The Job (Auctioned) by Cara Dee (highly illogical behavior txt) 📕

make a jerky motion over the couch that had me tumbling down. But in the last second, I managed to grab on to his beater, which ripped at the seams over his shoulders. The glare he gave me when my back hit the cushions was unearthly, and I saw his fist coming a mile away.

“Don’t you—” I gnashed my teeth and got both my hands around his clenched fist.

He gave me the most condescending look, one which didn’t require any translation. I got it. I was focusing all my strength on one single blow, and all he had to do was plant a knee between my legs and use his free hand to get me in a choke hold.

“You’re dumber than you look sometimes,” he sneered, chest heaving. “What’re you gonna do now? You’re just an annoying little insect.”

“Fuck you,” I spat out. “You can’t swat me away.”

“Looks like I can.” He pressed me down a little harder, to the point where I had to refocus my efforts. I coughed and tugged on his arm. Blood rushed to my face, and fury set in. I had limits.

Hauling in a strained breath, I punched him in the gut and kicked against his thigh.

He cursed me to the pits of hell. In an attempt to immobilize my legs, he made the mistake of loosening his hold on my throat to get both his knees between mine, and I took advantage as quickly as I could.

I bitch-slapped the fucker right across his face.

Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit.

He’d been holding back before. I didn’t stand a goddamn chance when he swiftly used his body to trap me against the couch, and he easily restrained my wrists over my head too. Unless I wanted to ram my forehead against his, I was out of options.

My lungs squeezed at the sheer mass of him pressing against me. Fuck me, I had fantasies that started out this way, only with less violence. Okay, sometimes with less violence.

He shifted on top of me, and it became impossible to switch gears once my brain dove for the gutter. Even though I hurt basically everywhere, all I could think of was that I hadn’t been this close to him since we were fighting shit out like normal brothers in high school.

“You can only push me so far, Case,” he said, out of breath. His low voice was full of threat. “If I don’t wanna talk, I won’t fucking talk.”

A ball of nerves tightened my gut, and I flicked my gaze to his. So much anger and raw vulnerability swam in his eyes.

“I don’t accept those terms,” I rasped.

He chuckled darkly and peered down at our aligned bodies. “You’re not in a position to make demands, little brother.” Then he released one of my wrists and grabbed my jaw tightly, and before I could do fucking anything, he pushed harder against me, cursed under his breath, and slanted his mouth over mine.

The pure shock that bolted through me rendered me useless in a hot second. It didn’t compute—any of it. He’d fucking fried my brain. This couldn’t be happening. Maybe he’d lost it. That had to be it. He’d gone completely mental, and that was why he was currently swiping his tongue into my mouth.

Holy fuck, Boone was kissing me.

My body liquified underneath him as waves of heat rolled over me, but my mind was tinged with panic. Boone was straight. He wasn’t feeling well. He did stupid shit sometimes, and I was the one who had to live with the regret later.

He stole a deep, sensual, hungry, desperate kiss that forced my surrender. I took an unsteady breath and slipped my hands free, then palmed his face and kissed him back tentatively.

He’s gonna regret it soon, moron.

“Boone,” I murmured hoarsely.

He wrenched away a few inches and stared at me unseeingly. He was so far away in his own world it wasn’t even funny.

He swallowed hard and furrowed his brow.

“Talk to me,” I whispered.

That brought him back. He sucked in a ragged breath and nearly flew off the couch.

Yeah, this was gonna blow.

I pushed myself up on my elbows and merely watched as he located his shirt, stuck his feet into his shoes, and patted his pockets for…I didn’t know. Phone, keys?

“I gotta go,” he muttered, never looking my way. Hurt slashed through me, but the worry won out. I had to give him some space.

He stalked out, maybe not even aware one of the wide straps to his beater was completely off, and I felt his departure in the foundation of the trailer. Every step.

I blew out a breath and sat up.

The timer in the kitchen buzzed.

So I guessed the pizza was ready.

Maybe I’d accidentally switched off notifications…

I reached for my phone and brought the screen to life, but no, still no response from my brother.

Fuck. I dreaded to think what he was going through. At least he was at Mom’s place. He wasn’t alone.

“Daddy, are you dying?” Ace asked.

I tapped my pen against my lip and glanced back at her in question.

She nodded at the TV. “Niles said something funny, and you didn’t laugh.”

Oh. Well, I could blame work. I cleared my throat and motioned vaguely at my laptop, the three notepads, printouts, and one iPad I had on the coffee table. “Just distracted by work.”

She hummed and slid forward on the couch. “Can I help?”

I mustered a small smile and picked up a stack of printouts and the yellow highlighter. “You can go through these documents and look for the name Jin Yu.” I spelled it out for her too. “Whenever you see it in the list, mark it.”

“Like in Clueless!” Ace said triumphantly.

I grinned. “Exactly like in Clueless. You know how to make a father proud, baby.”

She smiled in satisfaction and got straight to it.

I went back to worrying about Boone and cataloguing AJ Lange’s driving route today on my iPad. The man went to work early. At six-thirty, he’d pulled into the offices of