Ruthless King (New Orleans Malones #4)

Chapter 9

9

W ho did he think he was?

Without argument? Ha!

Jilly narrowed her eyes at him. But just as she was about to bite back, she remembered that she was trying not to piss this man off.

Danger. Danger.

It seemed that her self-preservation was kicking in.

Finally.

And really, if he wanted to clean up her mess, who was she to tell him no?

“All right.”

“No more arguments?” he asked.

Hmm. Did he sound disappointed?

No, she had to be imagining that.

“No more arguments.”

“I’m shocked. Stay there. I don’t want you stepping on any glass.”

Jilly glanced down at her shoes. What would it matter if she stepped on the glass? But she didn’t point that out to him.

Apparently, she wasn’t allowed to argue.

Pfft. Bossy men were not sexy.

Lies! All lies!

Jilly waited until he had turned away to salute him.

He quickly cleaned up the glass while she watched on in amazement. What other man had ever offered to clean up when she’d spilled or broken something?

Lowell certainly wouldn’t have. In fact, she usually had to clean up his messes. He’d seen it as her job.

God, what had she ever seen in that asshole? He’d been an insignificant jerk. While this man, who was far sexier, more potent, more masculine . . . was sweeping up glass shards like it was something he did regularly.

“Do you clean up a lot of messes?” she asked.

“You’d be surprised.”

He did? What sort of messes? Okay, maybe she didn’t actually want to know the answer to that.

“Oh. Well. That’s nice.”

What the heck? Why did she say that? He turned to give her a curious look. “Is it?”

“Not really, no. I don’t know why I said that.”

“Do I make you nervous, Jilly?” he asked as he finished cleaning up.

Did he really have to ask that? Because she kind of thought it was obvious that he scared the pants off her.

Actually . . . she patted herself down. Whew.

Her skirt was still on her.

Sometimes, she worried that she’d be in the middle of one of her sexy daydreams and she’d just start stripping.

Think he would have noticed that and said something.

“Um. How much do I owe you for the security light?”

The room went cold.

She swore that the temperature actually dropped several degrees.

Turning, he stared at her. “Excuse me?”

Uh-oh.

Why had she said that?

Because she was an idiot. But didn’t she owe him something?

“I, um, what?”

“What did you just say?” he whispered.

“I said something?”

As he put the broom and pan into the cupboard, she slid down from the counter.

“You’ll stay where you were put if you know what’s good for you.”

Dear Lord.

She was in big trouble. But she pulled herself back up onto the counter as he turned and started walking toward her.

Well, it wasn’t really walking. More like prowling.

“Don’t be cute with me. I know what you said. And trying to pretend you didn’t say it is akin to lying. I don’t like being lied to.”

“Seems like there are a lot of things you don’t like,” she said as he placed his hands on the counter on either side of her hips.

I could just pull him in toward me and kiss him. Then he’d grab me, twist me around, and bend me over the counter before ripping off my panties.

“There are,” he agreed, to her surprise. “Mostly, I don’t like to be lied to or deceived. And I don’t like when people I care about don’t allow me to help them or keep them safe. What I do like is when the people close to me come to me for help when they need it, rather than try to solve things themselves.”

Well, at least she wasn’t someone he would consider close to him. Or that he cared about.

So she didn’t have to worry about the fact that there were many things he didn’t know about her life.

“You solve all of your family’s problems?” she asked.

“I solve the big issues. The ones they bring to me. I wish they’d give me all of their problems, but I’ve been told that’s too controlling.”

It was.

“I don’t believe there’s such a thing as too controlling.”

Okay, then.

Umm. Jilly really didn’t know what to say to that.

“Are there any problems you want me to solve?”

Dun-Dun-Dun.

She didn’t know what that noise in her head signified. But she thought it might be heralding the fact that it was about to explode.

It was like he knew what was going on with her. . . but there was no way he could, right?

Besides, she didn’t need his help. She was solving everything on her own. Another few months and things would be . . . well, better.

“No?”

“You don’t sound so sure. You can tell me anything, Jillian. Understand? If there’s a problem, I’ll help you solve it.”

“Well, I do have one problem that I can’t solve.”

Satisfaction filled his face. “Tell me.”

“Might be best if I show you.”