Page 37 of Square Deal

“It’s four in the afternoon here, Princess. No one’s hooking up with anyone. Cool your tits.”

Oh, he was getting the full Hell Yes Ma’am today whether he liked it or not.

“Why the hell are you in bed at four in the afternoon?” I shrieked.

“It’s called jet lag, Princess. I caught up on work the entire flight over here and had meetings as soon as I hit the ground since your little hurricane made me a day late.”

Did he think that I could control natural disasters? I mean, as far as superpowers went, that would be badass.

I huffed and forced myself to focus on being pissed off. “Why the fuck did you pull that stunt at Queen’s?”

“You mean stimulating the local economy?”

“You know what I mean, you self-righteous prick.”

He clicked his tongue, scolding me from six time zones away. “Using that language isn’t very ladylike, Miss Hayes.”

“Yeah, well, neither is putting my size seven heel up your ass,” I barked. “You know, I actually had a guy—a fucking catch—offer to pay for my coffee this morning? And he was going to ask me out for drinks later, and then the barista ruined the whole damn thing when she told me what you did.”

He chuckled. “Tell me something. How much did your drink cost?”

“What the fuck does that matter, Scrooge McDuck? You’re the one who forced me to let you pay for it.”

“Humor me before I fall asleep again, Princess.”

I sighed. “I dunno—like four dollars?”

“Hannah.”

“What.”

“You’re worth more than a four-dollar cup of coffee. Aim higher.”

“You need to stay out of my business, Lawson.”

He yawned over the line. “And here I was, hoping that you were calling to say you were so flattered by my grand gesture that you were going to accept my offer.”

“Not my kind of grand gesture,” I clipped, staring down at the business card with Isaac’s name and personal cell phone number on it. On the backside, he had written,Think about it.

“Mmm, that’s right. You’re still waiting for John Cusack to show up, holding a boombox over his head,” Isaac sneered.

“Goodbye, Lawson.”

“Hannah, wait?—”

I heard his plea, but I hung up anyway.

There was a knock at the door, and Kristin poked her head in. “Hey,” I said, waving her in.

Kristin plopped down in the chair across from my desk, and Ihad to distract myself from the mental image of Isaac sitting there, drinking Dom Pérignon after Maddie and Luca’s wedding.

I focused my attention on her. “Y’all get through the storm, okay?”

Kristin rubbed her tired eyes and sighed. “Yeah. Logan raised hell about not being able to go to his friend’s house, and Zoey cried all night because she’s still afraid of storms. Kylie got her first period and turned into a hormonal psychopath, and Hunter—I swear, Hannah, he picks fights with Logan just to get some attention.” She slumped forward and put her head in her hands.

I handed my coffee over. Lord knows she needed it more than I did. Kristin didn’t even try to pretend that she didn’t want it, and it broke my heart.

She was proud and tried to be as self-sufficient as possible, but life had taken a giant, putrid dump on her the day Steve and Chase were forced to haul her parents off to jail.

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