Page 26 of Taming Bull

“You’re taking this a little too well. Does this kind of thing happen often around here?”

I applied Ms. Moore’s insurance coverage to the invoice and frowned at the difference. “No. But look at us. She obviously has excellent taste.”

He snorted. “Hey, what did she mean by that skiing comment? How did being with us remind her of her skiing days?”

I chuckled, preparing to scar Tavonte even further. “We were on either side of her.”

He gave me a blank look. The lucky bastard still didn’t get it. Ah well, it was my job to enlighten him. Hell, if I was destined to have nightmares about Ms. Moore’s advances, so was he.

“You know. Like ski poles,” I replied. “One on each side.”

His confusion morphed into understanding, and then outrage and disgust. As his eyes widened and his mouth hung open, I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. He shuddered and threw a not-so-discreet glance over his shoulder to the elderly woman in question. “That’s nasty!”

“She’s just sowin’ her wild oats.” I followed his gaze to the waiting area. Wasp had walked in and was talking to Tiffany about a work order. Ms. Moore’s jaw was practically brushing against the floor as she watched him in unbridled awe and fiery lust. “Looks like we’re safe. She found a new target.”

Wasp finished up with the receptionist and stopped in front of Ms. Moore, flashing her a smile. I briefly considered calling him over to warn him, but he was a pro at handling problem customers. I’d seen him smooth talk even the roughest and gruffest, so one sweet but kinky little old lady should be no problem. Besides, the asshole prankster deserved the kind of encounter Ms. Moore’s handsy appreciation would provide.

“Hi there. Have you been helped?” he asked.

She nodded and started to stand. Wasp, being the ladies’ man he was, offered her his hand. Thanking him, she accepted, allowing him to pull her to her feet. When he released her hand, she clenched his forearm. His gaze drifted down to where they were still connected. Her fingers loosened only enough to slide over his elbow to his bicep. Ms. Moore was clearly into muscles, and our resident power lifter had brawn to spare.

Giving his arm a squeeze, her eyes went wild and she said, “I’ve never seen a man as big and pretty as you before.”

I clamped my lips shut so I wouldn’t laugh.

Beside me, Tavonte snickered.

Wasp’s glare shot to us, and we both found more interesting things to look at. No need to make fun of one of the three men with the authority to sign my paychecks.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ms. Moore reach for his long, blond hair, but Wasp somehow dodged her advance. Being an amateur body builder, he’d probably evaded his fair share of groping women over the years.

I pointed at the screen, getting Tavonte’s attention. “Remember how I was telling you about Morse’s software? Well, not only does it give us the customer’s towing coverage, but it also runs a soft background check.” Morse was a goddamn genius. He could get computers to do shit most people would never even imagine. I didn’t know how legal his software was, but since we didn’t use it for anything nefarious, I couldn’t give a shit. “We picked Ms. Moore up a little over three miles outside of what’s covered by her policy.”

His brows drew together. “So, we charge her for the difference?”

At our usual rates of seventy-five dollars per mile, that’d put her back two-hundred and twenty-five dollars, for the tow alone. And who knew how much her repairs would hike up that cost? “Theoretically, but we have a lot of leeway here.” I tapped the financial information on the background check. “She’s gonna have a hard enough time paying for the repairs. Adding two hundred dollars for the tow seems cruel.”

“So, we don’t charge her?”

“Doesn’t seem right to. Yes, she’s a lonely, sexually frustrated woman who doesn’t respect personal space, but she’s a single woman on a fixed income.” I scrolled down the screen. “And look at that. Her deceased husband was military. I can’t charge her.”

He eyed me like he was suspicious of my motives.

“Despite what happened between me and Lily this morning, I’m not a complete asshole.”

I shouldn’t have brought up Lily. All day I’d been trying to forget the way her lip trembled, and her eyes hardened when I refused to talk to her. Mentioning her name conjured her image like I was seeing it again in real time.

“I know you’re not, man.”

Tavonte’s admission healed something inside of me. I shouldn’t have cared what he thought of me and the way I’d treated her, but I did. He was a good guy, and I didn’t want him to think I was a piece of shit. Hell, I didn’t want tobea piece of shit. Between a rock and a hard place without many options, I needed all the allies I could get.

Tavonte pointed at the screen. “But you already put in the mileage. How does that work? Do you have to back it out?”

“No. And I wouldn’t if I could. We keep clean records. I’ll override the difference here.” I moved my mouse to the appropriate spot and subtracted the difference to show no balance due. Then I tabbed until I got to where I needed to be. “I’ll make a note of why, here. We can write off so much business every year, and Specks is a damn good bookkeeper. When he sees my note, he’ll know what to do with it.”

Before Tavonte could respond, his cell phone rang. He pulled it out, and concern flashed in his eyes as he glanced at the screen. “It’s my mom. She knows I’m shadowing you again today and wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t important.”

“No problem, brother. Take it.”

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