Page 40 of One Bad Idea

Well, goodie for him.

As I stared stupidly across the distance, I tried to reconcile the Shirtless Wonder with the perfectly respectable looking guy leaning against the door jamb.

Absently, I murmured, "Pissed?"

"Yeah," Jaden said, giving his brother a hard look. "Pissed. As in 'pissed off.'"

I wasn't following. "What?"

He looked back to me and said, "You wanna know what I am? That's the word."

Apparently, he was doing whatI'dwanted to do – completing his brother's sentence.

Now, I was doubly irritated. After all, the word "pissed" hadn't even been on my list.

From behind the desk, Jax gave a low scoff. "Yeah, what else is new?"

"I'll tell you what's new," Jaden replied."Her."His dark gaze shifted back to me. "Unless you're here to quit?"

I felt my eyes narrow. Hewantedme to quit. That much was obvious. I gave Jax a sideways glance, wondering what he'd say.

I had, after all, attempted to quit just a few moments earlier, assuming that Cassidy could take my place.

Apparently, that wasn't an option, which meant that I'd be stupid to walk away now, especially if I wanted some way to pay the rent – not just for me, but for Cassidy, too.

That settled it.

I gave Jaden a slow, evil smile. "Me? Quit?" Deliberately, I widened the smile until my face literally hurt. "I wouldn't dream of it."

As the words echoed out between us, I realized that I actually meant it. If Cassidy truly couldn't take my place, I was determined to make this job work, if only for a year.

The money aside, it would be a terrific addition to my resume. These guys were bigtime – even more bigtime than the music producer back in Nashville. Regardless of how I felt, I'd be a fool to not jump at this opportunity.

Jaden was staring now. "Nowthat'sfucking scary."

I ditched the smile and blinked innocently in his direction. "What?"

"That look." He turned to his brother and said, "You saw it, right?"

I almost rolled my eyes. He wasn't scared. He was just being an ass.

Still, I couldn’t resist tweaking him just a little. "If you think that's scary, you should taste my coffee."

In reality, I made great coffee, but a little fear would do him good – or so I thought, because as it turned out, the joke was on me.

"Yeah?" he said. "Well, I don't drink coffee."

I felt myself frown. "Tea?"

"No."

"Well, whatdoyou drink?"

Jaden gave a low scoff. "Don't you know?" He smiled. "The blood of my enemies." And with that, he turned and strode away.

I looked back to Jax. After a long, perplexed pause, I said, "He was kidding, right?"

Jax gave a tight shrug. "If you wanna quit, now's your chance."