“Fun?”
“Yes, fun. You know, the activity that you’re supposed to do when work ends.”
“Work for me doesn’t end. I enjoy what I do.”
“I enjoy what I do too, but not 24/7. Come on, get with it. Everyone is entitled to some fun time to just unwind, regroup and relieve stress. Don’t you believe in work/life balance?”
Bas chuckled. Work/life balance? Was there really such a thing? She was beginning to sound like his brothers, who thought too much work with no playtime was a deadly sin. If that was the case, then he was looking hell straight in the face, since he was used to working into the wee hours of the morning. As long as he could grab a few hours of sleep and wake up the next morning to a decent-tasting cup of coffee, then he was good to go.
Knowing that she was waiting for a response, he said, “I get my work/life balance when I go to sleep.”
“Oh. And how many hours do you sleep each night?”
He was beginning to dislike her questions. “I get enough sleep. And speaking of sleep, it’s late and I was about to leave.”
“Okay. Good night.”
He raised a brow and shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. “Aren’t you leaving, too?”
“No, I plan to hang around awhile and color a few more pages,” she said, brushing aside a curl that had fallen on her cheek.
He frowned, not liking her answer and not liking the fact that he was tempted to reach out and curl that lock of hair around his finger and tilt her mouth to his and…
Damn. He quickly sucked in a deep breath, determined to bring his heated thoughts back on track. He then forced himself to concentrate on what she had said about not leaving yet. There was no way he was going to leave her here alone at this time of night. “What’s your day like tomorrow?”
“Since we can’t do anything at the Jones place until the inspector gets there to check things out, which probably won’t be until after lunch, I’m going to be at school in the morning.”
He cocked his head to one side, trying to figure out what she was talking about. “School? Are you taking a class or something? ”
“No. I offer my assistance to several schools where they need more help in the classrooms. Budget cuts have made smaller class sizes impossible, so I do what I can to help out. It’s something I enjoy doing. For me it’s another fun activity. And then at noon I have a business meeting.” She raised her hand over her head as if to stretch the kinks from her upper body.
He tried not to notice how the stretching made her blouse tighten over her firm breasts. He cleared his throat. “Sounds like you have a rather full schedule tomorrow, which is all the more reason you should go home and get a good night’s sleep. Let’s go.”
When she didn’t move and sat there glaring at him, he lifted a brow. “Is there a problem?”
“Yes, there’s a problem,” she said, standing and placing her hands on her hips. “First of all, let’s get a few things straight right now. You are not my keeper so don’t tell me when to go or when to stay. Secondly, I don’t like interruptions during what I consider my fun time, and thirdly, why should you care about how much sleep I get? Your concern should be with Mason Construction, and I hope you’ll do what you came here to do then leave before getting too underfoot.”
“Too underfoot?” he growled, not liking what she’d just said. In record speed he crossed the room and before she could blink, he had her backed up against a wall, his body pressed intimately to hers. “You wouldn’t know underfoot if it bit you, Jocelyn. This is underfoot,” he said heatedly, roughly, with more than a tinge of anger. “And yet this isn’t as close as it can get.”
He leaned in closer and whispered across her lips. “Don’t push me,” he warned huskily. “Especially for all the wrong reasons.”
She frowned, refusing to back down. “With you there won’t be any right reasons. And if I didn’t make myself clear the first time then I’ll repeat myself. You don’t tell me what to do.”
Bas inhaled deeply. For some reason she was itching for a fight, but he wasn’t in a mood to accommodate her tonight. And she had no idea how close she was to being thoroughly kissed again. However, with her temper flaring, he knew better than to try it, although he couldn’t stop the images flashing through his mind of all the other things he would love doing to her. Since he hadn’t slept with a woman in over eight months he was horny as hell and it wouldn’t take much to tumble her back on that damn sofa and seduce the hell out of her. But he had to remember the key element he’d learned and one he hadn’t grasped during his teen years—discipline. He knew how to pull back and behave properly when he needed to, and this was one of those times.