Page 81 of In Spades

I gave Luna a scratch behind the ear, and she licked my hand. Sweet girl.

Kristin had told me all about Bridget and Chase’s drama and how awkward it had been, so I was a little surprised when Bridget came over and knelt by Chase’s feet.

She lavished Luna in affection, smiling as Luna sniffed all over her. Chase reached into his pocket and handed Bridget a dog treat. She took it and held her hand out. Luna sniffed once, carefully assessing Bridget’s hand before gingerly nibbling at the little dog biscuit. Luna thanked her with a grateful lick across her cheek.

I was about to kneel down beside Kristin and Bridget, but an unseen hand grabbed the back of my pull-over and dragged me outside. Kristin was busy smothering Luna with love, and didn’t notice when I stumbled backward.

“What the?—”

I came face to face with Isaac Lawson. His hands were balled into fists, and he looked positively homicidal.

“Lawson—”

“Cut the crap, Solomon. What the hell are you doing sniffing around Kristin?”

“Yo, Lawson!” Another male voice called out. “You out here? We’re about to deal.”

Isaac’s glare pinned me to the wall of the house.

“Dude, what are you doing?” The other man said as he rounded the corner. He spotted me and offered a head nod. “‘Sup. You must be Will. Kris said you were coming tonight.” He looked at Isaac. “What the hell are you doing?”

Isaac gave him a look that said, are you fucking kidding me? I couldn’t quite see who it was, but I guessed it was Maddie’s husband. He was the only one I hadn’t met yet.

“Taking care of business,” Isaac spat.

The other man laughed and shook his head. “Don’t go all Godfather on him. You’re not as scary as you think you are. He’s already met Steve.”

Isaac pointed at me and glared at Maddie’s husband. “You don’t know who this is?”

“Should I?” he asked.

Cackling, Isaac took a step back so the other man could step closer. “Luca DeRossi, meet William Solomon.”

Oh shit.

Alarms went off in my head. It was only a matter of seconds before Luca?—

“Ho-ly shit!” He enunciated every syllable and then laughed. “Small fucking world. You’re Kristin’s Will? Fuck man—good to finally meet you in person. I’ll be honest. I didn’t think you actually existed.”

I knew what he was referring to. I was an investor in the DeRossi Hospitality Group—one of the many ways I diversified my portfolio.

I had never met Luca; never been to an investor’s meeting. My signature on documents was intentionally illegible. The P.O. box address I used for business with his company was in Livingston, Montana. I had everything forwarded to my box in New Bern.

Isaac held out his hand to silence Luca. His eyes turned to me. “He’s also the new owner of the Taylor Creek Inn,” Isaac sneered. “Isn’t that right, Solomon?”

Like a switch flipped, Luca’s face changed from light to dark. He cracked his knuckles. The sleeves of tattoos on his arms made him look like a prison brawler.

Suddenly, Steve didn’t seem half bad.

“I swear to God—if you’re coercing Kristin into sleeping with you because you’re her boss, I will rip you limb from limb just so I can smack you in the face with your own hand.”

“Whoa,” I said, putting my palms out. “It isn’t like that. Kristin doesn’t know I bought the inn.” I cut my eyes to Isaac. “And you signed an NDA.”

If Isaac hadn’t been friends with the woman I was crazy about, I would have rained down legal hell on him.

Luca looked at Isaac. At least his anger wasn’t pointed only at me this time. “Kristin’s been worried sick about losing her damn job, and you didn’t think that information would help? You knew about this, and you didn’t say anything?—”

“Knew about what?”

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