Seeds of Desire (8 page)

Maybe she’d remove everything and demand he fuck her again,
despite her insistence that it wouldn’t be repeated.

Footsteps outside the door startled her. Horny as hell or
not, she didn’t dare to hear his snide comments if he walked in on her with her
hand between her legs. She slid her hands under herself to prevent temptation
as he entered the room.

He set it beside the bed. “It’s a mop bucket,” he informed
her. “She said they didn’t have anything else. She seemed a little suspicious
of why I wanted it until I told her about your fall. Evidently it’s already on
the local news.”

Cassidy blinked, stunned. “Oh my gosh! You have to be
kidding.”

She changed the TV to one of the local network channels,
which had just finished up its evening newscast. “And to prove that Earth Day
isn’t good for everyone,” the anchor said, “one young woman is recovering today
after an accident at the site of a JaBro Corporation tree planting. Cassidy
Shelton, a consultant to JaBro—”

She shut it off. “Crap.” She flopped onto her stomach on the
bed. “Now everyone’s going to know I’m a klutz. Don’t they have anything better
to put on the news around here?”

He laughed. “In this neck of the woods? Probably not. Don’t
worry about it. You knew the media was out there, and they didn’t see much else
to talk about.”

“Yeah, at least this will be more publicity for your daddy’s
company,” she grumbled.

“Look, I don’t want that kind of publicity,” Jared snapped.
He knelt beside the bed and looked her in the eye, anger and concern filling
his gaze. “You might have been seriously hurt and I’m still not convinced they
shouldn’t have checked you out better to make sure that head injury isn’t any
worse. I’m not even thinking about JaBro in this. I’m worried about you. Don’t
you realize that?”

Her heart rose in her chest. He cared about her. The
realization scared the hell out of her, after all her denial that she might
feel anything for him. She’d been lying to herself, and now she didn’t dare to
be honest. So she took refuge in anger. “No, I don’t. Usually you’re all about
JaBro, so why would I think you’d care about me for any reason other than what
I can do for the company?”

“You really think that’s true?” he asked softly. He sat
beside her, close enough she felt his body heat. She trembled and tensed to
keep from responding. “I do care about you. Why do you think I agreed to go on
these trips with you? If I hated you as much as you seem to hate me, I sure as
hell wouldn’t have volunteered to spend days on the road with you.” He paused.
“At the risk of bringing up something I promised not to, if I hated you, last
night would never have happened.”

No.
No way could she handle him telling her he cared.
Even though he’d shown it through all his actions today. She’d wanted to hear
it, but now that he’d said it she didn’t know what to do. Their entire
relationship, right from the day she’d been hired, had been based on mutual
dislike and contempt. After the day she’d had, it was completely unfair of him
to topple that perception on its proverbial ear.

Especially when his words brought back her fantasies about
him.

She tried to steer things back to more comfortable ground.
“I thought you did it because it was best for the company and because Daddy
told you to.”

“I did it because I think you’d be best for me, and I told
myself to get to know you better,” he said quietly.

He had to be kidding. Jared didn’t like her. Otherwise he
wouldn’t get such a thrill out of annoying her. As for traveling with her, it
was part of his job as the JaBro PR person. He hadn’t had much choice in the
matter.

What the hell does he mean, I’d be best for him? Best for
what?

“You know, if you keep that mouth open I might have to use
it for target practice with some of these french fries,” Jared quipped.

“That’s more like it. Good old Jackass Jared.” She shoved a
few fries into her mouth and made a point of chewing with her mouth open.

He didn’t appear amused. “Is that really what you think of
me? That I’m a jackass?” he asked.

She studied him. She couldn’t possibly have hurt his
feelings. Again. Like she’d done at dinner the night before. He should have
been over that by now. Insulting and jabbing each other was just part of their
interaction.

The dejected look on his face said otherwise, though. To
quell her guilt, she replied, “You sure act like one a lot of the time. No, I
don’t think you are one. You’re just a good actor.”

