the reason he decided to ask for his job back.
She could hope anyway. No. No. No. She should avoid. And that’s precisely what she would do.
Maybe.
Ansley took a deep breath and focused on possible escape options. Immediately, she realized two things. First, she didn’t have her purse, which meant retrieving a cell phone was out of the question. Secondly, if Bailey had already left for the warehouse, she might spend the better part of the late morning and early afternoon with Tristan.
Without delay, she threw her body against the door. One hundred and twenty-five pounds slamming into galvanized steel did nothing to help their predicament.
“Ouch!” she screamed out in pain, holding her elbow.
“That won’t work,” Tristan remarked calmly.
“You don’t say?” Apparently he was right. She didn’t see Tristan flaunting his weight around.
“Someone should’ve taught you to listen to your elders, or at least the superior sex.”
Oh. My. God . Now she fully understood why they had failed to come together with a magnetic force. He was one hundred percent alpha male, a cocky specimen of a man. The two of them together would be as destructive as Armageddon.
Ansley knew all about men like Tristan. Her sister married one like him. Brock Sheldon was like her brother, but he was an egotistical ass who kept Trixie in line without raising a hand. One look and Trixie batted her eyelashes and practically drooled. A firmly stated word or phrase, and she fell to her knees. A touch, and she’d fuck the man in broad daylight on Main Street.
No, Ansley didn’t want a man like Brock. She refused to be under any guy’s thumb.
The chill in the air apparently worked on her imagination. She was delirious. Why she considered Tristan as anything more than an employee was beyond her.
On second thought, no. Not really. She knew better than to lie to herself. The best self-service sex she’d enjoyed in her lifetime had been inspired by this damn shell of a man. Well, actually that was debatable, too. She’d moistened the twat torch in Bailey’s honor, too.
“Don’t just stand there. You try,” she suggested, refusing to fantasize further. She turned her backside to the sealed door and pushed with all the strength she could muster.
“I’ve been locked in here before. You might as well save your energy. If I can’t use my weight and nudge my way to the other side, your little booty won’t open up the gateway to freedom either.”
Humph. What about that? He’d noticed her ass. Tristan was an available man after all. And even though he rarely looked her way and barely acknowledged her outside of a nod, he knew she existed.
The realization made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It would be a good day after all.
She started to go ahead and make a play on his words. Depending on how much weight he carried below the belt, inching his way toward freedom, or more appropriately, a satisfying release, was a topic worth visiting.
She’d save her provocative sass for another day. As much as she would like to scare off the employees while Patience and Kimberly were away, she needed Tristan and everyone else on Clink’s limited staff. Maybe after Kimberly and Patience returned, she’d fire Tristan, fuck him, and they’d each go on with life as if a ransack of bedsheets and a tremendous headboard banging had never even happened.
“If that won’t work, this will.” She took a deep, quite exaggerated breath and yelled, “Help! Is anyone out there?” Pounding with her fists, she yelped again, “Help! Please! Somebody!” A beat later, she screamed, “Hurry! I’m being held hostage!”
“Oh that’s nice. Beautiful.”
She fluttered her eyelashes. “I thought you might like that.”
Tristan took a seat on one of the orange crates. He crossed thick arms over his broad chest and leaned his head against the wall. “With the music blaring out front, Bailey won’t hear you.”
“ Bailey is planning to run over to