Page 11 of Sass

Oh boy.I stole a glance at Chris who looked about as close to homicidal as I’d ever seen him. He also looked almost... panicked?

Fuck.

I enjoyed riling Chris, giving back as good as I got, but if he genuinely hated the idea, well, the last thing I wanted was for him to feel rattled in his place of work. I knew he loved it at Flare. And when I thought of how upset I’d be if the situation was reversed—

I sighed. “You know, maybe Chris is right.”

Chris turned to stare at me, eyes wide.

“I don’t want to make things difficult,” I explained, keeping my eyes on his. “I’ll be more than fine staying with my parents.”

Everyone looked to Chris while he continued to stare at me, his jaw working, a war raging behind those beautiful eyes. I tried to tell him with mine that I understood and it was okay if he said no, but he just kept staring. Eventually he sighed and waved a dismissive hand. “Fine. Stay. We’ll barely even cross paths.”

Rhys slapped Chris on the back. “That’s the spirit.”

“Excellent,” Hunter agreed, and Alec beamed.

I ignored them all, my eyes still on Chris. “Are you sure? It’s your call.”

He nodded, if somewhat reluctantly. “I’m sure.” And then I saw something unexpected in those green pools. Acknowledgement, maybe even gratitude, for giving him the choice.

I gave him a quick smile. “Thank you.” Then I whisked Susie into my arms and followed Alec and Hunter up the stairs with Chris’s molten stare burning two holes in my back.

CHAPTERTHREE

Kip

I watchedthe mouth-watering tower of a man climb the stairs and tried not to swallow my tongue. I might not like the guy much, but there was no denying his sex appeal.

Long waves of strawberry-blond hair framed clever hypnotic grey eyes, and that tightly groomed beard with more than a fleck of reddish gold to catch the light was an unwelcome siren song to my ridiculous hormones. I didn’t even like stupid beards, or at least I hadn’t up until two years ago.

If that wasn’t enough, and no doubt just to piss me off, the man wore a black Henley that clung to his arms and chest like a suntan, revealing just a hint of all that glorious ink at its edges—ink I was desperate to see in its entirety. And those thigh-hugging jeans clung to an epic arse—larger than I usually went for but solid as fucking stone—and yeah, I might’ve spent the last two years having to rethink a whole damn set of tick boxes in that department because, man, that arse was a thing of beauty.

My club hook-ups had steadily morphed into sad second-rate copies of the real thing. My favourite swipe rights were now a catalogue of ink, height, and beards, and although I really, really tried not to dip into that pool too often in an attempt to preserve my mental health, the cock wants what the cock wants, and mine clearly wanted... Leon. Or at least a close second, which, just so we’re clear, was an absolute, mind-melting, fucking impossibility, because therewasno one like Leon. And no matter what I did to evict the irritating man from the increasing amount of real estate he occupied in my brain, nothing was fucking working.

Leon turned the corner on the landing and disappeared from view, and my sigh of unrepentant appreciation was out before I could stop it.

“You’re drooling on my polished floors.” Rhys smirked and tipped my chin up to close my mouth.

I jerked free and whacked him on the arm.

“Ow. What the fuck?” He rubbed his bicep.

“What the hell did you do that for?” I turned my frustration on him. “Now I have to put up with Mister Arrogant living above my—ourstore for the next few weeks. And you won’t be around for me to whinge at.”

Rhys’s put-upon look turned sly, and he leaned back against the service desk and cast an unnerving eye over me.

“What?” I snapped, then spun to where Drew was watching the two of us with a curious look in place. “Don’t you have shirts to steam?”

“All done,” Drew said breezily.

I kept staring until he flushed.

“But I probably missed a couple?”

I nodded.

“Right.” He swallowed a smile. “I’ll leave you to it. Holler when you’re done yelling at each other.”

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