Page 10 of Sass

I snorted and stole a glance sideways to find Chris watching Susie lick the icing off her vanilla swirl with a wide smile on his face. When he caught me looking, the smile dissolved and that familiar scowl he seemed to save especially for me returned.

Still, I couldn’t resist poking the bear. “Hard night, Christopher?”

His scowl deepened, and yeah, I was my own worst enemy. Everyone got the charming, funny version of Chris that I’d met that first day, except for me. I got sour, pissy lemon lips. It was all I had to work with.

Rhys snorted but said nothing, while Chris looked... pissed. Surprise, surprise.

“I’m fine,” he replied haughtily. “More than, actually. But my social life is hardly your concern, Leon. Life’s too short to worry about other people’s opinions.” The acid in his tone made me wince, and it drew curious looks from the others. “Can’t let the sheets grow cold, right?” He threw me a challenging stare.

And suddenly, I simply didn’t have the energy anymore. “You’re right, of course. That was rude, and I apologise.” I held his gaze in a last-ditch attempt to drum home that I meant about more than just my current stupid comment. Chris frowned, clearly thrown, and I took the opportunity to change the subject by turning to Rhys. “We’ve got plumbing problems next door,” I explained. “I woke in the middle of the night to a lake on the upstairs bathroom floor. The plumber has to pull off part of the wall and lift some of the flooring in order to fix it.” And when I explained how long that might take and why, Rhys’s face fell.

“Damn.” He shook his head. “I was hoping to move in when we got back, but I guess another week or two doesn’t really matter.”

“It could still be ready on time,” I reminded him. “But no guarantees.”

Chris slid a sly glance Rhys’s way. “So, that means you’ll still need your office, right?”

Rhys replied with a wag of his finger. “Nope. Not at all. But good try. I’ll make do at home for another week or two. You’re not off the hook that easily.” He turned to me. “But what areyougoing to do? You’re still sleeping there until settlement day on your new house, right?”

I blew out a sigh. “I’ll be bunking in with my parents, Lord help me.”

Rhys chuckled. “That’ll put a crimp in your wild ways.”

Chris arched a brow. “Don’t expect that’ll be a problem for Leon.”

I held those green eyes but was too tired for a snappy counter. “Yeah, that’s right, Chris. You know me so well. Boring as shit.”

Chris frowned and Rhys elbowed his manager. “Kip.” His tone carried a warning and Chris’s gaze darted away.

Susie tugged on my sleeve and held up her sticky hands. “Yuck, Uncle Lee.” I would’ve almost sworn there was a smirk there but that would’ve been ridiculous.

I smiled, knowing I was going to regret teaching her the word. I took the napkins Hunter passed over and cleaned her up as best I could. “There you go.” I kissed each palm and she giggled and set about vigorously wiping her hands, and when I looked up, Chris was watching us with the softest expression I’d ever seen—at least until he caught my eye.

“Why don’t you take the flat while we’re away?” Alec suddenly offered brightly. “We’ll be gone six weeks.”

I caught Chris’s horrified gaze shoot to the gorgeous model.

“That’s a brilliant idea,” Hunter agreed. “You’ll be covered if you get caught out and need to stay longer or if you want to do some stuff to the new place before you move in. And you’ll be doing us a favour by keeping an eye on things.”

“Who’s doing who a favour?” Drew appeared from the back of the store.

“ButI’mkeeping an eye on things,” Chris argued with a slightly desperate edge to his voice because, hell no,hewouldn’t wantmethere. “Besides,” he softened his tone in response to the glacial silence that filled the store. “I’m quite sure Leon doesn’t want to cope with all the noise, the bell on the door, the lack of privacy.” He waved a hand airily. “All of that.”

Drew frowned. “We don’t makethatmuch noise.”

Chris fired Drew a killer look and Drew blanched.

“Well, I think it’s the perfect solution,” Rhys chimed in with a mischievous glint in his eye that told me he knew exactly what he was doing. No one who’d spent more than five minutes in a room with me and Chris could possibly have missed the tension between us.

I didn’t know whether to be pissed or amused at Rhys’s obvious meddling. I also didn’t miss the fulminating glare Chris sent Rhys’s way at his words, and neither did Rhys, although his response was simply a huge grin.

There was no way in hell Chris would want me living above the store, even temporarily. I might’ve accepted Alec’s offer on the basis of that piss-off value alone, but Rhys was right. Itwasthe perfect solution and I needed to take it. “Thanks. I’d love to.”

Chris’s face turned an intriguing shade of red and Rhys was clearly struggling not to laugh.

“That’s settled then.” Hunter clapped me on the back. “Bring Susie upstairs and we’ll show you where everything is.”

“And when you’re done with that,” Rhys added, “Kip will walk you through the alarm system.”

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