Page 53 of Driven Daddy

“Right on, sister.” Ryan’s voice lifted from the table beside me.

I laughed and glanced her way. “See. She agrees. You probably want to get a copy ofTripodtoo. Hecking cute.”

“That’s right!” Ryan waved the woman over. “C’mon over.”

My gaze bounced from Ryan to Penn and my stomach flipped. Those dark eyes locked on mine for a full minute and the reality of my pantiless state became very apparent once more.

I tried to ignore it by crossing my legs under the desk and rerouting my attention to the next person coming up to see me.

Another hour went by in a blur. Ryan had disappeared for a bathroom break, and it was time for me to ask the same. And my hand needed a damn rest.

“Excuse me!” A deep voice rose from the doorway currently filled with people.

The woman at the table with me turned and gasped. “Is he doing some cosplay?” she whispered.

I peered around her to see the cop from my first day in town. Christian Masterson—oh, hell. He was probably related to Penn. I didn’t even put it together since I was still reeling from finding out who my inconvenient lover was.

“Colette?”

“Yes, officer?” Colette popped up from behind us. She was preparing all the books behind us to keep our stacks pretty and full.

I glanced over my shoulder. “You knew who it was by voice?”

She shrugged. “I know all the hot men in this town. Too bad they’re usually taken.”

“Fair. I met him my first day.”

Ryan threaded her way through the fans with little waves and smiles, her skirts and crystals moving in her unhurried sensual manner. If I hadn’t done a little Googling, I would have guessed she was mystical in some way.

She was a tarot reader and self-professed witch.

While I lived very much within the mundane world, I was open-minded. I’d seen far too many odd things in my twenty-nine years not to be. From the good all the way to the terrifying.

“Who’s the hot cop?” she asked me on the way by.

“My brother,” Penn said stiffly. “My very by-the-book brother.”

Ryan grinned. “Have you seen my man? I like by the book. All the better to corrupt them.”

“Okay, gross.” Penn sat back in his chair with his arms folded. “I don’t care to picture that.”

“Moonbeam, quit making false claims. You know the only one you’re corrupting is me,” Preston, Ryan’s partner, said smoothly from behind us. He didn’t look up from the book he was quietly reading in one of the comfy chairs near the window.

The quick spike of jealousy startled me. The easy way he just accepted Ryan’s idiosyncrasies was like nothing I’d ever seen outside of fiction I’d written.

Penn glanced my way, smirk in place.

And my annoyance replaced jealousy.

When Christian shouldered his way through the people in line, his face was stony. Still hot, but he was not at all happy by the state of affairs at Every Line A Story.

“Colette, you’re way over your capacity.”

“I know, we got a little backed up, but we’re moving everyone along pretty fast.”

“Figure out a better system or get more people outside.”

“C’mon, Christian. It’s a bookstore, not like we’ve got a rave going with drinks and cigarettes.” Colette had her hands on her hips.

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