“You’re sure?” I ask as I saunter toward him. “Because you looked a little peeved at me when I said no.”
Smirking at me, Matt reaches out and tugs on a lock of my hair. Rubbing it between his fingers for a moment, he finally looks at me. “Don’t fool yourself, Mac. If I really wanted to, I could have gotten you to change your mind today. So you see… there’s nothing to be mad about.”
Damn him and his confidence and yeah, his arrogance. He knows good and well I would have capitulated with a few more soft touches and hot words, and I know it, too. So it appears that he’s not punishing me.
Which means that he would rather go get drunk with a bunch of guys than come home with me and attempt to break my headboard. The thought makes me feel utterly dejected and if my self-esteem had balls, they just took a swift kick there.
I’m not sure what expression my face is wearing because something softens in Matt’s eyes. His hand comes up to tuck under my chin, and his thumb strokes my lower lip. “I promise… tomorrow you and I will do something special, okay?”
Blinking hard so the tears that have been threatening to expose me for a weak, puny, sissy girl don’t fall, I nod. He leans in and gives me a light kiss, and then he’s gone.
As scheduled, I show up the next morning to Kylie’s office with a cup of black coffee for her and another latte for me. When she calls me into her office, I find her rooting around her in her purse. She looks up and grimaces. “Oh, McKayla. Do you have an aspirin or something? I have a raging headache.”
Actually, I do as I keep a supply in my briefcase because hello… nothing causes a headache like the law. Reaching in, I grab two and hand them to her along with her coffee.
She tosses them back, swigs the coffee, and swallows with a groan. “Thank you.”
“Sure. Are you okay, though? You look a little pale. Maybe you should go home.”
Kylie gives me an indulgent smile. “A headache is no reason to leave work. Hell, I’d still work if I had the raging flu. Sick days are for pussies.”
Oh-kay.
So she’s a hard-core worker. Big fucking deal.
“Besides,” she continues on, “it’s my own damn fault. I shouldn’t have drunk so much last night.”
Sitting down at her table, I pull my file out of my briefcase and start pulling out the items I need to go over with her. I could really care less if she’s a raging alcoholic or what, but she seems intent on continuing to talk.
“You would think I’d learn my lesson, right? I mean, I went out with a bunch of friends the night before that and got toasted. I was so miserable. But I guess the lure of Matt was just too much to pass up.”
I had only been half listening to her but at the mention of Matt’s name, I went on hyper alert. Every cell in my body sort of woke up and turned their antennas toward Kylie.
“Lure of Matt?” I ask, trying to sound like I’m only slightly interested when in truth, I want to water board the information out of her.
She gives me a tinkling laugh, and then grimaces because it apparently hurts her head. “Yeah, I went out with him and a bunch of the other lawyers here last night. We closed the bar down. But now I’m paying for it.”
Kylie actually goes on and says something more about her night out, but I don’t hear a word. That’s because a strange sort of buzzing has just filled my head. It gets louder and louder, until I can’t hear a thing that Kylie is saying at all. All I can see is her mouth moving.
It occurs to me that this incessant buzzing sound is actually the blood that is pounding through my veins, and the tingling over my skin means that I am so angry right now that I may be on the verge of stroking out.
I mumble something to Kylie… I’m not sure exactly what I told her, but she nods at me, so I get up from the table and practically stumble out of her office.