Priceless Treasure(39)

“Look, Ashton. I know that a man like you most likely doesn’t enjoy rejection, and now you think you need to retaliate, but this is unprofessional of you. I didn’t do anything wrong. I just explained myself to you as honestly as I could.”

He stopped and looked at her, his expression never changing. Maybe he planned to make her life completely miserable in hopes that she would just quit and he didn’t have to risk getting sued for firing her. If he went that way, she would probably be much better off by giving him what he wanted — leaving his company, not having sex with him, of course.#p#分页标题#e#

“I’m sorry if you’re somehow offended, Savvy,” he said before an almost cruel smile ran across his lips. “Actually, I take that back. I really don’t care if you think that I’m being inappropriate.”

So cold. He was being so unbelievably cold. She was grateful she hadn’t slept with the man, because if this was the way he treated women, she wanted nothing at all to do with him. No, thank you.

“Do you want me to quit? Is that what you’re trying to get me to do?” She might as well say it, though she was terrified of his answer. She needed the money, and she wanted the ocean.

He was silent for several heartbeats, as if seriously considering what she’d asked him. Then his eyes blazed before he managed to tamp the flames back down.

“No. Then I’d be even more shorthanded. Just do your job and we won’t have a problem.”

Savvy wanted to slap him, scream at him, push him over the side of the dock, and she wasn’t sure in which order she wanted to do all those things. So instead of getting instantly fired by doing one or all three, she decided now was a good time to make her showstopping exit.

So she stomped off. This conversation was getting them nowhere, and she was finished with going in circles. A relieved breath left her when he didn’t follow.

She’d just avoid him the rest of the day and then she’d sail off into the seas, getting a blessed ten days away from him. The fates couldn’t be so set against her that she wouldn’t have this little slice of freedom.

Not even her luck was that bad.





Chapter Eighteen


Ashton felt like a complete ass. He was a complete ass, actually. He was in a lousy mood, and Savvy was a large part of the reason for that, but she didn’t deserve the way he’d taken out his wrath on her. Seeing her with another man had set him off and he’d been a complete monster since Saturday night. Her continual rejection of him wasn’t helping either.

Then he’d been so irate over that kiss, he’d told himself to leave, only to turn around and make sure she was thinking of no other man than him. But dammit, if he was an ass to her, then it didn’t matter how much she desired him, she’d want nothing to do with him. He was spinning in circles, and it was time to stop that.

She wasn’t going to speak to him again, let alone spend any amount of time with him. Not that he wanted to spend time with anyone of the female persuasion. Not after what he’d gone through a couple of days ago.

He’d ended it with Kalli, and that hadn’t gone as expected. She’d screamed at him for three hours straight. It was enough to make him become a monk. Damn, women could be pissy when they considered themselves scorned. Hell, pissy was a freaking understatement. Hell was an understatement.

He decided that some nice grunt work would be the best thing he could do, so for the next few hours he did all those tasks he’d been accused — during his more entitled days — of being unwilling or unable to do anymore. And by his own father, who naturally knew best. Damn, he needed to stop with the snide comments, even if they were only in his head.

As the sun rose higher in the sky and the temperature reached the mid-eighties, Ashton felt good. Sweat dripped off him as he pushed himself harder and harder.

After a little while longer, he stripped down to his shorts and dove into the water, instantly cooling his anger down. Okay, the work was helping too. He wasn’t nearly as ticked off as he’d been when he’d started busting his ass today.

But just as he was climbing out of the water, he heard a screech, and then a groan from his foreman. Dammit! He knew he’d forgotten something. He hadn’t changed the security code for the docks yet, and his former fiancée was moving rapidly toward him.#p#分页标题#e#

His men were going to get off on this big-time blowout. And to Ashton’s complete joy, he looked over and found Savvy speaking with a couple of the guys and in easy hearing range. Okay, he wasn’t quite finished with his sarcastic internal monologue.