Page 82 of Cluelessly Yours

I chuckle at that. “Yeah, but if you wanted to put in a to-go order of his chicken parmigiana, I wouldn’t stop you.”

“Consider it done.” She pats my shoulder. “And Sammy is in the back office.” She points toward the opposite end of the restaurant, where the restrooms and a few private, employee-only doors sit. “You can head on back there to say hello. I’m sure she won’t mind.” Her smile is still intact, nearly too large for her face, and her eyes bounce around with the need to know more.

Obviously, I keep my lips shut. But it’s not because I don’t want to tell anyone about what’s going on between Sammy and me. It’s because those details aren’t mine to tell. Mo may be a close family friend of Sammy’s, but she’s also her boss. Which obviously means disclosing any info about our budding relationship isn’t my call.

“Thanks, Mo,” I answer instead and head off in the direction she pointed.

It takes a little skill to carefully make my way through the maze of tables without disturbing La Croisette’s patrons, but I manage it without much issue.

I’m not a hundred percent sure where the back office is, but when I hear the sound of Sammy’s voice, I realize she’s located in the room at the very end of the narrow hallway with the door ajar.

“Now isn’t a good time,” she says to someone, her voice holding a slight edge that makes me stop just outside the door. Seeing as she’s the general manager of a restaurant like La Croisette, I’m sure she finds herself in the middle of plenty of conflicts—both in person and on the phone—and since I wasn’t exactly invited tonight, I don’t want to interrupt.

The door is cracked open, so I peer inside carefully to see if I need to come back at another time.

Sammy’s back is facing me, and a well-dressed man in a slick suit and dark hair is standing right in front of her. Even if I couldn’t see his face, I’d recognize the prick anywhere.

“We need to talk,”Gavinsays, producing a grind between my back teeth.

“I don’t think we do, Gavin. I don’t want to be rude, but the possibility of something between us was over the night we went to Leyla’s.”

“Sam—”

“If I’m really honest, it was over long before that.”

“You just don’t remember how good we are together.”

Sammy starts to shake her head, but her movements are stopped when he steps forward and closes the distance between them. My chest tightens at the sight, but it damn near explodes when he places his hands on either side of her face and pulls her in for a kiss.

He’s. Kissing. Her.

Another man is kissing Sammy while she doesn’t want it. Right in fucking front of me.

I’ve never been this angry in my life.

I’m going to kill this asshole.

My stomach is filled with lead. And my heart? With rage.

“Gavin, stop,” Sammy commands, stepping away and toward where I stand at the door. Her body is rigid, but Inspector Gadget reaches out with his accordion arms anyway, putting his hands on her face like he’s going to try to kiss heragain.

My fight instincts kick in, and I am pushing past the opened door and inside the office without a second thought.

“Are you fucking deaf?” I shout and step between Sammy and the asshole who doesn’t understand consent. “She saidstop. She doesn’t want you kissing her.”

“Fuck you, Dr. McStuffins. This is none of your business.”

“Noah?” Sammy’s questions with disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

I know my presence has to be quite the surprise, but the only thing I care about right now is getting this scumbag out of our faces.

“What the fuck is your problem?” I ask Gavin, pulling Sammy behind me with a gentle arm while I step up to the prick. “You get a thrill out of sexual harassment or something?”

“Sexual harassment, my asshole. You’ve wanted Sammy’s pussy since the moment I met you. This is pure jealousy, plain and simple.”

My jaw clicks with anger, and my body vibrates with the urge to wrap my hands around his throat and teach him a goddamn lesson about how to treat a woman.

“Noah, don’t. He’s not worth it,” Sammy whispers from behind me, a tremble in her voice that pisses me off even more.

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