Page 302 of Lodestar

And soundproofing.

Stat.

As I dropped maintenance an email, I heard Star call out, “You in your office?”

I peered at her through my fingers as she ducked her head around the door to scope out the room.

“Oh, you are!” Her brow furrowed. “What is it? What’s wrong—” Her mouth gaped. “Are thoseglasses?”

Moving my hand aside, I let the frames fall onto my face from where they’d been digging into my forehead. “They are.”

“Since when do you wear glasses?”

“When my eyes are tired.” I shot her a serious look. “By this point, I’m thinking the whole house heard us because Kat, like my nephew, thinks I made you cry.”

Star blinked. “You kind of did. In a good way.”

“It’s not as if I could tellherthat,” I grumbled.

Her lips twitched. “Are you embarrassed? You need to toughen up. She says worse stuff than that. She once asked me where Tiffany, Sin’s Old Lady, got her helium balloons from.”

I frowned. “She has big tits?”

“Nope, even better. She’s pretty high-pitched when she gets going…”

“And Kat thought she was?—”

“Yup. I told her that they had a private stash and that she wasn’t to ask if she could have any of them.”

“How much do you bet she asked?”

She smirked. “I was there when she did. It was a proud,proudmoment in my life.”

“I’m sure.” I snorted.

“Does that mean she made it back to the compound in West Orange safely?”

“It does.” Dislodging my glasses, I rubbed my eyes again. “She wants two cats.”

“Two?! How the hell did you manage to up the stakes when I was happy with zero?”

I glowered at her. “She said they were like her—they lost their mom and she wanted to be their Star!” Her expression turned pensive so I wafted a hand at her. “Why do you look constipated?”

“Because I’m calculating the odds of her trying to manipulate usorif that’s just a knee-jerk response after the other day and talking about family.”

“Okay. What are the odds?”

“I’m not sure.” She pulled a face. “We can’t have two cats. I can barely keep her alive.”

See, that was why I loved this woman—we were kindred spirits.

“Maybe it’ll be different if we work on that together.”

A frown settled in her eyes. “You say things like that and it gives me heartburn.”

My brows lifted. “I say nice things and it gives you acid reflux?”

She rubbed her chest. “Right here. I’m not used to this.” I watched as she staggered over to my desk and plunked her ass on the edge. “You need to only say things that you mean.”

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