He stalked over to where I was standing, and resting his arm on the locker above my head, he leant into me. I was intoxicated by his scent of leather and oil, and butterflies scattered in my tummy. “You’ve got no fuckin’ idea, have you?”
Hell, with him this close to me, I had no freaking idea about anything. My mind was completely lost to him at this moment. “Scott, can you give me a hint, because I’m drawing a blank at the moment.”
“Jesus,” he said and then stopped himself, pushing off from the locker and away from me. He took a step back, eyes burning into me, and then said, “Fuck.”
Now I was really confused but before I could say another word, he turned and stalked out of the room. I was left standing in a daze. What the hell?
Without thinking, I took off after him. I found him in his office; he’d just walked in and still had his back to me. “What was that?” I demanded.
He turned to look at me. “That was me walking away before I did something we’d both regret.”
I crinkled my forehead; he wasn’t making sense to me. “Why would we regret it?”
“Shit, Harlow, we’re completely different people from different worlds, for one. And two, if something was to happen between us, it would be a one off for me and I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t be that for you.”
How dare he presume to know what I wanted. “So you get to make these decisions based on presumptions you’ve made? Without asking me what I actually want? You really are a throwback to previous generations, aren’t you?”
Anger blazed in his eyes. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means that women have come a long bloody way in the past couple of decades, Mr. Caveman. We’re quite capable of choosing what we want these days, and in case you missed it, we also don’t mind one off sex every now and then.”
“Babe, I’ve not met a woman yet who can do one night stands. They always want more and I’ve got nothing more to give.”
“Well, maybe you should try me. I don’t want the bullshit lies and excuses that men come up with after they promise you the world and then fail to deliver. One night, with no promises sounds like my kind of night.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not buying it, sweetheart. You’re too much of a nice girl.”
Bloody hell, I was sick of men dumping me in that category! I’d show him nice. I flicked my hair and plastered a sweet smile on my face. Walking towards him, I stopped when I reached him. “You ever had nice, Scott? Cause I’m betting you haven’t. And in that case, you’ve got no idea what you’re missing because nice is sweet and sweet hits the spot. Every. Fucking. Time,” I purred and then shrugged, “It’s a damn shame that you’re not into nice. But that’s okay, because I bet Nash would be.” I winked at him as I said that last bit and then walked out of the room. I had to get back to my shift but I also wanted to get as far from Scott as possible; I didn’t handle rejection very well. Especially not after I’d practically thrown myself at a man.
***
The rest of my shift went well. I didn’t see Scott again which was a blessing; I needed some time to get my shit together before I saw him again.
“You did good tonight, girl,” Amy smiled at me as she gave me a compliment.
“Thanks, Amy, that means a lot.”
“You coming back for some more tonight?”
“I’m not sure when Scott wants me to work again but I hope so because I need the money.”
“Well, we’re down staff so I reckon you’ll be called in for tonight.”
“Great.” I followed her and our security guy outside. There was a rule that he was to escort all the staff to their cars at the end of their shift. Amy took off to her car and I headed towards mine. I was stunned to see Scott leaning against it, arms crossed over his chest, and one foot casually crossed over the other. He nodded at the security guy who then left us alone. I just stood rooted to the spot, not sure what to do or say.
He slowly pushed off from the car and uncrossed his arms. “You’re right. I’ve never had nice,” he said gruffly.
I was still slightly annoyed at him. “Well, I can highly recommend it, and I’m sure I could suggest some places to go looking for it.”
“Don’t push me, Harlow. I’m trying to apologise here,” he warned me in that low, gravelly voice that threatened to melt my panties. Damn.
“You say that like I should be thankful for your apology; like I should worship at your feet for it.” I knew I was perhaps being a little snarky but, bloody hell, I’d had enough of men who thought I owed them something just for them being nice to me. From now on, I would be an equal in a relationship or I wouldn’t be in the relationship at all.
He grabbed my arm and roughly pulled me to him. “I don’t apologise to people. Ever.”
“Well, bully for you,” I said and pushed against his chest to try and put some space between us but he held on to me, keeping me close.
“Fuck, woman. Are you always this much work?”