Page 71 of The Other Side

“I’ll answer him later.”

A surge of adrenaline shoots down my arm, and I take the device from her.

“Brant,” she grits, standing up to face me.

“Let’s see …” I inch a step back before reading the text on the home screen. “Hey babe. Don’t forget to pick up my suits from the dry cleaners today.”

“Goddammit, give it to me!” She snatches the phone from my palm, scowling at me through knitted brows. “Jeez, you’re like a feral animal sometimes.”

“Is that what you want, Callie?” I jerk my chin toward her occupied hand.

“What?”

I pivot my head from her, mouth twitching through a scoffed laugh. My palm wipes down my prickly chin, only to extend to her when I return my attention her way. “You want me to order you around?” Envy crawls up my chest, the bitterness filtering out my lungs when I continue on. “Is that what it’s gonna take?”

She shakes her head, her eyes stapled to me with ferocity. “No.”

I step forward, swiping the phone from her loose grip. “Then maybe I’ll respond to him.”

Her palms immediately latch to my forearm. “No, Brant. Stop it!”

She yanks my limb, but her strength is hopeless when I hide my arm behind me. “What?” I ask harshly, my eyes wildly scanning her face. “I can demand you steam my dress shirts and pick up my dry cleaning too. Send you on a goose chase around the house to fold all my shit and pick up after me. I’m just as equipped for the job. Then again, anyone would be when it doesn’t take a hero to do it.”

Her chest slumps against me as her demeanor thaws. She’s struck speechless. The softness reaches her sage-green depths when she realizes I’m serious.

I’m dead fucking serious.

My throat rolls through the tight knot, and I bring my arm between us. “Of course, I’d just train you out of your bad habits afterward. Sit you in a corner for being so eager to serve me like a fucking maid.”

Her chest hiccups through a breath before she speaks. “I’m allowed to do favors for him. That’s what a relationship is.”

“He doesn’t say ‘please.’” My jaw ticks when I deliver my challenge. “And honestly, Callie? If you keep tossing those stupid-ass remarks my way, I’ll set you straight for that too.”

I slide the phone into her palm, waiting until she secures it in her grip. I pivot to walk away, but her hand seizes mine instead.

A fire kindles between our palms, my gaze dipping to the scene. “What?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” she whispers. Her head wags through the turmoil whirling through her eyes. “I just … I don’t want to leave like this. Not with you. Please.”

I whip my head to the side. Indecision collects in my stomach, curdling higher and higher until it pools in my lungs. But I’m a fool for wasting precious time.

My heart always wins when she’s around.

It never loses.

And it’s no different in this empty office.

I mutter a curse under my breath, my hands cupping her tight waist to spin her around. She falls over the desk on a breath, gripping the edge of it before I hike her flimsy hem up.

The globes of her ass peek out of the cheeky lace, and I harden to steel behind my jeans. My palm drives forward to slap the underside of her ass, the ring of the smack bouncing off the walls.

“Ah!” she gasps, jolting forward as she absorbs the blow.

“Text him back.”

Her head dips as she breathes her next words. “W-what?”

Her creamy flesh flushes a pale red, and my hand delivers another spank in the same spot. The clap of the contact vibrates around us, echoing savagely before I hover over her. “Text him back. Tell him you’re happy to do anything for him,” I say. “Right now.”