Unable to Resist (34 page)

Mia tips her head back and laughs. “Nope.”

Set on her decision, Liv puts her hands on her hips and nods her head. “Good. Then it’s settled.”

Shit, what’s settled? What just happened? I can’t go see him. It’ll just prove I don’t trust him, and I can’t make him think that. I trust him. I know I already sound like a naïve girlfriend, but I can’t shake the feeling Blondie was just trying to get me to second-guess Duane.

I take a long breath and attempt to reign in the force named Olivia. “I’ll just call him, Liv. There’s no reason to ambush him,” I rationalize. “I’m not going to let some blonde bitch get into my head. She knew what she was doing.”

Liv rolls her shoulders and pffts. “Just go see what his deal is. There’s no harm in—.” she’s cut off by the ringing of my phone.

Grabbing it from the coffee table, Duane’s picture shows on the screen and I silence it.

Mia peers over my shoulder. “Aren’t you going to pick that up? It’s Duane.”

I shoot her a
shut-it
look, but it’s too late. Liv hops over the couch like a damn Olympic runner to retrieve the phone. I struggle to pry it from her tiny fingers, failing

“Hi, Duane, it’s Liv.” She pauses, listening to him. “Yeah, she’s here, hold on.”

With challenging eyes, she shoves the phone to my chest and whispers, “Talk. Get a feel for him.”

I clench my teeth and put the phone to my ear. “Hi, Duane,” I say a little more cheerful and fake than planned.

Despite the conversation I was just having with the girls, I’m so excited he called me. I’d started to worry slightly since I hadn’t heard from him, and the workday was well over with.

“Ann,” he breathes, seeming relieved.

Jesus, the way my name falls out of his mouth is enough to melt my panties right off. Desire quickly pools in my belly, and I turn to walk toward my room. Safely behind the confines of my door, I fall lazily into my bed.

“How’s it going, Cowboy?” I ask. Blonde bitch, be damned.

“You told me to be honest with you, right?” He asks with a shaky voice. “Communication is the basis of our relationship, right?”

Oh shit.

My heart drops. I lean up on the bed.

“I just got off the phone with Jana,” he interrupts my panic, “she told me you ran into Lauren today.” He stops to take a deep breath. “Dammit, Red, I’m so sorry. Jana didn’t tell me much, but I’m sure she gave you a hard time.”

I scoff. “First of all, who the hell is Jana?” I need to get this right if I’m going to be pissed. Rightfully so, might I add.

Quickly, hearing my tone, Duane responds, “Jana is a little redhead. She came in with a blonde woman.”

Yep, okay now that we’re on the same page I can get down to it. Letting him talk isn’t doing anything to ease the worry. I need to get this off of my chest.

“Listen, Duane, I don’t know what’s going on between you and Lauren,” her name tastes sour in my mouth, “but I won’t put up with cheating.” I have way too much pride for that.

Duane gasps, and I hear a loud thud in the background. If I didn’t know any better, it sounded like he punched something.

“Fuck, Red, is that what she said?” He shouts, demanding an answer.

Biting my nail, I nod my head. “Yeah.” I don’t want to say anymore. What else could I say?

“You at home?” He asks.

Confused, I answer with the same one word, “Yeah.”

I hear the jingle of keys and Duane says something to someone, it’s muffled and I can’t make out what he says.

With the slam of a door, Duane says, “Good. Stay there. I’ll be at your door in ten minutes.”

I’m a tad perplexed. Looking at the clock on my nightstand, I start to stammer nonsense into the phone. Realizing it’s almost eleven, I manage, “Wait, what? Why?”

Duane starts his truck. “I’ll be damned if I let Lauren fuck up the one good thing I have going in my life. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He stops to take a couple calming breaths. “Ann? Please don’t give up on me. I’ll explain everything.”

I close my eyes and listen to the alien tone coming from Duane. He sounds troubled and anxious. I don’t like it. I hate it.

Forgoing the stupid inner voice telling me to demand he drive his ass right back home, I agree. “Okay. I’ll see you soon.” I know as soon as I see him, my walls will go back down, but I couldn’t turn him away when he sounds like that. So tortured.

I let the tears spill. This has to be one big misunderstanding. I don’t want to lose him.

Relief washes over me when Ann agrees to let me come over. There’s no way I could have stayed at home when I know that Lauren had gone to harass Ann.

Today has been such a shitty day. I was not prepared for the bomb Jana dropped on my lap. Of course, she didn’t tell me what Lauren said or did to Ann, but after Ann questioning my fidelity, it’s pretty damn obvious Lauren lied about something.

I would never do anything to jeopardize my future with Ann. I couldn’t.

She’s precious to me. She’s the sun in this dark world. I need her light. I can’t get enough.

I drive entirely too fast to Ann’s and make it to her place in record time. Running up the stairs, two at a time, I thump on Ann’s door loudly.

When Ann answers the door, her eyes are red and puffy, like she’s been crying. Without thinking, I wrap my arms around her and bury my head in her neck. Her feminine scent invades my mind and she’s the only thing I can think of.

Desperately, I bring her mouth to mine to devour her. She’s hesitant at first, but after a few insistent kisses, she wraps her arms around my middle, and kisses me back with want. Our tongues dance together in a tempo that makes my head spin.

I need to make this better.

Tears begin to slide down her cheeks and I taste the saltiness as I kiss my way up to her eyes. She clings to me, and I bring her as close to my body as I can. I’m seconds from breaking away when she pulls me tighter.

