“Nic.” Her voice was cool and expressionless, her fingers laced together in front of her. “I think you’re right. I think we need to talk.”
Annie surprised herself by stepping into the lion’s den.
For the past two days, she’d listened to him growl—at Jimmy, at his mom and Janey. Even at Mal, who barely said much to begin with.
And it was her fault.
Last weekend, he’d tried to talk to her, and she’d practically ripped his head off. It was time to set things straight. She should have done it earlier this week but this was the first time she’d been able to catch him. He’d gone out of his way to avoid being alone with her this week.
She was tired of walking on eggshells. She’d been stewing about that kiss for days and she couldn’t take it any longer. She had to know why he’d done it.
“I’d like to apologize for treating you so poorly Friday night,” she began. “My manners were awful and I need to say I’m sorry.”
He frowned and confusion settled onto every inch of his expression. “Is something wrong? Did something happen.”
She controlled the urge to roll her eyes. “Everything’s fine. I simply realized I was rude on Saturday and I wanted to apologize.”
If she was being truthful, at least with herself, she couldn’t stand the strain between them. It’d been different before. They’d built up a rhythm over the past eight years—avoidance, annoyance, antagonism.
That had changed when she’d kissed him last week. And he’d blown any chance of going back to that rhythm after he’d kissed her Friday night.
Since they both worked here, and neither was going anywhere, they would have to find a way to get along. Rip the bandage off, so to speak.
And, since she was being so honest with herself, she wanted to know if maybe...just maybe…
Nic’s eyes narrowed as if he’d read her mind. She had his full attention now, and his gaze burned like the hottest flame.
Then he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, dragging the long, black strands away from his face. The man had gorgeous hair. For so long, she’d ached to sift it through her fingers. When he scrubbed a hand over his chin, his closely trimmed black beard rasped against his skin, reminding her of how it had felt against her cheek when he’d kissed her.
“Annie…” He sighed. “Alright. Apology accepted…if you accept mine, as well. I don’t really have an excuse. But I am sorry for frightening you.”
Okay, time to stop screwing around. She’d done a lot of thinking this week, mostly about what Janey had said. The time had come to test that theory. The theory that Nic wanted her.
With a small smile, she grabbed onto her courage with both hands and sat in the chair by his desk. As long as she was being honest with herself, she decided to admit that she might have allowed her skirt to slide up a little higher, expose more thigh than she normally would.
And had to hide a triumphant grin when his gaze slid down her body before snapping up to hers again. “You didn’t frighten me, Nic. You startled me. There’s a difference.”
His eyes widened slightly. “Oh yeah?”
“Of course. You caught me off guard. I wasn’t ready for it or expecting it, obviously. So…tell me why you kissed me.”
She’d spoken the words without stumbling over them but was disappointed when his only reaction was a steady look. Seconds ticked by while he sat there, staring at her. She refused to fidget or drop his gaze and was rewarded when he looked away first.
“I don’t think you want to hear the answer to that one.” The words sounded like a rumble in his chest.
“On the contrary. I’d love to know.”
Nic thought about what to say, what he should tell her and what he shouldn’t. He couldn’t give her the truth. He couldn’t tell her that he’d been waiting seven years to kiss her again.
“You know, I think you had the right idea the first time.” He lifted his hand to rub at the ever-present ache in his neck. “We should just forget it.”
If he thought—hoped—that she’d let it go at that, he was sadly mistaken. “So, it wasn’t because of any…feelings you might have for me?”
Forcing his gaze to meet hers, he jolted at the realization that behind that mask of indifference lay heated interest.
His blood began heat. “What kind of feelings, Annie?”
Her mouth tightened but she didn’t back down and a reluctant smile tried to break through his rigid control.
When she didn’t answer right away, he thought he might’ve pushed her too far. When she’d come in, he hadn’t wanted to discuss this but now… Now, he wanted her to talk, even if it was to yell at him.
“Oh, I don’t know, Nic.” Sarcasm coated her tone and made his cock throb. “It seems like you can’t stand me most of the time and then you kiss me. I’m sure even you can see where my confusion is coming from.”
“Yeah, I can. But maybe this isn’t the best place to have this conversation.”
Her chin tilted into the air but he couldn’t tell if she was angry.
With a shrug of her shoulder, she sent him a look he couldn’t interpret. “Fine. Then when can we have this conversation?”
He didn’t hesitate. “How about over a drink after work?”
She tried to cover her short, sharp breath. “Fine.” She rose from the chair and headed out the door, only to stop and look over her shoulder. “Will you be finished by six?”
“I should be.”
She nodded, rising and turning to head out the door. Nic watched her ass until she disappeared out the door then he continued to stare at nothing for a full two minutes.
When his cell rang, he grabbed for it without looking at the screen.
