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James’ mouth opened and closed, and I quickly stepped in to call things off before he had a mental breakdown.

Who knew Frankie could be as sharp as Cameron?

“I think that’s enough for today, gents,” I said, getting to my feet. I angled myself between them and Frankie, although I wasn’t sure who I was trying to protect.

James nodded and quickly packed his things, his colleagues filing out after him.

I waited until the door snicked shut behind them before turning to Frankie.

“You are a hellion, you know that?” I laughed. “I’ve never seen James so shaken up; he looked like he was about to wet himself.”

Frankie huffed out a breath and I noticed her racing pulse, jumping in her neck like crazy. A hellion, but also not a fan of confrontation.

Noted.

“Are there going to be more of these meetings?” she asked, turning her eyes on me.

I shook my head. “It’s your choice whether you attend or not,” I reminded her, making sure she understood that I wasn’t forcing her to attend any of them. “I take it that did nothing to change your mind?”

“Not a bit.”

“Figures.” I smirked. “You’re out of James’ league, poor kid.”

“If changing my mind is the goal with these meetings, Hayden,” she said, standing up and walking to one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, “we’re both wasting our time.”

“I know that’s how you feel,” I pressed. “But I hope you’ll consider it someday.”

“Maybe I will,” she conceded. “Maybe I’ll take a page out of your book and stick to my guns.”

“Meaning?”

“I want to ask you something,” she admitted. “And I don’t want a bullshit answer.”

“I don’t typically bullshit you.”

“Hayden.”

“Fine.”

“Why are you so careful with relationships?”

Every nerve ending in my body turned numb, my bones rigid. “I’m assuming you’re referring to personal relationships.”

She didn’t answer. I clenched my jaw, knowing that whatever I said would break any brittle truce we might have formed between us.

“I’m not interested in commitment,” I said, the words perfectly rehearsed after years of practice. It was almost too easy. “I prefer casual acquaintances, one-off things that don’t interfere with my business.”

“See, I want to buy that,” she said, turning her gaze to the city beyond the window. “But something just keeps gnawing at me. You don’t sound like you mean it.”

“Why does it matter so much?” I hedged, scrambling to deflect her questions. All I wanted to do was spin on my heel and walk out.

But this was Frankie. My mind and body weren’t seeing eye to eye. At least not when it came to her.

“I asked myself the same question,” she confessed. She folded her arms across her chest, the loose shirt tightening around her elbows. “And I can’t come up with anything that makes sense. But I think I might know what happened.”

“Is that right?”

She turned back to me, those keen eyes seeing too much. “I know it’s none of my business, but it seems like you went through a really rough breakup. And something tells me you were the one who was hurt the most.”