It was a disease, I'd swear.
But I'd found the line, and I wanted to toe it as much as possible. I wanted to see how much shit she'd take before she finally snapped and really lost it with me.
Maybe it was because I wanted her to break her own line-to go past the point of annoyance where she tells me to go away and tries to make me.
Maybe it was because ever since I'd come back and laid eyes on her, I'd been unable to shake her. I wanted to know how much it would take for my lips to wipe that glossy, red lipstick off hers. I wanted to know how hard I'd have to kiss her before she'd be whimpering in my mouth.
And that was a problem. I had no idea how to handle it. All I could do was chant "off-limits" inside my head before I did something stupid. I needed to remember that. She was the one person I couldn't have.
It made me want her more.
I had no place wanting her. She was so many different kinds of forbidden it wasn't even close to funny. My best friend's sister, my boss, the person I'd hated my whole life.
The only thing that would hold me back was the knowledge she hated me more than I did her.
If I kissed her, she'd probably remove my cock with her bare hands and then hit me with it.
That was just the kind of person she was.
I was a little scared of her, if I was honest. Even if I knew she had a softer, rarely-seen side, the fact remained that Raven Archer was a brutal, sharp-tongued vixen capable of building you up and tearing you down in the same sentence.
I got out of my car and headed for the bar. From what Alexandra had told me, they wouldn't be far behind me, and although I'd left the kitchen clean, I was smart enough to know that my kind of clean wasn't Aleta Karras' type of clean.
I retrieved the key from beneath the mat in front of the door and let myself in. The lights were all on, and the door echoed around the open space when I closed it behind me. It was completely silent with Raven nowhere in sight, so I tucked the key into my pocket for safe keeping and headed for the kitchen.
It was just as silent in here. Checking the dishwasher was my first job, as well as glancing around the place just in case there was something I'd missed last night.
There was always something I'd missed.
"Shit fuck shit!" Raven burst through the doors, her wet hair bundled into a mess on top of her head.
"Good morning." I smirked over my shoulder as I opened the dishwasher.
"Ten minutes!" She tucked a wet bit of hair behind her ear. "Ten freaking minutes. Not to mention I have to call my supplier again because my invoice is wrong yet again which always takes half an hour and we don't even have the ingredients for omelets at least not the kind my grandmother makes and she's not coming alone they're all damn well coming except Ryan who managed to get out of this so why does it always fall to me?"
I blinked at her. "Now, take a deep breath, and start again."
Raven curled her fingers into a handgun motion and poked herself in her temple with her middle finger. "Boom," she muttered. "Gotta call the shitty supplier. No ingredients. Ryan got out of this."
"That's stressful. Yet, I notice you had time to do your make-up."
Those bright blue eyes of hers pierced into me. "Don't fuck with me today."
"Fucking hell, Raven. The second your family walk through the door, your grandmother will take over and nobody will notice if you go make a damn phone call. Your mom said they were getting ingredients on the way, and there's a meat and fish delivery coming in forty-five minutes."
She threw her arms up in the air and turned away. "Of course there is! Let's add one more thing to the list!"
I got up and followed her out of the kitchen, stopping her by grabbing her shoulders from behind. "Did you have coffee yet?"
She took a deep breath. Her shoulders sagged on its release. "When do you think I've had time to have coffee?"
Slowly, I steered her toward the nearest seat and sat her down. "Let me make you coffee."
"I don't have-"
"Sit!"
She lowered herself back down into the chair at my sharp look. She wasn't the only one who could stop somebody in their tracks with one glance. I already knew that having her family in town was enough of a clusterfuck without Raven being out of control.
I smiled to myself as I turned on the coffee machine behind the bar. She was the quintessential control freak-everything had a plan, and every plan had its own time and place to be enacted. But, sometimes, just sometimes, that control flew out of the window when she reached a point that she no longer had fingers on which to count the things she couldn't control.