Free Blaze (Blaze #1) by Erika Chase Page B

need
to trust me. You can’t show up at my business meetings and do that
infuriating… but sexy, but still really infuriating macho
bullshit.”
    “Done. I would appreciate it if you didn’t
date other men when you’re with me. Can you do that?”
    “Yes.”
    His eyes soften.
    “Do you really not know that I think about
you all the time, Kate? That I care for you, too?” He kisses me –
first the corners of my mouth then full on. I squeeze his arms and
force myself to pull back.
    “Tell me,” I demand.
    Gabriel twirls a lock of my hair between his
fingers. I love when he does that.
    “Kate, I think about you all the time. The
other day, I wrote in bed because I could still smell you on the
sheets.”
    When he cups the side of my face, I lean
into his hand and kiss the palm.
    “And I care about you. More than I wanted
to.” This time his kiss is rough like he wants to punish me for
making him care.
    “Now what?” he asks, his hands roaming over
my back.
    “I have no idea.”
    “I’ll be done here soon. You could come back
to Montana with me, if you want. Fresh air, big sky, you’ll love
it.”
    “I don’t doubt that, but I have my job. I
can’t just leave.”
    This time he holds my face in both hands
before kissing the tip of my nose. “You just started, Kate.”
    “But it’s still my job,” I say carefully.
“Can’t you just stay here awhile longer?”
    He nods. “I can, but not for too long. I
have commitments.”
    “So do I.”
    “Yes, but my commitments aren’t… flexible. I
have meetings with my publisher, a bit of traveling for promotions…
you could even go with me.”
    “Or you could just sign with Snow.” I say
this casually and, if I’m honest, without much thought. And just
like that, we’re no longer touching and his eyes are cold.
    “You won’t travel with me for a few weeks,
but you think I should leave my publisher?”
    “How is that any different than asking me to
quit my job and be your… what? Traveling companion with
benefits?”
    He folds his arms across his chest.
    “It’s different because I’ve had a long and
lucrative relationship with my publisher. I can’t just leave them
because some… you… ask me to.”
    His eyes narrow and he fixes me with a stare
that makes my stomach drop. “Is this what you wanted from the
beginning? Did Madelyn put you on me like she did Noah Drake? I
thought you were different, Kate.”
    I feel like I’ve been slapped.
    “Are you serious right now? I was a
secretary when I met you. Remember? Oh, wait. You didn’t really
know anything about me except that you wanted to fuck me. Counting
the minutes until you could.”
    “I don’t recall having to force you to come
back here. And why is that?” He takes a step closer and I don’t
recognize him at all. “Could it be that I’m rich? Famous? Not a bad
way to get a promotion.”
    “Fuck you.”
    He shrugs.
    “You did. A lot. Thanks.”
    I push past him and grab my purse from the
sofa.
    “This was a mistake,” I call over my
shoulder. I won’t turn around. I won’t let him see me crying.
    “Which part?” he calls back.
    “All of it,” I yell before slamming the door
behind me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
     
     
     
    The sky is gray, gray, gray above me and the
air is thin and cold. There are long clouds the color of slate
washing in off the bay and I hunch my shoulders as I push the doors
to the office open; across the street one of the workers at the
florist store is running all the pots of flowers inside. It’s going
to rain like hell later and I couldn’t care less. Let the foul
weather wash everything away.
    The walk back to my tiny little office is
just a long, slow trudge. People give me those big smiles they’ve
been giving me all week and it’s all I can do to stretch my lips up
back at them, playing the part I know I’m supposed to.
    But there’s a leaden sadness in the pit of
my stomach. All I want to do is lie down and bawl all my tears and
my sadness