immediately sensed the shift in my demeanor and frowned, but nodded in response to my question. “Yeah, I’ll stay put. You don’t have to worry about that.” “Wonderful. Then what do you say to a truce?” A cocked eyebrow was my only response and I rolled my eyes before I continued. “You and I both know we’re not going to last thirteen more days if we keep arguing like we have been. So let’s agree to stop bickering and act like adults. Deal?” He hesitated and I wondered if maybe I was taking the professionalism act a little too far. He seemed pretty displeased with the way the conversation had gone, but if he didn’t want professional and he was uncomfortable with personal— what the hell did he expect from me? “All right. Deal.” He reached a hand out and I took it, swallowing hard when I felt a shiver go up my spine that was becoming entirely too familiar for my liking. I pulled my hand away and gave him a tight smile, one that fell off when he mimicked it. I didn’t need him to outright say that he wasn’t happy with the idea of a truce— that much was written all over his face, much like it was probably written on mine. But I was determined to keep my word to Lauren and not screw up again. Which meant that I needed to stomp my little crush right into the ground. All I needed to do was keep reminding myself of why we were in this position in the first place. Jared was waiting for the DNA test to prove whether or not he was the father of a newborn infant. He’d apparently had unprotected sex with one of the cheerleaders of the Wolfpack and multiple others had come forward to support her. Needless to say— it made Jared look exactly like the womanizer he was. Disgusted by the entire situation, reality once again put a stop to my libido as efficiently as a cold shower.
12
Jared A pril had to be the most exasperating woman I’d ever met. She had been the one who so formally requested that we agree to a truce, but for the next two days, she was colder than she had been when we first met. She hadn’t outright picked any fights since we made peace, but the passive-aggressive comments about Brittany and my ‘playboy antics’ were beginning to wear on my already thin patience. It was hard enough for me to try to put a lid on the flirting and her rattling my cage was only making me want to bend her over my knee and turn her ass red. I tipped my head to the side and eyed her carefully, noting her rigid posture and the way she purposely stayed as far to the other end of the couch as humanly possible. Fuck, I was kind of surprised she was even sitting with me at all. The day before, she had practically ordered me to watch television alone so she could sit at her desk and get some work done. Which turned out to be code for sitting by herself and reading while avoiding me, as I found out when I snuck in and surprised her shortly after. The girl certainly was in touch with her inner rage. But now as my mind drifted back to the perverted places it typically stayed, all I could think about was what I’d do if given the chance. April was tense as hell and I would bet a year’s salary that one good fuck would loosen her up exponentially. If only she would agree to it. With a low grunt, I turned my head back to whatever movie she had picked and tried to re-immerse myself in the plot. I’d missed too much of the beginning to know the full details, but it irritated me to no end that she had chosen a chick-flick— a genre she hated as much as I did. Why’d she choose it? Well, the fact that the story seemed to be about accidental pregnancy seemed to be a major tip-off. I clenched my jaw and turned my entire head toward her, smirking when I saw her cheeks turn red almost immediately. “This movie sucks,” I said dryly, waiting for her to finally woman-up and meet my eyes. When she did, I continued. “Why don’t you pick something you actually want to watch.” “Who says I don’t want