Chapter 6
She avoided him all day long. Kendrick wasn’t the type of man to sit back and be ignored. If he wanted something, he took it—period. The problem he found though, was that she was able to easily ignore him, like he hadn’t made love to her beautiful body. She acted like things hadn’t changed. He should have been freaking out because of his thoughts of wanting more, but instead he was freaking out because Peyton did everything she could all day long to stay away from him.
He didn’t get it. The sex had been fucking unreal. She was the first woman he wanted to go back to. When he finally had gotten her alone, she kept her eyes down and didn’t give him a chance to say a word. Her phone went off, and instead of ignoring the call like he hoped, she picked it up. He hadn’t missed her grimace and chuckled, realizing she answered her phone to avoid him, and whoever was calling her wasn’t someone she wanted to talk to.
She slid out of the room and quickly disappeared down the hall. It didn’t take him long to realize she regretted it. He shouldn’t have cared. It made his life easier since he’d broken his fucking rules for her. There wouldn’t be any mix of personal and professional. The one thing he worked hard to keep. No one in town knew of the things he did, and the women he slept with didn’t know anything about him. He fucked them, plain and simple.
How come that bothered him now? Before meeting Peyton, he never had an issue with how he handled business. He was a sexual man, and he didn’t want any attachments. He didn’t want a whiny woman making expectations of him. He liked his freedom to do as he chose. He’d even gone so far as to pick a specific night of the week to go stay in the city away from home. He had an apartment and everything. He went to a bar or club, picked up a woman, took her home, fucked her, and then sent her on her way. She was never allowed to stay the night, and he was always in control. It worked.
Until it didn’t. Peyton wasn’t someone he’d take to his apartment. She was someone he wanted to take to his bed. That thought alone shot a thrill right to his dick. He had been hard all day long. His poor dick didn’t realize he was getting the cold shoulder.
The day was over, and by the time he finished his stuff, she was gone. Her car was gone, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she was gone for good. He hoped not and would hunt her down. She was an adult and couldn’t run from him. Kendrick Adams got what he wanted, and now he wanted Peyton. In his bed for as long as he could handle.
He smiled. He probably just needed to have her another time to get her out of his system. It hadn’t ever happened before, but there was a first time for everything.
* * * *
The next morning, Kendrick waited patiently to see if he would have to go to her home and drag her in by her sexy long ponytail. Five till eight, she walked in and smiled.
“’Morning,” she said and he watched, confused, as she made her way past him. There was no tension, no glare, and no bitter tone.
He followed behind her, stepping into her office as she set her stuff down. “You okay?”
She blinked her green eyes at him and nodded. “I’m good.”
He watched her curiously. “Okay, get a room ready. I have a family coming in early. All five kids are sick. They’ll be here in a few minutes. Tammy has to work, so I see her before office hours.”
“Okay, will do.”
Kendrick left the room, shaking his head. She was a moody woman. One minute she was biting his head off, then she was kissing him, and then all day she ignored him. Now she came in acting like nothing happened. He was offended. She should have been blushing and batting her lashes at him, hoping for more. Right now, he didn’t have time to question her. Not with the five kids coming in. He had to be ready for a lot of crying and violence. Tammy’s children weren’t the most pleasant, especially when they were sick.
Less than ten minutes later, Peyton stuck her head in his office. “The big family is here, and those kids are sick as heck.”
He nodded. “I’ll be right there; you have them all set up?”
“Yeah, did temps and updated their charts too.”
“Thank you.”
Her eyes widened in surprise before she walked away. He wasn’t that much of an ass, was he? She was too surprised that he was polite. Shit. She had already told him she didn’t like him. How the hell was he going to get her to come home with him? He wanted her desperately. Already he craved her touch, her kiss. It was pathetic. He stormed out of his office and took a deep breath before he went into the room. The room was littered with kids ranging from two to twelve. All five of them were pale and gaunt looking. He looked over the charts. All had fevers and then the littlest one vomited all over the floor. The flu. There wasn’t much he could do.