Chapter 16

“You’re spinning this out of control, Lily,” Casper said, but his words didn’t really register in my mind. We had been going back and forth with this for the past hour. We were both enraged, locked in a flight that had another three hours to go, and there was no means for an escape.

“Please tell me how I’ve spun this out of control. Isn’t it exactly what you want from me? Isn’t that the reason why you didn’t want to give me details of the job earlier and ruin our night?” I managed to finally keep my voice low as I sat in front of him, but I was still as angry as before.

Casper wasn’t smiling anymore. Instead, he had an annoyed expression on his face like he wanted to get out of there, or wanted me gone. Clearly, the job offer wasn’t on the table anymore. He didn’t have to say it in words for me to know.

“I don’t want to go into the details of all this, Lily. You’ve made up your mind about me and what I have to offer, and nothing I can say can change that,” he said quietly. Casper had managed to remain calm throughout this whole ordeal, while I was within an inch of hurling myself at him.

“You have given me all the reasons I needed to form an impression of you. You invited me on this trip to test me out. To see if you would like having me around your office,” I spat at him.

Casper sat back in the seat and sighed. “And you’re telling me that you didn’t enjoy it?”

I gulped and looked away from him. He was right. I had enjoyed it. I had initiated the sex a few times. I’d wanted him, I wanted him right now, but that wasn’t the point. Being seduced or being fatally attracted to him wasn’t the same as agreeing to be his on-call fuckbuddy.

“Be that as it may,” I said, and watched as a smile appeared on his face, just for a moment, and then it was gone again, “it doesn’t mean that I want to keep doing this forever. That I want to be available for sex at your beck and call. If you had an actual job to offer me, I might consider it.” I crossed my arms over my breasts and saw how his gaze landed there. In that instant, he was imagining me naked. Then it was gone again as his face darkened when he remembered what I had just said.

“Who said it’s not a real job? Stop making assumptions,” he snapped at me. I hadn’t anticipated this tone of voice from him, and it surprised me. I managed to simply roll my eyes and look away. We both knew it wasn’t a real job. It wasn’t just my assumption. He’d offered me that job, even on that first day, because he’d liked what he saw. He saw me for my body, and he wanted me.

“I’m not going to force you into anything,” he added.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Good, because you can’t. I am not going to give in to everything you say. I’m sorry, Casper, but this time you’re not going to have your way.”

Neither of us touched any of the food in front of us, even though I was very hungry. I was just hoping that my stomach wouldn’t rumble again.

He laughed, and I snapped my head around to meet his eyes. How was he laughing in the middle of all this? How was any of this remotely funny?

“It’s funny how you think you’re going to bring me to my knees,” he said, surprising me further by standing up.

“I don’t intend on doing that. You’re highly mistaken,” I said, raising my chin at him. Casper was smiling again – a forced plastic smile that hid the fury that he was feeling inside. But Casper Argent was too polished; he was too much of a gentleman to show it outwardly. And that set my teeth on edge. I wanted him to be furious, to show his anger, to show some sort of emotion other than lust.

“I can see what you’re trying to do, Lily, as much as you might deny it. You’re trying to hold me down, pretending to be mad at me because you think that would somehow change me. Well, it’s not working,” Casper said, standing in front of me with his legs spread apart.

I huffed and looked away from him. What he was saying wasn’t making any sense to me. I wasn’t trying to change him. Why was he fixed on that? I was upset because he thought he could have his way with me, try and lure me with a lucrative job offer, and then just use me. How could he not see that I wasn’t going to be his puppet?

“Whatever, Casper. I don’t care anymore. I just want this trip to end so I can go back to my normal life,” I snapped at him.

“Good,” he said and then walked away in the direction of his bedroom. The one that we’d had sex in the previous day on our way to Hawaii.

“I’ll be in my office. Feel free to use the bedroom if you want to take a quick nap or something,” he said, and I raised an eyebrow at him. He had a study and a bedroom and a lounge on the jet? How many wings were there on this aircraft?

I didn’t respond to him but merely looked away, back toward the clouds that we were whizzing past. From the corner of my eye, I sensed him looking at me for a while longer before walking out of the room.

For the first time, I was relieved that Casper was gone.