The Boss Project(43)

He yelled.

I lost my balance, tripped over the man, and went flying through the air.

It wasn’t until I landed on my ass that I realized what I’d done.

Oh my God. Shit!

“Merrick! I’m so sorry!”

He rubbed his head. “What the hell? What did you hit me with?”

I held up the toilet bowl brush, the head of which was now missing. “This. It’s…” I pointed to the bristled top on the floor nearby. “I guess I broke it on you. It’s all I could find. I thought you were a burglar. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

He shook his head. “I’m fine.”

“Why were you on the floor?”

“I broke a glass and was cleaning it up. I didn’t turn on the lights because I heard the shower running and didn’t want to scare you. That worked out great, huh?”

He climbed to his feet and leaned toward me, offering a hand to help me get up. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so.” But once I got to my feet, I felt something pinching my butt. I twisted to look over my shoulder then patted around my ass. Hitting a spot on my left butt cheek, I felt the pain again.

Merrick’s brows drew together as he watched me. “What’s the matter?”

“I think I might’ve landed on a piece of glass.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I patted my butt again, and this time I felt a little wetness. There was a tinge of blood on my fingertips. “Shit…I’m bleeding.”

“Let me see.”

“It’s my ass!”

“Well, how are you going to see what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. A mirror, I guess?”

Merrick looked down at my bare feet and sighed. “Don’t move. There are probably still slivers all over. I hadn’t finished cleaning up.”

“Well, could you fi—” Before I could complete my sentence, he lifted me into the air and didn’t set me back down on my feet until we were in the living room.

I smoothed my shirt, which had ridden up. “A little notice you were going to do that would’ve been nice.”

“I didn’t feel like wasting time arguing about it.” He lifted his chin. “Go fix your ass.”

Twenty minutes later, there was a quiet knock at the bathroom door.

I sighed and creaked open the door enough to stick my head out.

“You okay in there?” Merrick asked.

I frowned. “No. I can’t get it. I feel it, but it’s not sticking out enough for me to pull it with my tweezers. I think it’s in pretty deep.”

“Let me take a look.”

I shook my head. “I’m just going to leave it.”

Merrick put his hands on his hips. “You’d rather leave a piece of glass in your ass than have me see a little skin? Pretend you’re wearing a bathing suit. Then strangers see half your ass.”

“I’d rather strangers see my whole ass than you see part of it.”

Merrick thumbed over his shoulder. “There’s an overpass a few miles away with a bunch of people living in tents. You want me to go get one of them to examine your cheek?”

I narrowed my eyes. “It’s not funny. This is all your fault, you know.”

“Would it make you feel better if I showed you my ass first?”

I tapped my finger to my lip. “Maybe?”

He chuckled. “Just let me in.”

“Fine.” I sighed and opened the door.

Merrick came into the bathroom and pointed to the shower curtain, which was no longer hanging and now on the floor of the tub, along with the rod. “What’s going on there?”

“Oh. In order to see my ass, I had to stand on the toilet. I lost my balance at one point, so I grabbed the shower curtain to steady myself, and it all came down.”

The corner of Merrick’s lip twitched. “Sounds like you have things under control.”

I squinted. “Just shut up and look at my ass.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Merrick sat down on the ledge of the tub while I turned around. I’d been dressed for bed when I heard the noise, so I had on a pair of flimsy pajama shorts. I lifted the back to expose my left cheek.

“Do you see anything?”

“I see a lot of red, which I’m guessing is from you trying to get it out. I’m going to touch the area, okay? See if I feel anything.”

I nodded. “Yeah, go ahead.”

Warm fingers gently ran across my skin. Oh God. My traitorous body liked it. Thankfully I was not facing him, so at least he couldn’t see the heat creep up on my face.

“Anything?” I asked with a shaky voice.

“Not yet. I need to push a little harder, okay?”

Push a little harder. Jesus Christ. He needed to stop talking like that, too. I blew out a puff of air. “Just do whatever you need to do.”

He rubbed his fingers over my ass again, this time pressing down as he went.

“Ow!”

“Yeah. I feel it right there. It’s definitely fully beneath the skin. I’m going to need to squeeze it like a buried splinter to tease it out.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine. Go ahead.”