closet using this space.” I gesture proudly at the hall closet.
He cranes his head to the side, peering inside my bedroom. “What’s wrong with the one you have?”
