Page 9 of Mr. On Your Knees
Damn.
He was right. Thanks to those nights after they’d made love until neither of them could move, could only stay wrapped in each other’s arms talking about any and everything, she’d learned all that she now knew about this man sitting across from her. A man who’d been born into a family rich with Creole roots, who had a duo of brothers and a strong dedicated father. A man who’d also been hurt to a point she thought could never be repaired by his mother who’d left them when Jared was fifteen years old.
“Yes, Jared. I know what this means to you,” she said.
“So, you know what I’m trusting you with.”
“Your event last year was fine,” she told him. “I saw some pictures of it online last night.”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t all that it could’ve been and I know now that’s because you weren’t a part of it.”
“Don’t do that,” she said.
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t try to take us back there.” She didn’t want to pull her hand away from his but it was hard to think straight with him touching her. Hard to make her stance perfectly clear.
“I’ve missed you, Desi,” he said. “Missed you like I never imagined I would.”
“Then you should’ve been faithful to me,” she snapped. The fingers of both her hands clenched. She closed her eyes and tried to count down from five, to find the calm that had suddenly pulled a disappearing act. “I really don’t want to do this.”
When he removed his hand from hers, she opened her eyes.
“Well, I do.”
Just like that. He had spoken and there really wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. Getting up and walking away wasn’t an option. She needed this job. Continuing to argue this point with him was futile. Jared was just as stubborn as she was. And still, she didn’t have to like it.
“Okay,” she said. Then she sat back and shrugged. “Let’s do it then. Let’s just get it all out so we can move forward.”
He arched a brow and was about to say something when the server came to take their order. She hadn’t even bothered to look at the menu yet, so that prolonged the process just a bit. But when their orders were in and they were once again alone, Jared was the one to clear his throat.
“How’ve you been?” he asked as if they didn’t just have those very tense moments.
“I’ve been fine,” she said.
“You look good.”
“Thank you.” Without a thought she reached up and tucked some of her big curls behind her left ear. “You do too.”
He gave her a half smile. “Thanks.”
“You mentioned Lauren’s daughter at the interview,” he said. “How’s she doing? Lauren and Emerson, you said her name was, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. Em is great. I saw her last night. She gives the best cuddles.” Her smile came easily with the memory.
“You always did like to cuddle.”
Shit. That’s exactly the road she didn’t need to go down with him.
“You did too,” she shot back.
“Only with you though,” he said surprising her. “I only ever cuddled with you.”
She sighed. “We can’t do this, Jared. It’s too hard.” Her chest felt like boulders were sitting on it. The pressure and the unresolved pain making it difficult for her to breathe.
“Has it been hard for you for the past three years?” he asked. “It has for me.”
She clasped her hands in front of her on the table because she needed to do something with them. Something that wasn’t ‘cover her face to hide the fact that she felt like crying all over again’. Or, worse, something that wasn’t ‘reach out and grab his hand to place it at her throat the way he used to do when he was pounding into her’.
