Page 11 of Billionaire Daddies Next Door

My mouth hung open for longer than was necessarily safe in a room full of wild women and dildos. Before anyone got any ideas, I snapped it shut and shook my head. I was going with the tried-and-true plan of deny, deny, deny. “No, sorry. He just stopped by to pick up something for the diner.”

“CoCo also said that your walls are very thin and she wouldn’t be surprised if your new neighbors heard you with all the screaming you were doing.” Margaret cackled when I slapped my hands over my face. “I’m going to have to take a second look at Chase Daniels, young lady. He’s so kind to everyone around town that I didn’t take him for the type to make a woman scream like that. Not that his looks alone couldn’t make me holler.”

Billie squealed. “I need details! I need to know how he made you scream and how long it lasted and how long it was! I’m sorry, but I’ve been going through a spell of sex with men who don’t know what a clit is and I just need to live vicariously through a woman who got nailed.”

“No, no, no. I’m not talking about it because it never happened. Got it?” I brushed my hair back from my face and stood up. “Nothing happened and I’m not walking funny. I’m fine. I’m going to walk next door and work in my diner like it’s any other morning.”

“Hmm. We’ll see about it being nothing.” Margaret winked at me and walked away to harass someone else.

I frowned at Billie. “She’s going to meddle. She’s going to meddle and I’m going to have to leave town.”

“You better not. With Violet locked down with her men after popping out the baby last week, I realized that as much as I need the muffins, I also need time with my friends to pretend I don’t live and work with a bunch of dicks.”

“Maybe I’ll tell Margaret to meddle with your life instead of mine.”

“You’d better not! I have enough to handle without any of the guys who work on the ranch getting any ideas.” She blushed. “And god knows my bosses don’t even see me as a woman, much less a viable one.”

I scoffed. “They’d have to be the biggest idiots alive to not see you as a woman.”

“We’re not talking about me, though. We’re talking about you and how you had wild sex with the man you hate last night.” She bumped me with her shoulder. “Still hate him?”

I swallowed. “Yes. Of course. Nothing’s changed.”

Her eyes danced with mischief. “I don’t believe you. I can’t wait to talk to Violet later. She’s going to pop a stitch when she hears this.”

I blew out a deep sigh. “I know I can’t stop you, so I won’t try…much. If you tell her, I won’t give you a single muffin for the rest of your life.”

She jumped up from the pink couch and narrowed her eyes. “You know who will give me my muffins if you won’t?”

“Billie!” I stood up and hurried after her as she slipped out of Doll’s and back into Good, Clean Fun. “You’d better not talk to him! If he knows you know, he’ll think I went to you, gushing about him.”

“Well, didn’t you?” She laughed and then froze so suddenly, I bumped into her. “Whoa.”

Following her gaze, I saw Bear standing on the sidewalk in front of us with a twin under each arm. He was just listening as they talked animatedly at him but there was a smile on his face which showed he was listening to them and enjoying whatever they were saying.

“Who’s the Scottish daddy?” Billie leaned into me and sighed dramatically. “I’m already jealous of the woman who calls that man hers.”

Bear glanced into the shop and his gaze landed on me like a heat-seeking missile. The smile vanished in a split second and was replaced with a heated look that sent a shiver from the top of my head to the bottom of my toes. Then, he looked away and the moment was over as quickly as it’d happened. Yet, my heart was lodged somewhere just south of my sinuses and I had to make myself breathe again.

“Holy shit. Holy shit, Joanie! Do you know him?” Billie spun around to face me. “He just fucked you with his eyes and I felt it. God, I need to go change my panties now. Holy shit.”

I held onto her arm and shook my head, trying to clear it. “That’s one of my new neighbors. He saw me naked yesterday.”

CHAPTER 9

Joanie

I left Billie standing there, gaping at me, and went to the diner to start my day. Charlie, Chase’s brother, was behind the counter and he looked stressed out. As soon as he saw me, his eyes widened and he started waving me over. Charlie wasn’t the same devil as his brother, so I went over to help him. “What’s up?”’

He had the same light brown eyes as Chase, but his didn’t blaze when he looked at me. He ran a hand through his hair. “Angie flaked. She was supposed to open with me but she just didn’t show up and I’ve been serving the morning crowd as best as I can, but we both know that serving isn’t my strong suit.”

I tried not to show my anger at Angie. “It’s fine. I’ll take over. You can go back to helping Aaron in the kitchen.”

“Oh, thank god.” He turned and was on his way to his freedom when I stopped him.

“Cover me until I get changed, Charlie.” I laughed at his crestfallen expression and leaned over the counter to pat him on the shoulder. “It’ll just be a few minutes, bud.”

I hurried into the office and was buttoning up the vintage uniform I’d picked out for the servers when I froze. The dress was pink and cream to match the diner and it stopped mid-thigh. It dipped low enough in the front to keep things interesting and I’d chosen it for bodies slightly less than mine. I was tall enough that the mid-thigh hem made things daring. My chest also pushed the limits of what the buttons could do. It was a lot cute and a little sexy on most of my other servers, but Violet and I had both taken it from a little sexy to stopping traffic sexy. At least Violet had. I just felt awkward in it as I tried to avoid showing any of my bits to my customers.

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