Page 112 of My Temptation

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ETHAN

Kyle whistled when I walked through the door to the conference room. “You look like hell, man.”

Choosing to ignore his comment even though he was right, I glanced around the room, but so far, I only saw Kyle. “Where is everyone?”

He shrugged. “No idea.”

I slid into my seat just as Nick walked in. Behind him, I noticed Striker in the open doorway talking to Beth, but only for a moment, and then he leaned down, kissed her, and said something. I looked away before he saw me and stared at the table. I was glad Mila wasn’t here yet. We hadn’t seen each other over the past week, and I had no idea how I would react when I laid eyes on her again.

“Happy to be home?”

My head snapped up when I heard Nick’s voice. Assuming he was talking to me, I looked his way. “Yeah.”

“You look wiped, brother.”

“I’ve been spending a lot of my free time with my sister and niece.”

He jerked up his chin, but I was distracted, considering Mila walked into the room. I wondered where she’d sit and then realized how ridiculous that thought was, almost as if we were back in middle school.

She slid into her seat beside me and turned her head to face me and Nick. “Mornin’, boys.”

Nick chuckled. “You seem happy to be home.”

“I am.” She rolled her shoulders. “Nothing better than sleeping in your own bed.”

“I can think of a few things.” Kyle wiggled his eyebrows at her.

She sighed. “Is there a switch somewhere on you that we can turn on and off?”

I snorted out a laugh, but when her eyes met mine, the laughter was gone. Just like every other time, it felt like someone punched me in the gut except now it was different. Since she started, I wondered what it would be like to get close to her, and now that I knew, I couldn’t ignore it.

“If there’s a switch, no one’s ever found it.”

She slid her eyes from mine to focus on Kyle again. “Too bad.”

“Looks like everyone is here,” Jax announced, and I once again turned my head to watch them walk in.

“We’re missing a few,” Striker pointed out.

Jax and Brody took their seats. “Chris is out this week. He and Lucy are on vacation. Pike and Landon are at Crush.”

“I thought security was better at that bar now. The last time we talked, they were finally putting in all the safeguards Pike and Landon recommended. They stop playing ball or what?” Nick asked.

Jax folded his arms on the table. “The owner decided to sell, and the new owner isn’t sure our services are needed. They’re having a meeting with him and the manager to talk about all the shit that went down in that bar before we were hired, but I told them not to waste too much time. We have other cases to keep us occupied if they don’t think they need us.”

“Plus, that place is a pain in the ass,” Brody added. “More trouble than it’s worth for us to stay involved if they aren’t going to follow our suggestions.”

“So we’re down three for the time being.” Jax continued. “Got a couple of new cases. Brody and I met this morning to review them and move some shit around.”

“Anything exciting?” Mila asked.

Jax grinned. “Not as exciting as what you just finished, but better than what we gave you last week.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Ethan,” Brody called out, and I shifted my attention to him. “We need to meet and discuss whether you want to stay on installs or want to be in the field.”

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