Page 9 of Last First Kiss
“You can’t fire someone who doesn’t want to—”
He interrupted her rant. “Open the door. I’m walking up the steps,” he said and hung up. Annie glared down at her phone, outraged. Thumping the back of her head against the bed, she tossed her phone aside and stood up to open the front door.
Xander was in the kitchen blending something in his juicer—something that looked utterly disgusting. He’d gotten her hooked on protein shakes, but those smoothies he made were questionable. “My brother’s on his way in. You may want to put on some clothes?” Her six-foot-tall, very attractive, and very gay best friend was standing there in just boxer shorts and socks.
“No way!” he said, wagging his eyebrows back and forth. “How do I look?”
“Does it matter? I’ve told you a million times, my brother doesn’t swing your way.”
“You keep saying that, but I see the way he stares.”
Shaking her head with a chuckle, Annie concealed her smile as she opened the door with a scowl. She was still mad at Joey and she wasn’t about to let him forget it.
Kissing her on the cheek as if they weren’t in a standoff, her brother walked straight inside as if he owned the joint. “Hey, Xander,” he said, walking to the kitchen, patting his bare shoulder, and looking into the blender. “I’ll take some of that.”
He stood close, not acknowledging Xander’s state of undress and huge toothy grin.
“Sure.” Xander poured some green shit into a big glass. “Cheers.”
They tapped glasses and Joey took a slurp, cringing as he downed it. “Fuck! This’ll put hair on your balls.”
All the while, Annie sat watching the interaction while drinking some orange juice, amused but still wanting to wring Joey’s neck. Plus, she was surprised anyone would willingly drink that green concoction.
“So, kid,” Joey began as he went around the counter to sit down. He had a green mustache from the drink. “Here’s the deal. You start in four days. I’ll email you the details but our Hollywood client lives in Coral Gables, not too far from here. The job’s twenty-four-seven, so pack a bag.”
Her eyes widened, incredulously. He was just going to waltz in as if they hadn’t had a huge argument a few days ago? Even if the prospect of landing the job was exciting, there was still the principle of the thing. Joey didn’t trust her to do the job. He’d knocked her down in front of Rocco when she’d volunteered for it and he’d repeatedly refused to allow her to do fieldwork since she started working at ICS. He didn’t find her capable, and she was too proud to just roll over and accept the offer now just because he needed her in order to land a big client—she wanted him to want her to be the one to do it. “Did you not hear anything I said three days ago and then again five minutes ago?”
“What’s up your ass?” He leaned in and narrowed his eyes. “Are you on the rag or something?”
Xan spewed out a mouthful of green liquid at the same time as Annie’s eyes opened the size of saucers.
She stood up, placed her hands on his chest and pushed him back. “Are you crazy? What the hell is wrong with you?” She grabbed one of Xander’s expensive throw pillows and slung it across Joey’s face. As the only girl in the family, she was used to her brothers being crass and oblivious, but today she wasn’t in the mood. “You never ask a woman that. And not that it’s any of your business . . . no, I’m not. And you have green shit all over your face, moron.”
He wiped his lips with the back of his hand, uncaring. “Calm your tits. You’re not a woman. You’re my sister. And you’re acting bitchier than normal. It’s a perfectly reasonable question.”
“I am being bitchy because you were being a complete dickhead the other day. Not just the other day, actually. Forever. You have forever been a dickhead,” she yelled. Oh my God, had a person’s head ever literally exploded? Because that’s what was about to happen to her. How could she ever say yes to the offer when he was being a complete jerk?
“You sound crazy.” Joey turned his attention to Xander. “Doesn’t she sound crazy?”
“I’m not answering that,” her roommate said, moving a step away and putting his palms up.
Throwing her hands up in the air, Annie yelled, “You make me feel crazy!”
Joey blew out a long breath. “Fine. I will concede to being a dickhead. But that doesn’t mean you can body-flip a client.”
Okay, Joey was right, but it was her experience that men didn’t think women capable of physical things, such as fighting and shooting, and what better way of showing Rocco she was capable than to give him a little firsthand demonstration? But, yes, she could’ve hurt him. And, no, it wasn’t professional. He could’ve been really pissed off and sued them. She had been wrong, but she wasn’t ready to say so. Not when she was still waiting for an apology from her brother.
“I’ll agree. I handled it a little . . . aggressively. But you were still wrong about not letting me do that job.”
“Okay, well, you’re in luck. Now you got the job!” His sarcasm was starting to grate on her last nerve.
“Fine. Great. When do I start?” Obviously, Joey wasn’t going to apologize but it didn’t really matter, at the end of the day she’d gotten what she wanted. And she’d be the consummate professional. Do a fantastic job for Rocco, NHN, and ICS. Protect the big Hollywood bigwig from threats near and far—and most important, prove herself to Joey.
“You start next week.”
“Great.” She stood, ready to walk Joey to the door. “Email me the details.”
When he grabbed the back of his neck and squeezed, she knew immediately something was wrong. A big huge colossal “BUT” was coming.
