chapter 3

The wary look in her eyes drives a knife into my gut.

I wasn’t horrible to Cora when we were younger, but I wasn’t pleasant either. She was an annoyance back then, and I made sure she knew it.

Cora rolls her eyes and brushes past me, heading for the door. “I’m civil to you at work. That’s good enough.”

A whiff of her sweet vanilla scent envelops me as she turns around. I watch her skimpy black dress hug every curve, accentuating all the right places as she stomps away.

She strides out of the bar on long legs that I’m already picturing wrapped around my waist as I pin her against a wall.

It’s almost a primal urge to claim her, to make her mine.

Would she taste like tequila or whiskey?

I quickly follow her out of the bar.

Cora leans against the brick wall, the cold breeze not bothering her in the slightest. “Why did you follow me out here?”

“I’m not done talking to you yet.” I move closer to her, still drawn in by the curve of her full lips. Her lemon and vanilla perfume wraps around me, and it’s intoxicating.

I clear my throat, making a conscious effort not to touch her, burying my desires beneath a veneer of professionalism as her boss.

“Cora, it’s been years. I was a dick to you when we were younger, but don’t you think it’s time that we both get over that and move on?”

If I’ve already put my foot in it with her tonight, I may as well keep talking and making things worse.

There is something about Cora that makes me unable to form any rational thought—such as the one that would have told me that provoking her when she’s drunk is probably a bad idea.

“Move on?” Cora’s cheeks flush, her arms crossed. “Griffin, I took the job as your assistant because I had to bail myself out of thousands of dollars of debt. If I had it my way, I would have never seen you again.”

“What debt?”

She sighs and rakes a hand through her hair. “Don’t play stupid. Jake had to have told you why I needed a job. I know you hate me. You wouldn’t have hired me if you didn’t pity me.”

“Cora, I don’t hate you.”

“Don’t. Just don’t, okay? I’m not interested in playing nice after all these years you spent being a pain in the butt to me. I just want to have a good night and forget everything else in my life.”

I sigh and step closer to her as a shiver runs through her body. “It’s cold out. Why don’t we go to another bar, and we can talk? I’m sorry for how I treated you when we were young; I really am. But that’s not who I am anymore.”

Cora studies me for a moment, her gaze dragging down my body and back up. The flash of interest in her eyes is hard to miss, but there’s apprehension there as well.

Even after working as my assistant for the last few weeks, she still doesn’t trust me. That knowledge doesn’t sit well with me.

“Come on, Cora. One drink—maybe two. I promise I didn’t know about the debt when I gave you the job. Jake didn’t mention your financial situation. I was only doing him a favor by taking you on because he’d asked me to.”

She pushes off the wall and steps toward me. “If I go get this drink with you, this is the last time we’re going to talk about anything personal between us.”

“Sure. If that’s what you want.”

With a sharp nod, she starts walking away from the bar. I hurry to join her, guiding us down the street and around the block to a different bar.

The bar is tucked away from the rest of the restaurants on the block. If you didn’t know it was here, you would miss the small, dark stone building at first.

However, once the doors open, the building comes to life. A live band plays on a stage at the front of the room, and several people prepare drinks behind the bar.

Others dance in the middle of the bar, and tables line the edges.

Cora looks up at me. “I didn’t think this would be where someone like you would go.”