Page 65 of You've Got Male

“You haven’t?” Evie directed the question to Waverly, then pulled her into a hug. “What a big girl you’re becoming.”

Waverly puffed her chest out a little, but then her body sank into Evie’s as if taking in every ounce of female connection. He couldn’t take his eyes off them, nor keep his thoughts from going to a dangerous place.

He’d seen Evie hold Waverly hundreds of times over the past two years, but this time was different. He was different. Jonah didn’t know how, didn’t like it, but it was the truth.

“If it’s okay, you and I can go have a little tea party, Way,” Lenard said from the door, only he wasn’t looking at Waverly; his gaze was trained on Jonah. Laser sharp and filled withwarning.

Jonah wasn’t sure what his expression had said, but it was enough to throw Lenard into waiting-on-the-porch-with-a-shotgun mode. Jonah knew that both their families had bought the story hook, line, and sinker. Not Lenard. He’d been suspicious from the word beau.

“That would be great,” Jonah said. “That will give Evie and me some uninterrupted time. To go over the books,” he added quickly.

“Uh-huh,” Lenard said, then held out his hand to Waverly, who took it with a gleeful squeal. Jonah watched the two of them walk out the door, but not before Lenard shot him another look.

Hurt her and I will break your face.

It was a ridiculous threat coming from a five-foot-nine, buck-fifty of a man who wore silky Tommy Bahama shirts. But Jonah’s stomach hollowed out anyway. He wanted to say that Lenard was directing the threat to the wrong person, because if anyone was bound to get hurt it was not going to be Evie.

Oh no, Evie had been MIA since that day in her kitchen. The only way he could pin her down today was that they were going over the shop’s accounting. He wasn’t ashamed to use his number-prowess to get some alone time with her, only she’d picked a time when she knew Waverly wouldn’t be in school. Well, it looked like she was losing her travel-sized shield and would have to deal with him one-on-one—and he intended to use this moment to his advantage.

“Thanks, Lenard,” Jonah said.

“Uh-huh,” Lenard said again as he disappeared around the corner holding Waverly’s pudgy little hand.

The door closed. Silence fell.

“I’ve been going over what you put together. I can’t believe you did all this work. It must have taken you hours,” she said, not meeting his gaze.

“It’s no big deal.” He got up and walked around the desk, taking the seat next to her.

“It is. It can really help, maybe even get the shop into the black.”

He knew what game she was playing. She wanted to make this about the arrangement. About a favor for a favor.

“I mean, sourcing the coffee beans from a different vendor is an interesting idea.” She finally met his gaze, and he saw the genuine concern there. Realized how much pressure she was putting on herself to make everything work smoothly. Maybe she hadn’t been avoiding him. Maybe she was just that overwhelmed.

If she needed to make this about work, then he’d give her the space she needed.

“But Dad’s been buying from the same guy for thirty years.”

“He’s charging you twenty percent more than going direct.” He rustled through the papers to find the invoice from their coffee supplier. “You could get it at Costco for less.”

“Costco isn’t authentic Italian beans.”

“No, but this guy is.” He located the spreadsheet of vendors he’d already vetted and pointed to the next line. “And this company supplies cups, lids, and containers for a fraction of the cost if you order in bigger quantities.”

“This is great. It really is, and I appreciate all the time you put into this, but it’s not going to move the needle enough to make enough of a difference.”

Her fingers were in her lap, knotted in her apron. He reached over and rested his hand over hers in a supportive gesture and the air crackled between them. For the first time since they’d been left alone she met his gaze and,whoa baby,crackle didn’t even begin to describe the electricity sizzling between them.

“You got this,” he said with velvet confidence. “Just trust your gut.”

“My gut isn’t all that reliable. Just look at my life,” she whispered, and not for the first time, he wanted to punch her ex in the face. It wasn’t that he’d just left her to figure it out on her own, it was the constant minefield of problems that she was forced to wade through to make sure Camila wasn’t hurt in the process of him “figuring out” his life.

“You are a smart businesswoman. It’s how you managed to run a professional organizer business in such a competitive market. You know what to do, it’s just hard to see the answers when you’re treading water.” He flipped her laptop around and clicked until he found the new business model he’d come up with. “You already identified the biggest solution and that’s expanding your customer base.”

“I’ve identified it, but I can’t figure out how to make it happen. My mom thinks Get Grinding gratitude cards and bake sales are the answer.”

“That could be a part of it.”

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