Page 21 of Rebellious Hearts

“I think this has nothing to do with her being with you and your work. Or the fact that you got her horizontal.”

I frowned at Max, who leaned on the bar with his elbows, confiding in me like we were best buds.

“Then what is it about?”

“Well, that’s for you to figure out, isn’t it?” Max asked with a grin. “But if you take those two things away…”

I shook my head, even more confused. “If you take those two things away, nothing’s left.”

Max straightened out. “Then there’s nothing to worry about. You can be professional, she can do a good job. Right?”

“Right…”

“Then the project will be done and dusted and there will be nothing to worry about.”

I stared at Max. He made it seem pretty damn simple, but it really wasn’t that simple. It was…

What the hell was it?

If I took those two things away, there wasn’t nothing. Something else was pissing me off, but I didn’t know what it was.

And that pissed me off even more.

I threw back the second glass of whisky. Fuck not downing the whisky.

The bottle was mine, and I could do whatever I wanted.

I was Benjamin fucking Blackwood and that had to stand forsomething.

6

SOFIA

When I woke up, I was much more equipped to handle the next couple of weeks. This was my job, and I would do it the way I always did my job.

I needed this.

Working for the Blackwoods at all looked incredible on my résumé as it was. I could go anywhere in the world with my current experience but starting a new branch for the company and schmoozing new investors was something I wanted to add to my list of achievements.

Even if it meant I had to work with Ben, who had somehow decided between our night together and now that he didn’t like me.

I wasn’t sure how that had happened, but I wasn’t going to let that upset me.

After all, that had just been one night. I didn’t do relationships and I’d blown off some steam. The fact it had been the best sex of my life had been a bonus.

Other than that, it didn’t matter who Ben Blackwood was to me as a partner because I flew solo.

And now, he was just my boss.

That was how I was going to look at it, and that was how I would get through his project without getting all tangled up in my thoughts.

Because the moment I started thinking about him and our night together, I got all hot and bothered.

And then I started overthinking about how good it had been and how standoffish he was toward me now and…

Stop it.

A car honked its horn outside my window, and I looked out.