The Spanish Love Deception novel Chapter 18

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Aaron straightened, leaning his body toward me just the splinter of a hair. He took a deep breath as I seemed to hold mine, waiting for him to say whatever was brewing in his mind.

“You’ve never needed anyone to fight your battles, Catalina. That’s one of the things I respect the most about you.”

His words did something to my chest. Something that created a kind of pressure I wasn’t comfortable with.

Aaron never said stuff like that. Not to anyone and particularly not to me.

I opened my mouth to tell him that it didn’t matter, that I didn’t care, that we could just drop it, but he held up a hand, stopping me.

“On the other hand, I never pegged you for someone who would cower and not give their best when faced with a challenge. Whether it’s unfairly imposed or not,” he said, turning away and facing his laptop. “So, what’s it going to be?”

My jaw clamped closed.

I … I wasn’t cowering. I was not scared of this thing. I knew I could do it. I just … hell, I was just exhausted. It was hard, finding the motivation when something was this discouraging. “I’m not—”

“What is it going to be, Catalina?” His fingers moved on the laptop pad with practice. “Whining or working?”

“I am not whining,” I huffed.

Clark Kent look-alike jerk.

“Then, we work,” he fired back.

I took a good look at him, taking in how his jaw bunched up with determination. Perhaps some irritation too.

“There’s no we here,” I breathed out.

He shook his head, and I swore the ghost of a smile graced his lips for a fragment of a second.

“I swear to God …” He looked up, as if he were asking the heavens for patience. “You are taking the help. That’s it.” He peeked down at his watch, exhaling. “I don’t have the whole day to convince you.” Scowl back in place, he returned to the Aaron I knew. “We’ve wasted enough time already.”

This scowling Aaron I felt more comfortable with. He didn’t go around, saying stupid stuff, like that he respected me.

Now, it was my turn to scowl, as I was painfully aware of how I wasn’t kicking Aaron out of my office anymore.

“I’m as stubborn as you are,” he murmured, typing something in his laptop. “You know I am.”

Returning my attention to my computer screen, I decided to allow this strange truce to settle between us. Just for the sake of InTech’s reputation. For my own mental health, too, because he was driving me completely crazy.

We’d be two scowling idiots who would tolerate each other for an evening, I guessed.

“Fine. I’ll let you help me if you are so set on it,” I told him, trying not to focus on that warm ball of emotion forming in my belly.

One that felt a lot like gratitude.

He peeked at me quickly, something unreadable in his eyes. “We’ll need to start from scratch. Open a blank template.”

Looking away, I tried to focus on my screen.

We had been in silence for a couple of minutes when out of the corner of my eye, I perceived movement. Quickly after, he placed something on my desk. Right between us.

“Here,” I heard him say from my side.

Looking down, my gaze found something wrapped in wax paper. It was a square, about three or four inches long.

“What’s this?” I asked him, my eyes jumping to his profile.

“A granola bar,” he answered without looking at me, typing on his keyboard. “You are hungry. Eat it.”

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