Free Dueling Moons: A Pat Wyatt Novel (The Pat Wyatt Series Book 2) by Laura Del

right.”
    I narrowed my eyes. This whole thing was getting on my last good nerve. “What more do you want? I did everything you asked me to do. Everything! And now you want more? I give up!” I took the napkin from my lap, throwing it on the table as I stood to leave. I got as far as the sliding glass door before he blocked my way. Holy shit, he’s fast.
    I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. “Move. Please.”
    “Not until you hear me out,” he said, and I opened my eyes in time to see him fold his arms.
    I placed my hands on my hips, glaring up at him. “I’m listening.”
    “I want you to go back to your original version,” he said the sentence as if it were all one long word.
    “Why?” I asked skeptically. After all, he was the one that made me write and re - write that damn thing. And now he wanted me to go back to the original? Something was seriously wrong with this picture.
    “It’s so much better than the shit I made you do,” he finally admitted. “You’re good, and I mean really good. You take the reader places. I only pretended to hate it because I wanted an excuse to fire you.” I knew that. “But you did everything I asked you to, and then yesterday happened and I just couldn’t bear the thought of losin’ you.” I cocked an eyebrow at him. “As a writer, I mean.”
    “Well, that’s it. You can go now.” He stepped aside, gesturing for me to go through the door.
    “Thank you,” I said, but when I started to walk past him, he caught my elbow.
    “Don’t go,” he pleaded softly.
    I pursed my lips, a little habit of mine when I’m agitated. “Let go of me, Elliot.”
    “Please,” he almost begged, “I don’t want you to leave.”
    I pulled my arm from his grasp, but he just caught it with his other hand. If didn’t know any better, I would have sworn that he was a vampire.
    “You told me that I could leave.” I reminded him.
    He smirked. “Yeah, but I never said that I would let ya.”
    “ You — you …” I smacked his hand away. “Wolf!”
    I walked as fast as I could through the apartment; I got as far as the kitchen before he grabbed me by the waist, lifting me up off the floor. “Let me go,” I yelled, pushing on his arms. “I said, let go!” He had me so far off the ground that my feet were dangling. I kicked with all my might, but he still would not let go. Finally, I stopped struggling and I hung there like a towel over a rack.
    After a second or two of him just holding me, Stag put me down. I turned around on my heels, stared into his cocky smile, and slapped it right off his face. He blinked at me a couple of times, his mouth open in shock.
    We stood there staring at one another, and in an instant he was all over me. He grabbed my face in his hands, kissing me so hard that I could feel my mouth begin to bruise with the force of it. Then he stuck his tongue in my mouth, and I couldn’t help but kiss him back just as fiercely.
    His hands began to roam from my face to my body, and the little voice in my head screamed at me to stop this madness, so I did. I pushed on his shoulders and he moved away.
    “What’s wrong?” he breathed against my lips.
    I shook my head. “I can’t do this. I can’t betray Mike.”
    He leaned against the kitchen counter, closing his eyes. “Shit. I knew it. You’re in love with him.”
    “I don’t know if I’m in love with him or not,” I admitted. “But I do know that I have very strong feelings for him.”
    He sighed, looking at me. “Do you know if he feels the same way?”
    I nodded. “Yes, I do. He tells me every day how much he loves me.”
    “Fuck,” he whispered. Then he took a deep breath, turning so we were face to face. “Okay. I can live with that, as long as we can still be friends.”
    I grimaced. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
    “Why not?”
    “Well, I can’t be around you if you can’t keep your hands off me. So I think we should just keep this a professional relationship.