Page 7 of Enticing Her Love

Her eyes narrowed, hurt and anger coalescing in them, sending a stab of guilt right through him. She closed her mouth, shoved her phone in her pocket, and her feet into her Tevas. “At least you finally had the balls to say it out loud.”

“Sutton—”

“Don’t bother trying to deny it.” She put the strap of her crossbody pack over her head. “I knew you hated me. I just couldn’t figure out why.”

Jesus fuck. “I don’t hate you, and I’m sorry for what I said.”

“Why?” she challenged coldly, but the hurt in her eyes shone through. “We both know it’s how you feel.”

“I’m sorry for the way it came out, but you’re right. It’s exactly how I felt when you were hired and you strutted in with your glamour girl designer clothes and sky-high heels.”

She lifted her chin. “At least you’re an honest sanctimonious jerk.”

“I don’t believe in lying, and you’re too smart to think nobody would figure out how you got the job without any experience.”

“I don’t care what people think. I didn’t beg for the job. I had the education, the drive, and the talent. The only thing I lacked was experience, and you know damn well they wouldn’t have given me the chance if they didn’t believe I could do it. And another thing. You want to talk about busting ass? I’ve been doing that and more every day since I started working for you. But do I get a pat on the back or a good job, Sutton? No. You praise everyone else for jobs well done, but you just ride me harder, like nothing I do is good enough.”

“Do you want to know why I push you so hard?”

“Because you hate that you haven’t been able to get me fired yet.” She pulled clean shorts out of her pack.

His jaw ticked. It was true he’d wanted her gone at first, but Sutton was a force of nature when she wanted to be, and she’d been chipping away at his misconceptions ever since. “My job is to get results. I push you because when you’re given an assignment, you get the job done. But light the right fire under your ass, and you go above and beyond, pushing yourself to do a phenomenal job.”

“If that’s true, then you suck as a boss. Turn around so I can change.” When he did, she said, “What kind of person doesn’t give credit for a job well done?”

“If you want to be mollycoddled, you’re working for the wrong man.”

“I don’t want to be mollycoddled,” she fumed, her voice muffled, as if she were pulling on her shirt. “I’m talking about showing me some appreciation. It’s called encouragement.”

He heard her zip her shorts and turned around, stepping closer. “What do you call giving you harder, more interesting assignments than any rookie reporter deserves?”

She lifted her chin, but her brows knitted.

“I’ve encouraged you every step of the way, just not in the manner you want me to, with cheers and pats on the back. Well, guess what, Steele? You wouldn’t be doing half the assignments I’ve come up with if I treated you that way.”

His phone rang, and he snagged it from the dresser, putting it to his ear. “Yeah?” He listened as Santiago spoke swiftly in Spanish. He was ready to fly, but they had to leave right away. Flynn told him they’d be right there and ended the call, turning his attention back to Sutton. “We have to head to the airstrip. Santiago’s ready to go. I suggest you change into long sleeves and long pants. Remember to put on bug repellent, and tuck your pants into your boots.” He dug his clothes out of his backpack.

“I’m fine in these,” she snapped as she rolled up her wet clothes from earlier and put them in a laundry sack.

“If you want to leave all that skin for the bugs, that’s up to you, but we’re not going to have much daylight to set up camp. And if you step on a snake with nothing covering your ankles, you’ll be in real trouble.”

She huffed out a breath and started rummaging through her backpack. “I hate it when you’re right.”

“Don’t forget bug repellant on your skin and on your clothes.” He turned his back to her and dropped his shorts.

“What are you doing?” she snapped.

“Putting on repellant and long pants.” He sprayed his legs and boxer briefs.

“I’m right here.”

He glanced over his shoulder, catching her staring at his ass. “Nobody’s forcing you to look.” Her cheeks pinked up, and that was a fine look on her, but she spun around, stealing it away as he finished changing. He hooked the GPS to his waistband and put his other clothes in his backpack. “Get rid of those crackers and anything else you shouldn’t have brought.”

“No way. I need them.”

“We don’t have time to argue, Sutton.” He grabbed her backpack and dug through it.

“Hey!” She charged over and grabbed his arm as he withdrew a large ziplock bag full of peanut butter crackers and granola bars.