“Thanks. That makes me feel infinitely better. You really
can’t stand me, can you?” He stood and walked to the door. “Which leads me to
wonder why you agreed to do these trips with me, and why you wanted me to stay
with you in the hospital. If you hate me so much, why would you want anything
to do with me? Why did you come to my room last night?”

She had hurt him. Damn it.
I want a lot to do with you
because I do care about you, damn it! I want you. Get into this bed and touch
me, and I’ll show you just what I think of you.
But she refused to allow
herself to say any of that. “The company hired me for these trips, and who says
I can’t stand you?” For the moment, she chose to avoid his question about the
night before.

“You sure as hell act like it,” he said angrily. “Always
making these snippy little comments to me. What am I supposed to think? You
obviously don’t like me a bit. You’re sure not attracted to me, or you wouldn’t
say stuff like that.”

She couldn’t even begin to figure out how the subject of
attraction had been dragged into this. “I work with you. I’m not supposed to be
attracted to you,” she pointed out. “And you make the same kind of comments to
me.”

“Nope, I make sexually suggestive comments.” He leaned
against the door, arms folded, and stared at her as if seeing her for the first
time. “And you shoot me down every time. I thought maybe it was your way of
playing along. Maybe not. It might just be a hint that I should give up and get
a life.” He walked back to the bed and picked up the bucket. “I’ll bring the
water and stuff so I can wash your hair. I assume you can stand me long enough
to let me do that.” He went into the bathroom and shut the door.

Sexually suggestive. Yes, his comments were definitely that.
She’d thought he only said them to piss her off. From what he’d just said, he’d
meant them. Apparently, he hadn’t intended to bother her, despite how crude and
lewd his words were. He’d meant to mask stronger feelings for her. Which gave
her pause. Maybe he really did like her. Maybe even more than liked.

Cared for her. He’d said that. And caring for someone was
only a step or two away from loving them. No way did Jared Jackson love her.

No way would she let him. Despite her heart jumping at the
idea.

She’d misjudged him. All this time, she’d thought he
disliked her as much as she did him. That was the only logical explanation for
his teasing and sniping at her. His sniping hadn’t been like hers, though.
Thinking about it, she realized he
had
mostly teased her sexually,
making comments that had both annoyed and aroused her.

His extremely awkward way of telling her he wanted her
without actually admitting it, perhaps. She closed her eyes for a moment. He
wanted her, she wanted him. If they could just get the hell out of their own
ways and speak to each other honestly for once, this might work out.

If she managed to apologize to him for being a bitch. Which
she definitely had been. She hated hurting people but hadn’t even thought about
how her words struck him. Jackass Jared didn’t deserve that much consideration.

But if he wasn’t really a jackass…

Chapter Seven

He returned carrying the bucket, a pair of washcloths, a
towel and a small bottle of motel shampoo. “Have a seat in the chair,” he
mumbled. “I wouldn’t want you to have to sleep in the wet spot.” He paused and
looked at her with pain-filled eyes. “Oops, that’s suggestive, isn’t it?”

“Jared…” She had to say something. She refused to let it go
at this. Even if it made her some kind of sap, she hated seeing him hurt like
this, especially when she’d been the cause. “Look, I’m sorry. I thought…” She
trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence. “I don’t know what I thought. I
didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

He shrugged. “No harm, no foul. You aren’t into me except as
a verbal sparring partner. And occasionally a masturbation tool. It’s all
good.” He dunked one of the washcloths into the water. “Are you going to move,
or do you want a wet bed?”

“I want to make up for making you feel like shit.” She went
to the chair, where she sat staring at the wall to avoid looking at him. “I
don’t hate you, Jared, and I don’t think of you as nothing more than a sparring
partner and masturbation tool.” The words rankled, but after the way she’d
acted, she deserved them. She swallowed her anger and went on, “I wanted
you
last night, not a sex toy. Masturbation, I can do on my own. And I—I never
thought about being into you as anything, because I thought you didn’t like
me.”

He ran the washcloth over her hair. Water trickled down her
neck, but she didn’t mind it.

“Guess maybe we have a failure to communicate here,” he
said, sounding less angry. “I thought you despised the ground I walked on, even
if I tried to avoid environmental impact.”

