Page 70 of Perfect Pairing
“He prepared it perfectly,” she countered. “You’re just an asshole who thinks he’s better than everyone else because he’s got over a million TikTok followers. Now get the fuck out of my winery. And while you’re at it, get a life too.”
“Yourwinery?” He laughed disdainfully. “You own a littlebakery. That you live above.”
Brie returned to her chair, though she continued to speak as she grabbed her purse and rifled through it.
“I live above my bakery because I like being close to my business. I own a forty-acre plot of land on this peninsula, about two miles from here, and a massive trust fund I could use to build on it whenever I want. A trust fund I gained access to last month but haven’t had to touch because mylittle bakeryprovides memore than enough.” At last, she withdrew her wallet and slipped a card free, then stepped back into Dumbass’s face and slapped it against his chest. “The name on the building is Delatou, right?”
The man studied what I realized was her ID, eyes darting comically from me to Brie to the ID to the Chateau Delatou sign on the wall and back.
“Get out.”
Brie’s tone left no room for argument, despite its low volume and evenness.
“Fuck you,” he hissed, and I stepped toward him, ready to slam my fist into his face if he made a move in her direction. But Brie held up a hand, and the asshat went on. “You can forget all about getting a feature on my social channels.”
Brie snorted. “I don’t need your help anyway.”
The guy’s face was tomato red, the vein pulsing dangerously in his forehead. Though he looked poised to explode, he only tossed Brie’s ID back in her face and stormed from the restaurant.
As he did, cheers and applause erupted in his wake, and I couldn’t help but grin.
But my good mood died quickly when Brie turned a glare on me.
“You. Offices. Now.”
Swallowing hard, I nodded and trotted after her as she stomped into the foyer. Off to the right was a doorway that accessed the Delatou, Inc. corporate offices, and Brie punched in the code, swinging the door open and breezing through.
It nearly smoked me in the face before I could follow behind her, but I caught it just in time. Our footsteps were painfullyloud as we traversed the long hall. It was late enough that everyone, even the CEO, Brie’s workaholic older sister, Amara, had gone home for the day.
We could have this showdown in peace, though I had no doubt everyone in town would hear about the show we’d put on in the dining room before the end of the night.
I loved small town life for its familiarity and the tight knit community, but I hated it sometimes for the same reason.
At last, Brie stopped in the middle of the lobby-type area, where a number of secretarial and other support staff desks sat, and whirled on me, resting her fists on the gentle swells of her hips.
God, she looked fucking stunning tonight, and I couldn’t keep my eyes to myself as they dragged up and down her body—that dark orange dress with lace details that accentuated all my favorite parts of her body, her tan booties, showcasing her lean arms and miles-long legs.Fuck. Being in this building and seeing so much of her flawless skin only served to remind me about the first time.
The day she’d first let me taste her.
The day I’d first felt her come around my fingers.
The day she tilted my world on its axis.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked, pulling me from my fantasies. Her expression had grown impossibly darker, those eyes the color of winter pines telling me she hadn’t missed my perusal of her body.
Then again, I hadn’t exactly been trying to hide it.
“That guy was a prick,” I said simply.
“You’re jealous.” It wasn’t a question. It was a simple statementof fact from this woman I hadn’t been able to get out of my head since I met her over three years ago.
And I wasn’t about to deny it.
Well, maybe I was, if only so I wasn’t lying my bleeding heart at her feet, giving her the opportunity to stomp on it.
I snorted, an ugly sound entirely at odds with the emotions swirling inside me. “No, I’m not.”
“You have no right,” she pressed, stepping forward and driving her finger into my chest.
