Even though it wasn’t working on Teela.
Though that didn’t matter, because he certainly didn’t want it to.
“If I give you my address, you’ll meet me there? Twenty minutes?”
“If you promise not to maim me in any way, I suppose that I’ll listen to your brand of crazy.”
Surprisingly, Teela seemed to curl up on herself. There went his heartstrings again, playing that rancid tune he didn’t want to hear. His hide wasn’t leather after all. It was like the squishy water bed his mom had growing up. He’d punctured a hole in it once with one of his toys and the thing spurted water three feet into the air. That was him. Pierced and leaking and squishy and pathetic.
“Why? I mean, why would you agree, just like that?”
Ross glanced around the store. He was currently the only one there, the rest of the staff set to arrive at noon. That gave him a good two hours to get his ass kicked by angry towns people dead set against his corporate brand. And here he thought Cheryl and Bob would be the worst of his problems.
He hadn’t anticipated Teela.
Or last night’s sleepless night. Or his fucking cock that refused to stand the hell down. Or his balls that refused to dislodge from his air passage.
“Honestly, it doesn’t look like I have a choice. I want to keep the threats to a minimum. I don’t want bricks thrown through the store’s windows. Despite it all, I like to run my operations safely and problem free. I do care about my workers, whether you believe it or not.”
“Doubtful,” Teela shot back, some of her verve returning.
Annnnnnnndddd there went his cock, shooting even harder up to the sky.
“Doubtful or not, I have an hour. I hope it won’t take longer than that. After, I require that you surrender your key, since the locks won’t be changed for a few more days and I don’t want any trouble and cease and desist from giving the store a bad name.”
“But it deserves it. And I didn’t realize this was a bargain.”
Ross wished he could cross his arms. He couldn’t because his hands were shoved in his pockets, hiding his rock hard joyful joy stick. “It is now. That’s the deal. I come to your house and hear you out. You stop making threats and stop being a hater.”
“A hater? Seriously?”
“What? You didn’t think I could use common slang like the average person?”
As Teela turned on her heel and stalked out of the store, he could have sworn she muttered something about him being a troll right before she all but shouted her address over her shoulder.
CHAPTER 5
Teela
Ross was in her house. The devil was in her house. Staring her down. Sitting in her living room. He was actually perched uncomfortably on her well broken-in leather couch and the thing hadn’t yet combusted into flames.
The devil had a pleasing form. Just because he was unfortunately smoking hot, didn’t mean he was actually smoking hot.
He’d managed to hide his tail and horns beneath another tailored, expensive looking suit. His hooves were shot in leather shoes he hadn’t bothered to remove at the door, though he had wiped them on the mat.
Maybe in his time on earth, he’d developed a few politer traits.
Okay, who was she kidding? The guy was the father of her child. A child that was at the very moment, growing inside of her womb. She’d conceived his baby and she hadn’t even slept with him. It was unnerving as fuck. Stranger than being abducted and impregnated by aliens in her sleep. Or… maybe not that strange, but it was just a few shades below that.
“I’m not going to offer you a drink. I don’t have anything but water anyway and I’m sure you wouldn’t like that.” Teela sunk down on the uncomfortable upholstered chair that she had in the room for sheer decorative purposes. It had been sat on maybe once in its seven-year life. The springs dug into her ass.
Ross flashed her a smile, and for shit sakes, it was charming. It was flashy and pretty, just like he’d joked about earlier. He was just trying to throw her off her game. She didn’t appreciate it at all.
“Actually, water would be great.”
“Too bad. I’m not getting you one.” Teela pointed towards the kitchen, which was on the other side of the wall that backed the living room. “If you want, the kitchen’s through there. Help yourself.”
Ross folded his hands on his lap. “That’s alright.” He leaned forward. “Maybe we should just get right down to it.”
“Er…” How exactly did one get down to it? She couldn’t just come out and blurt that she was pregnant with his child. She’d done anything but think this through. Amy would be appalled with her. She promised her best friend the night before that she wouldn’t do anything rash, especially where Ross Day was concerned.