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ONE
Elias
“Enter,”I said at the soft knock on the door.
Not a second later, the door opened, and Kayla Dutton walked in.
“You left a message for me?” Kayla said as she approached.
I didn’t bother to look at her.
It wasn’t like I needed to.
I could picture her with ease, conjure the serene expression that no doubt covered her face without looking, so there was no need to bother with eye contact.
Besides, I wasn’t up to facing her—or more accurately, facing the way I felt when I looked at her.
“There’s a deal you need to take care of,” I said, my voice slightly more gruff than usual, a side effect of her presence that I was sure she didn’t miss.
“When?” she asked.
Her voice was flat, lacking inflection, but despite my earlier decision, I looked at her anyway.
Piercing brown eyes set in a plain face met mine.
That was one thing that hadn’t changed.
Even when she was terrified, afraid I might do my worst, Kayla never cowered.
“I left you a message thirty minutes ago. So you now have ninety minutes before the meet,” I said.
Her brow furrowed, amillimeter, maybe two, but she quickly smoothed her expression.
Not that it made a difference because I had seen it.
She was pissed.
I felt my mood start to improve.
“You couldn’t give me more notice than that?” she asked.
Her full lips turned down, though her voice was as smooth as always.
“No,” I said.
“I might have been in the middle of something,” she countered, for some reason determined to press her point.
Like it would change anything.
“You say that like you think I give a fuck,” I responded.
Her cheek ticked. Just once, but it was enough.
“Elias,” she said, “I’ve asked you to give me more notice. It makes it difficult for me to handle things appropriately if I don’t have time to prepare.”
“Kayla,” I said, mimicking her tone, something I knew annoyed the crap out of her, “I don’t know what business you think we’re in,” I said.
“What business you’re in,” she corrected.
