Page 3 of Billionaire Daddies Next Door

“Mack! Jesus Christ.” Smith pulled his dog off me and then flipped my chair right-side up with me still in it. “You’ve got grass and shit all in your hair.”

I took a long pull of the beer and laughed again. “This has been a wild day.”

“I swear my kids and his dog aren’t always so insane. Once they get to know you, they’ll calm down a bit.” Bear sighed into his beer as he sat back down and ran his hand through his hair. “We owe you a colossal gift for the shit you’ve been through today.”

Mack sat in front of me and put his head in my lap, looking up at me with his huge eyes, and I couldn’t help myself. I made a sweet noise at him and put my beer down so I could fully scratch him behind his ears and cuddle his face. The encouragement had him climbing into my lap again.

“Mack! Get down!” Smith was still standing behind me so he easily pulled Mack out of my lap. The two of them compromised with Smith pulling another chair right up next to me for Mack to climb onto, which he did immediately. “I’ve never seen him react to someone like this. I think he likes you better than me and I’m starting to feel a little offended.”

I realized Smith was picking things out of my hair and looked up at him. “Leave it. I’ll get it out later.”

“It only feels right to get it out since my dog caused it to be there in the first place.” He wrapped his fingers around the base of my neck and leaned in. “Hold on. Just a few more.”

I stopped breathing at the feeling of his rough fingers on my sensitive skin. In a flash, I was thinking of how long it’d been since a man had touched me and about how tense I’d been over the last year with Chase hovering all over the place.

Smith let his fingers trail down my shoulder as he stepped away. “There. Looks like I’ve got everything out.”

I swallowed around the thickness in my throat and nodded. “Thanks.”

Mack stretched his head across both arms of our chairs to rest his chin on my lap. I stroked his head, using the feeling of his thick hair as a grounding agent.

“So, you’re Joanie.” Smith sat down next to Bear and stretched his long legs out in front of him. “Chase has mentioned you a few times and it’s interesting to put a face to the name.”

CHAPTER 3

Joanie

Mack huffed at me when I stopped petting him. I realized what I was asking was dumb after Chase had shown up in my house right after Bear and Smith that morning, but I couldn’t not ask. “So, you two know Chase?”

Bear nodded. “Been friends since we were kids.”

I resumed petting Mack but there was a bad taste in my mouth the beer couldn’t help. “So, you’re in town to visit him?”

Smith leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “We visited him a few weeks ago. We liked what we saw so we’re staying for a while. Plus, Chase told us about your diner and we’re intrigued.”

My good mood might as well have had a fork sticking out of it with how done it was. “Oh. You’re intrigued. What exactly did Chase tell you?”

“All good things.” Smith didn’t seem to understand the shit he was stepping in. “He mentioned he’s excited about what the diner could become. The three of us invest in projects together most of the time and he thinks this one would be a good one for us.”

Fury scorched its way down my spine and I finished my beer in one deep drag. “I’m not interested in expanding the diner or finding out what it can become. Did he tell you that?”

Smith leaned back in his chair. “Yep.”

“Yet, you’re here anyway.” I stood up and shook my head. “The diner is fine the way it is. If you three are so interested in expanding things, maybe try the doorways around Chase so he can get his giant ego through. The nerve of him.”

“I’ve never met someone so opposed to success before.” Smith took a long pull from his beer while holding my gaze over the top of the bottle. “Weird.”

“Great. Two more men who think they know everything, including me. I’m not opposed to success. I worked hard on The One and Only for months, long before Chase showed his face here. It is a success. Did either of you know that before I owned the diner, the longest running restaurant in this town stayed in business for a single year? I love the success the diner has seen. I’m just not greedy. I don’t need more. Judging by this house and your vehicles, you two don’t need more, either.”

Bear stood up and walked over to a barrel next to the house. He tossed his bottle inside and stalked back over. In the waning light and the glow from the fire, he looked like some sort of Viking god. “You want to relax and have a seat? I’m not interested in being yelled at in my own yard. The last thing I need is my girls seeing you spitting mad. They’d eat that shit right up.”

I glared at him and crossed my arms over my chest. “I should go.”

He gestured towards my house. “Go on before it gets dark then.”

I shifted to rest my hands on my hips. “I don’t need your help.”

He grabbed another beer and sat down. “Wait until it gets dark and trip over a log then, Princess. I don’t care.”

---