Page 122 of Getting Down to Business

“I don’t like either of those choices.”

“Too bad. Pick one.”

“Fine. I’ll see what’s available.” Randy frowned.

“Make it quick. I really need to leave soon.”

“Why? Did you murder someone?”

“No.” Gray got up to move for the door.

“Is Alyssa going with you?” Gray stopped and hung his head. He hadn’t realized Randy knew about them. In hindsight, it was probably pretty obvious. The way he’d suggested her for the job initially, and the way they walked into the office together every morning. Not to mention the visits to each other’s offices.

“No.”

“Oh. I see,” Randy said sadly. “I’ll let you know by Thursday.”

“Thanks.”

Alyssa wasn’t at the apartment when he got home. She arrived an hour later with a bunch of groceries and out of breath.

“Why don’t you ever let me know you’re coming home with bags so I can meet you and help you carry them?” he snapped at her.

Guilt was a sick son of a bitch. For some reason, it made you think you had a right to be angry at the person you’d wronged. It made no sense.

“I can carry three bags of groceries, Gray. I carried them the whole way from the market.”

“If you would communicate, maybe I could go to the market with you and help you carry them back to the apartment.” He couldn’t shut up, even though he knew he was being a huge ass.

“Okay. Next time, I’ll let you know when I’m going. I did ask yesterday if you needed anything. I guess I didn’t make myself clear.” She kept her eyes on the floor.

He needed to fix this.

He grabbed her by the arms and pressed her back against the refrigerator. His lips crashed down on hers roughly. All the pent-up tension and anger came out in that kiss. She kissed him back, but her body was tense. He tried to relax a little so he wouldn’t scare her, or worse hurt her. The kiss slowed and then he released her to rest his forehead against hers.

“Why can’t we make this work? Please. Just say we can try.”

Alyssa looked away for a second and then met his gaze.

“There’s nothing to work out.” He watched her face to see if she was trying to hide her true feelings. All he saw was a mark on her lip where he’d kissed her hard enough to bring the blood to the surface of her skin.

“I’m sorry.” He ran his hand over his face. “I don’t know what to do.”

“You don’t have to do anything. I’m not your problem. Feel free to go out and spend the night with whomever. It doesn’t bother me.”

“I haven’t slept with anyone.” He got two ice cubes out and put them in a baggie for her lip. “We said we would be honest with each other. I don’t feel comfortable telling you where I was, but I wasn’t sleeping with anyone.” Holding out the bag, he frowned. “I’m sorry about your lip.”

He wanted to crawl in a hole.

“I haven’t slept with anyone either. Not that I owe you an explanation.” That last part was said with an air of defiance.

“What? But you—”

“You assumed, and I let you. You were giving me pitying looks when you got back that morning you supposedly had a work thing, and I knew you were lying to me. I wanted to sleep with someone so I could move on, but I couldn’t do it. I went to Mia’s instead.”

“You didn’t sleep with anyone?” This information bounced around inside his head.

“No one but you since I met you.”