“DeMarco.”
“I don’t think you’re taking me seriously, Dominic. This is not a warning. This is a threat. I will hurt you. But first, I’m going to make you suffer. You can’t be everywhere at once. She’ll never be safe.”
The call ended with a bare whisper of a click.
And a black hole opened in his stomach.
Sonovabitch.
The voice was the same as last time, distorted. Creepy as hell.
More so because someone had it in for him and that someone had threatened Annie again.
Who the hell was this bastard? A nutcase who only wanted to fuck with Nic’s head?
No. Instinct told him this guy meant business. He knew where Nic lived, where he worked. More importantly, he knew about Nic’s hang up with Annie.
If this guy came for him, someone he loved might get hurt. And he didn’t think he could live through that again.
He grabbed the phone and dialed Jimmy’s cell.
“I got another call,” he snapped before his brother could say hello.
Jimmy didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, hell. How bad?”
Nic had his hand up, ready to put it through the wall, but stopped himself before contact. Broke a couple of bones for the effort years ago. Older and wiser, right?
“Bad. Son-of-a-bitch.”
“I can be back in a couple of hours,” Jimmy said without hesitation. “Just let me tell these bozos—”
“No.” Nic cut him off then forced himself to ease down. “No, you’ve been scheduled to deliver this talk for months. No way are you going to weasel out of it and blame me.”
Jimmy’s snort sounded half-hearted at best. “I’m not trying to weasel out of anything, you wank. I’ll give the damn speech, but if you need me, I can be there in a few hours.”
Nic took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “I know. I guess I was just hoping… Shit, I don’t know. That maybe you’d produced a miracle. You’re usually good for one of those.”
“Hey, I’m good, but not that good.” Humor tinged his words, underlined with concern. “Look, I have a few minutes. What’d he say this time?”
Nic told him and waited for Jimmy to break the silence.
“Hmm. Doesn’t sound like the first call.”
Jimmy’s statement jolted Nic out of the fury-induced haze. “Damn, you’re right. Why the hell didn’t I notice that?”
“Probably because you’re too pissed off to hear it.”
“Yeah, but is it different enough to be someone else or is this guy just getting ready to hit?”
Nic heard Jimmy’s sigh through the phone lines. “I don’t know. I take it you haven’t come up with anything yet?”
“No.”
“Maybe you should bring Mom in—”
“No. No way. I’m not telling her. You know she’d tell Dad and with his heart condition, there’s no way I want him worrying about this.”
“Yeah, but, Nic, come on. Mom’s good at this stuff. And you know how pissed she’s going to be when she finds out you hid this from her. And then she might cry.”
Nic winced at the thought. He’d only ever seen his mother cry once—when she’d walked into his hospital room in Germany, where they’d airlifted him to from Afghanistan. “Damn it, don’t try to guilt me into anything. You know I can’t tell Mom.”
“Then what are you gonna do?”
“Hell if I know.”
* * * * *
Standing in the hallway outside Nic’s office, Annie heard Nic click off the phone and toss it onto his desk.
She felt like a cat in a yard, unable to move for fear of being caught by the sleeping dog, knowing if she moved, he’d hear her and pounce.
She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. She’d been on her way to Grace’s office to drop of those piece of mail Grace had to deal with personally.
There was no sound at all coming from Nic’s office now, no shuffling papers, no scratching pen.
He was thinking about that phone call, the one he’d told Jimmy about. Someone had frightened Nic. And that said a lot. She’d always believed nothing scared Nic. The man never flinched, never showed fear of any kind. Even shot and bleeding, he’d been able to drag his fatally wounded cousin out of a firefight and into a truck.
And now he was worried about a phone call? It didn’t make sense.
A chair creaked and Annie drew in a startled gasp. A second later, Nic stuck his head out into the hallway. His expression couldn’t have been less friendly.
“What the hell are you doing out here? How long have you been standing there?”
She stiffened at his tone. “Don’t you swear at me, Dominic. I work here, too, you know. I was on my way to your mother’s office.” She held up the mail. “Why? What’s going on? What’s got you so worked up?”
Nic’s blue eyes blazed like they’d been electrified.
“I never figured you for an eavesdropper, Andrea.”
A blush heated her cheeks and she lowered her gaze. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I know it was a horrible breach of ethics on my part, but I couldn’t help it. Your door was open and I could hear you plain as day.” She hesitated then forced herself to go on, locking onto his gaze. “Are you in trouble?”
For the first time since she could remember, his eyes betrayed him even as his expression went blank.
“It’s nothing to worry about. Everything’s fine.”
Hot anger burned in her stomach at his deliberately cold words. “Oh no, you don’t,” she surprised herself by saying. “You are not going to get away with that blank act this time. What’s going on?”