She laughed. “You didn’t impact the environment. You
definitely impacted me.” More than she wanted to admit. He’d bugged the hell
out of her, made her feel as if she was some tree-hugger he only tolerated
because he had to. Because of him, she’d believed she had something to prove,
even though she shouldn’t have had to prove anything.

Oh, hell yeah, he’d impacted her.

She swallowed the many possible comments that came to her
lips and instead said, “The way you acted around me, I thought you didn’t have
such a great opinion of me. I was just some tree-hugger your boss stuck you
with.”

“Like I said, a failure to communicate.” He gently ran the
washcloth over the area around her cut, avoiding the stitches. “Do you remember
the day you came in to talk to my dad and uncle?”

She did. He’d sat behind his father’s desk, in his dad’s
chair with his feet up on the heavy oak surface and watched silently while his
father and uncle spent an hour asking her questions about the environment and
why JaBro would benefit from having a consultant on staff. Although she’d
remained focused and had answered all their questions professionally, Jared had
drawn her attention, flustering her with his presence. Even then she’d found
him attractive in the tailored slacks and navy-blue dress shirt he’d worn.
She’d tried to look at him as little as possible so he wouldn’t throw her off,
but had failed to keep her eyes off him entirely.

He hadn’t spoken a word until the end of the interview, when
he’d looked her in the eye and said, “Welcome aboard.” Even though she hadn’t
been offered the position until two days later.

His presence that day had made her uncomfortable, his
silence even more so. And the discomfort had annoyed the hell out of her. Even
then, she’d felt as though she had something to prove to him, and she’d
answered the interview questions accordingly. She wondered whether she would
have managed the questions as well as she had if he hadn’t been there staring
at her. She’d gotten just angry enough to work her butt off for the position.

“I looked at you that day and thought, this is the woman I
want.” Jared continued wetting her hair, stroking it with the washcloth. It
relaxed her more than she would have expected, and she let her eyes drift
closed. “I think my dad and uncle would have contracted with you anyway. I
guaranteed they did by promising to make the rounds of these planting expeditions
only if you were the one going with me.”

The water running down her neck made Cassidy shiver. Or
maybe Jared’s words caused it. He’d been interested in her from the moment he
saw her, and he’d admitted it.

It wasn’t possible. She had to be imagining this. Her head
injury must have caused her to hallucinate. She didn’t doubt that lust at first
sight existed, and she could kind of accept that Jared lusted for her. However,
if he’d gone to those lengths to ensure she had the consultant position, there
had to be more to it than lust.

There couldn’t be. She’d never suspected he might actually
like her, never mind any stronger emotions than that. Even when she’d
discovered he wanted her, she hadn’t thought it had to do with anything but
sex. They were too different. He treated her like a sparring partner, not a
love interest, and she thought of him as nothing more than a spoiled rich kid.

She had to be dreaming the words Jared had said.

Except the water on her skin felt very real, and so did
Jared’s hands as he gently rubbed shampoo into her hair. “You never knew that,
did you?” he murmured. “You never realized why they gave you the job, or how I
felt about you right from the start.”

His words yanked her out of her pleasant peace. She’d only
been hired because he’d told his father and uncle to hire her. If he hadn’t
been in the room that day, someone else might have been given the position.
That pissed her off. “I thought I got the job on my own merits,” she snapped.
“I didn’t realize you bribed your father and uncle into hiring me.”

“Oh brother, I knew I should have kept my mouth shut. That
isn’t what I meant at all. You would have had the job anyway! Did you miss the
part where I said that? My father and uncle don’t take my hiring advice
generally. Maybe I sealed the deal. They still made the choice. They pretty
much laughed at me when I gave them my ultimatum, because they already wanted
you on JaBro’s team.”

Right. And he thought that would make her feel better. Some
horny PR rep had demanded she be the one traveling with him, and since his dad
owned the company, lo and behold, he’d been granted his wish. It had nothing to
do with her knowledge of the environment, or her college degree, or any of the
other things she’d done in her life to show her competence. Nothing he said
would make her feel better about that. Not a chance.