Free Bourbon & Branch Water by Patricia Green Page A

one big lie, some sort of
Lothario who got involved with multiple partners. She hadn’t asked him. Who
would ask such a question? But maybe she should.
    Would he tell her the truth?
    She couldn’t figure out why Jeff
would say she was “something” to be “handled.” It was pretty demeaning. If his
relationship with Kelly was platonic, then why wouldn’t
he say she was someone special, instead of a “situation”? Hurt feelings made
her roll over toward the edge of the bed. Unfortunately, she was still too
tired to drive, or she’d have left immediately.
    He could have his Kelly, but Stormy
couldn’t countenance seeing him while he was dating another woman. She’d either
have to ask him or break it off with him.
    But what if Kelly was an ex? Maybe
they were friends now. Yeah right, friends with benefits if she knew her horny Jeff.
Stormy punched her pillow and curled into a ball. How did she get into this
predicament? She’d feel stupid if Jeff’s Kelly was actually nobody to be
concerned about, but she’d be even more stupid if she ignored what could be a
powder keg about to blow up in her face. Nevertheless, she’d have to calm down
before asking or she’d seem like a shrew and not a confident woman who was
reasonably concerned.
    Jeff came back to bed while Stormy
was still seething. She pretended to be asleep and he got into the bed gently,
carefully pulling his sheet and blanket up. He even had the nerve to reach over
and pull the blanket up over her exposed shoulder in a considerate gesture.
Stormy wanted to cry. How could he do this to her? Silent tears trickled across
her face to drip on the pillow. After she was less tired, she’d know what to
do.
    Eventually, after what seemed like
a long time, Stormy drifted off to sleep again, a small frown furrowing her
brow.

Chapter 5
    Tick, tick, tick,
tick. Stormy drummed the conference table with her fingernails. The
sound was loud and arrhythmic in the small room. Considering the cold shoulder
she’d given him all morning, right from the moment they woke up, and the fact
that she turned down his amorous advances with a sniff and “I have to get to
work,” Jeff wanted to throttle her. Putting her lack of patience as they waited
aside, he wasn’t quite sure how to get things back on track. It was clear that
she was mad at him for something; she’d worn a frown each time she was around
him that day but damned if he knew what it could be. Maybe it was PMS, and if
so, it would be a good thing to know. Dealing with Miss Pissed Off every month
would be pretty frustrating.
    Jeff was trying to be patient, but
the sound and hostility was grating. Both the clients were late and that left
Jeff and Stormy marooned in the conference room together. He reached over and
put his hand on hers, stilling the awful ticking. She quickly snatched her hand
away and frowned mightily at him, her high-arching black brows drawing into a
tight knot on her forehead. “Don’t.”
    “Do you have to drum the table,
Stormy? The sound is irritating.”
    “ Hmph .”
But she didn’t return her hand to the tabletop. Mumbling low, she said, “Not as
irritating as some people I know.”
    “I heard that. What do you mean by
that remark?”
    “Nothing,” she wouldn’t meet his
gaze with her own.
    “You meant something. I’d like to
know what.”
    “Well you know what?” she asked. “I
want to know things, too. I guess we’ll both have to deal with the mystery, won’t
we?”
    Wow could she be a bitch. It made
him want to spank the nonsense out of her. He briefly had a vision of her bent
over his desk—a desk that was only a few yards down the hall—with
her prim little skirt up over her ass as he spanked her. Yeah, that would be
gratifying.
    “I don’t much like mysteries,
Stormy.”
    “Too bad.”
    Jeff flashed over angry for a
moment. “What’s gotten into you? Last night you were affectionate and caring.
You were polite . And today you’re a
termagant. Have I done