“Don’t let go yet, Cowboy,” she whispers.

Keeping her in a tight embrace, I bend and lift her lower half up by the back of the knees to hold her in a cradle position. She clings to my neck and nuzzles as I walk with purpose to her bedroom. Kicking the door open with my foot, I swiftly shut it behind us.

Stepping out of my shoes, I skillfully move the comforter away from the bed without allowing Ann to slip. I lay us down and Ann cuddles my chest with a strong hold. I hug her to my side, both of us refusing to let go.

We sit there for a long while, just holding each other. Drawing circles on Ann’s back, she sighs.

“Please tell me it isn’t true,” she finally whispers against my chest.

I kiss her temple and shake my head. Bringing her hand to the left side of my chest, I let her feel the slow, steady beat of my heart. “Red, this is yours. Only you. Lauren means nothing to me.”

Ann shifts upright and sits cross-legged. “That’s not what she said, Duane. She said, and I quote, Duane was deep inside me. Moaning my name.”

She says the words and I flinch. God, that sounds awful.

“She was pissed at me,” I say sitting up to join her.

Ann’s eyes crease. “Why?”

“Lauren and I dated,” I state.

Ann’s eyebrows shoot up.

“We dated for a few months three years ago,” I continue.

“She was the last girl you dated?” Ann questions. “The one you told me about in the restaurant in Arizona?”

I nod my head and grab Ann’s hand. “Yes, and it was a mistake. I broke up with her, but I made the mistake of hiring her to be my assistant at the firm. I felt bad for her.”

Ann tries to pull away, but I grab hold and keep her hand captive.

“So, she works with you? Every day?” Ann pales, but gives up the struggle, seeing my eyes set on holding her hand through this.

I methodically rub her hand with my thumb, trying to calm her. “Yes.”

Taking a few seconds to calm down, Ann groans. “Fine, I’m listening.”

“She lost her job, so I hired her, but lately I’ve noticed her slowly becoming obsessive,” I pause because saying it out loud seems too real, “with me.”

Maybe I should be worried.

Ann hisses under her breath. “I’d say. She was a little manic tonight. I was prepared for a fight, but she just wanted to play the emotional card. Tried to get in my head.”

Thinking about all the shit that could have spewed out of that woman’s mouth has me seeing red.

“I want you to know I probably set her off, and I’m sorry.” I rub her hand slightly firmer with the statement.

“How did you set her off?” Ann questions.

I scratch my head, and recall my day.

I had come in at my normal time to find Lauren sitting behind my desk.

“I immediately got pissed off seeing her in my office,” I reply to Ann. “She should have been sitting behind the reception desk. That was my first clue she was up to no good.”

“My second clue,” and much more blunt than the first, I think to myself, “was when she stood up.” I stare at Ann, and with exasperated breath, continue. “Bare as the day she was born, the woman was naked from the waist down.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. She probably took my stare as a good thing, but it was quite the opposite. I’d never been more turned off in my entire life. I mean, seriously, how sad. She knows I’m with Ann, yet she threw her dignity right out of the window and decided to “surprise me.”

I think my dick might be shrinking in size just thinking about it.

Ann’s animalistic snarl accompanies her bolt off the bed. Standing at attention, Ann struggles for words.

“She—she did what?!” She exclaims. “That bitch—she actually sat in your chair, in your office,
naked
?” She says the word like it gives her a bad taste in her mouth.

Her eyebrows are knitted together in rage. If she wasn’t so pissed, I might actually grab her and kiss her senseless, but seeing the shade of red her face has taken makes me second-guess making any sudden movements.

I can’t forget she is a redhead. Feisty creatures, those ones.

“I need to punch something.” She starts to pace in a short, quick line. “No, you know what? You need to burn that chair,” she says, stopping to turn toward me. “Did you sit in that chair the rest of the day? Oh my God, you probably did. Burn it, Duane. Burn that chair or, so help me, I’m going to throw the thing at her face.”

I’m somewhat frightened and turned on at Ann’s outburst.

I, of course, had very quietly put the chair in a conference room that is nowhere near my office.

I’m not an idiot.

“Baby, the chair is gone. I promise. It went to the very nice accounting firm,” I calmly rationalize.

Ann stops her pacing, takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She pinches the bridge of her nose, and slowly sits down on the edge of the bed.

Approaching her is a bit like reaching out to a wild animal. Her eyes are still a bit frantic, so when I lay my hand on her back she tenses a bit, but when I begin to rub soothing circles she composes herself and leans into my hand.

We sit for a few minutes while we both sort through our thoughts.

I know Lauren is going to be a problem. I don’t see her giving up just because I fired her. If anything, I probably gave her more ammunition to fight. I really hadn’t thought about that before.

Shit
.

And, to top it off, Lauren doesn’t just have the standard dad issues. The chick has some serious emotional scarring, and a drug problem.

When we got together, she’d been sober a year. I have no idea if that still holds. Our company does random drug testing, but she hadn’t had to do one in a while. Although, I don’t think drugs were the cause of her insane behavior today.

She had a tendency to overdo everything in our short relationship. She called constantly, text every few minutes and overanalyzed every friendship I had. It didn’t matter if I went out for drinks with my friends from work or my cousin, she was always suspicious, always convinced that I was cheating.

Trust me—she was a big enough handful that I didn’t have time to cheat. Besides, cheating is the pussy’s way out. It’s not my style. Have the balls to say, “we’re done,” and move on.