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“Fair enough, but she’s not my boss, and I’m sick of her acting like she is,” I replied. “And I’m going to find out what I did that pissed her off so much she’s not even willing to take a drink I sent to her.”
Ham said something in reply, but I didn’t stick around to hear what it was. I was on a mission now, and I wanted to get answers. I wanted to find out just what it was she didn’t like about me – not that I was going to change a damn thing to make her like me better, but still. I was tired of her treating me like I was just someone else on the payroll, and I wanted that to stop.
“I bought these for you two, and I hear you don’t want them,” I said when I reached their table. I set both drinks down, and Raya gave me one of her looks that could kill. I didn’t even bother trying to smile at the nurse. I knew how she felt about me, and I had a sneaking suspicion they were over here talking shit.
If that was the case, then fine, but I did want to know why she hated me as much as she did. It wasn’t like I had come to her, and even if she had told me how she wanted to do things and I was being stubborn about it, that was fine with me, too. I didn’t see it as anything big enough to make the tension between us as thick as it was now.
There was a level of sexual tension in the mix, but I knew that wasn’t the problem here. She was being an asshole to me, and while I felt like it was probably something she was doing as payback just to get under my skin, there was another part of me that wasn’t going to just stand by and let her treat me that way. I wanted to know what her deal was with me, and I meant to get answers.
“I didn’t want the drink,” she said as she looked up at me, her eyes challenging me to argue with her. “So I sent it back. Seems pretty straightforward to me.”
“Why don’t you want the drinks?” I demanded. “You have two that are nearly gone in front of you, and the night is young. I doubt that’s all you’re having here.”
“Because you’re a dick,” she shot back at me. “And I don’t like to accept drinks from people who are dicks. I have to put up with your attitude while I’m in the stables, which so happens to be a lot during the day, and I have to put up with the way you talk to me each time I do. I don’t want the drink, and it is purely because of the way you talk to me when we are at the facility.”
“Then do what you want with them, but I’m not taking them back,” I said.
I was glad I’d already put the glasses down. I was pissed with her response, and I wanted so badly to tell her that this was a two-way street. She had been just as abrupt with me, and I felt I had done nothing wrong. I wasn’t going to apologize to her for having my own opinions, and if she was going to throw it back in my face, I had other things to do with my time.
She could dump the drinks out if she didn’t want them that much. It had nothing more to do with me. I made it clear to her I was doing that just to be nice, and that was the end of that. The money was already gone out of my wallet, so it didn’t matter to me what she did with the drinks.
I went back to Ham and sat down with a huff, partly because of my hurting leg and partly because of the interaction I’d just had with Raya. She was infuriating, but there was something about her that was also addicting. She was hot already, and for some reason, when she defied me the way she did, I found her even hotter, and I didn’t know what to do with myself.
I had to remind myself that we were in a work relationship, and I had to focus on what was professional. The desire I felt for her didn’t matter. What mattered was that I did what she was paying me to do, and Romeo turned into the horse she wanted him to be.
Not that she made it any easier with her tight clothing, perfect body, and her attitude to match. I could see myself falling for this woman, and the fact she was so flippant with me only drove me harder into wanting to get her attention. It was crazy, I knew that, but still, there was no denying the feelings and thoughts that were going through my mind.
“You left the drinks,” Ham commented, and I nodded.
“I don’t know what she’ll do with them, but I’m not going to take the rejection. I bought those drinks, and if she doesn’t want them, she can toss them in the trash herself. I wasn’t going to get involved.”
“Good man,” my friend said. “Women are complicated.”
“And I’m pretty sure I’ve somehow managed to get myself involved with the most complicated of all,” I muttered with a shake of my head.
Ham didn’t hear me, and I was fine with that. I didn’t want to go back into how much she aggravated me, that was for sure. But, there was no denying she did, and it just turned me on all the more. Ham wouldn’t understand, but I was going to let things settle down a bit before I told him I was having those thoughts.
She and her friend could have their little party over there. I didn’t care. I’d figure out Raya in one way or another, I was sure of that.
And I still had a few weeks to do it, too.
