Snow Job by Tara Wyatt (best large ereader .txt) 📗

back the urge to cage her against the wall. To make her look at him. To make her see him as a person and not just an obstacle to kick out of her way. As dirt beneath her shoe.

She jerked her arm out of his grasp and shoved her finger into his chest. “You listen to me Sebastian, and you listen good because I’m not going to repeat myself. I didn’t get you fired the first time—you did that to yourself, so quit trying to blame me. I’m sorry that I was the one who went to Stammler, but I was drowning. I was fucking drowning, and that was your fault. You were supposed to be there. You were supposed to be in charge and you were freaking MIA. All the time. I. Was. Drowning.” She punctuated each word with a jab right into his sternum.

“Then why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you say, ‘hey, Sebastian, I’m drowning, I need help?’” When she didn’t answer right away, he smirked. “Right. Because that’s not really what it was about. You wanted me gone. You wanted my job, and I was in the way, so you threw me under the fucking bus. Just like you want me gone now. I don’t know what I ever did to you, but you must really hate my guts to go after me like this.”

“I’m not…” She blew out a breath, then pinched her lips together. “I never wanted you gone. I wanted you do to your goddamn job, which you weren’t doing. Which is why you got fired, you asshole. And I don’t hate you. Hating you would require a lot more thought and energy than I’ve ever put into you.”

Her words struck something deep down inside him, but he was too angry to examine what that might be.

“If you had a problem with me, you should’ve come to me. Then and now.”

She let out a frustrated laugh. “You mean like when I tried to talk to you yesterday about how you working on the retreat isn’t appropriate? And it’s not me who has a problem with you now, it’s Stammler. He’s the one who wants you off the retreat.”

He snorted. “I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t really care what you believe.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, drawing his attention to her breasts. “And I don’t give a flying fuck what you do with your life, Sebastian. I don’t care where you work or how you spend your time. I could fit the amount I care about what you do onto a speck of dust. You got me? But Stammler is my boss, and unlike you, I actually do my job. He doesn’t want you involved, so yeah, I’m trying to make that happen. I wasn’t trying to get you fired. All I wanted was you off the retreat.”

He shook his head, his mind made up, resolve calming him in a way nothing else could right then. “You know what? Fine. Two can play at that game.”

Her eyebrows slammed down over her eyes. “What game?”

“The ‘trying to get each other fired’ game.”

“You’re ridiculous.” But some of the heat had gone out of her eyes, replaced with a cautious wariness. “Grow up.”

“Ridiculous or not, you’re going down.” He leaned in close, pulling her scent into his lungs, anger and lust and something else he couldn’t quite name all tangled up inside him. “You’re going to regret messing with me, Kayla. I promise you that.”

She let out a shuddery breath, glared at him, and stormed off. He watched her go, tilting his head to fully appreciate her ass in those skintight leggings.

“I can’t tell if you want to kill her or have sex with her,” said Patrick, sticking his head out of his now open door.

“Depends on the day,” Sebastian said dryly, shaking his head. Then he turned to Patrick. “Listen, man, I’m sorry that you had to hear that. If you want me off the retreat, that’s fine. I get it. I don’t want to cause problems for you.”

Patrick shrugged. “I’ll swap you for Bodhi, but you’re not in any trouble.” He laid a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. “I know you’ve been through a rough patch and that things have been hard for you. I also know you’re really trying to start fresh here, and I respect that. So don’t worry about your job, because you’ve got one here for as long as you want.”

“Until the snow melts,” murmured Sebastian, the weight of the future pressing down on him. Right now, things were good. He could ride and teach and had a place to stay. An environment in which temptation was at a minimum. But what would happen come April? Would he go back to New York? Without a job or a place to live? Yes, he knew he could always crash with Lucian or Max—he’d always been able to depend on his brothers, which was a freaking miracle given their family dynamic growing up. But what would happen once he was back in the city, surrounded by places associated with all of the shit from the past? And if he couldn’t go back to New York, then what? Returning to the corporate world held less appeal the longer he was out here, but he had no clue what he wanted to do instead. He didn’t feel like he was any closer to any kind of clarity on all of this than he’d been a month ago.

“Until the snow melts,” agreed Patrick, clapping him on the shoulder. “Don’t let her get to you. We’re all on your side here, okay? Forget those corporate assholes.” He could hear the warning in Patrick’s tone. It was a warning coupled with a plea. Don’t do anything stupid. Don’t do anything reckless.

But there were only so many impulses he could fight off before he finally gave in to one. And getting revenge on Kayla Bristowe was one he wasn’t going to be able to let