Free Seeds of Desire by Karenna Colcroft

Cassidy
Shelton, a consultant to JaBro—”
    She shut it off. “Crap.” She flopped onto her stomach on the
bed. “Now everyone’s going to know I’m a klutz. Don’t they have anything better
to put on the news around here?”
    He laughed. “In this neck of the woods? Probably not. Don’t
worry about it. You knew the media was out there, and they didn’t see much else
to talk about.”
    “Yeah, at least this will be more publicity for your daddy’s
company,” she grumbled.
    “Look, I don’t want that kind of publicity,” Jared snapped.
He knelt beside the bed and looked her in the eye, anger and concern filling
his gaze. “You might have been seriously hurt and I’m still not convinced they
shouldn’t have checked you out better to make sure that head injury isn’t any
worse. I’m not even thinking about JaBro in this. I’m worried about you. Don’t
you realize that?”
    Her heart rose in her chest. He cared about her. The
realization scared the hell out of her, after all her denial that she might
feel anything for him. She’d been lying to herself, and now she didn’t dare to
be honest. So she took refuge in anger. “No, I don’t. Usually you’re all about
JaBro, so why would I think you’d care about me for any reason other than what
I can do for the company?”
    “You really think that’s true?” he asked softly. He sat
beside her, close enough she felt his body heat. She trembled and tensed to
keep from responding. “I do care about you. Why do you think I agreed to go on
these trips with you? If I hated you as much as you seem to hate me, I sure as
hell wouldn’t have volunteered to spend days on the road with you.” He paused.
“At the risk of bringing up something I promised not to, if I hated you, last
night would never have happened.”
    No. No way could she handle him telling her he cared.
Even though he’d shown it through all his actions today. She’d wanted to hear
it, but now that he’d said it she didn’t know what to do. Their entire
relationship, right from the day she’d been hired, had been based on mutual
dislike and contempt. After the day she’d had, it was completely unfair of him
to topple that perception on its proverbial ear.
    Especially when his words brought back her fantasies about
him.
    She tried to steer things back to more comfortable ground.
“I thought you did it because it was best for the company and because Daddy
told you to.”
    “I did it because I think you’d be best for me, and I told
myself to get to know you better,” he said quietly.
    He had to be kidding. Jared didn’t like her. Otherwise he
wouldn’t get such a thrill out of annoying her. As for traveling with her, it
was part of his job as the JaBro PR person. He hadn’t had much choice in the
matter.
    What the hell does he mean, I’d be best for him? Best for
what?
    “You know, if you keep that mouth open I might have to use
it for target practice with some of these french fries,” Jared quipped.
    “That’s more like it. Good old Jackass Jared.” She shoved a
few fries into her mouth and made a point of chewing with her mouth open.
    He didn’t appear amused. “Is that really what you think of
me? That I’m a jackass?” he asked.
    She studied him. She couldn’t possibly have hurt his
feelings. Again. Like she’d done at dinner the night before. He should have
been over that by now. Insulting and jabbing each other was just part of their
interaction.
    The dejected look on his face said otherwise, though. To
quell her guilt, she replied, “You sure act like one a lot of the time. No, I
don’t think you are one. You’re just a good actor.”
    “Thanks. That makes me feel infinitely better. You really
can’t stand me, can you?” He stood and walked to the door. “Which leads me to
wonder why you agreed to do these trips with me, and why you wanted me to stay
with you in the hospital. If you hate me so much, why would you want anything
to do with me? Why did you come