Page 53 of Hartley

I rested my chin on my hand. “Fascinating. Did he pick it out himself or did he make one of the people who work in the store help him?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“Would you like to help me solve why my grandfather owed the Everharts all that money?”

“No.”

“Then let’s talk about cheese.”

I was certain if a particular car hadn’t just pulled up to the curb outside my store, Reghan would have rolled his eyes, something I’d never seen him do. But I was a master at it and knew it was coming. Stupid Barrett had to interrupt our stimulating conversation. Now I had to make up the scene in my head where Jordan stood in front of expensive cheeses in the store and decided which brand he wanted to purchase. I wondered if he’d buy crackers to pair with the brie or would he go for a tart apple.

The growl that worked its way up Reghan’s throat had me abandoning my imaginary grocery store fun for the excitement that was about to start outside. Reghan was hardly ever on my detail. It just so happened that on the day he was, Detective Barrett North decided to stroll his hot ass into my studio.

Too bad Rory stopped him before he could get to the door. Fucking Rory, ruining my fun.

Hazel pulled out a chair to sit next to me. My other employees were busy running errands. Real ones, not the made-up ones in my head. One was delivering finished clothing and the other was picking up supplies.

“You’re shameless,” I told her without looking away from the scene unfolding in front of us.

“Me? You’re no better.”

“Never said I was, but you’re smarter than me and don’t usually latch on to this stuff like I do. You’re all sophisticated and shit.”

“Ha! I’m Team Barrett.”

My head snapped around to face her. “You can’t be. We’re Team Reghan. Barrett’s a cop. We can’t root for him while we live a life of crime.”

“You don’t live a life of crime. Your mafia man does.”

I waved her off. “I can’t believe you’re going against Reghan.”

“There are no teams,” Reghan growled before wrenching the door open. If he ripped it off its hinges, Jordan would buy me a new one. There were many perks to having a super wealthy lover.

“You’ve got this!” I yelled, causing Rory and Barrett to turn my way. I grinned. Just because I was on Reghan’s side didn’t mean I wanted one of them to necessarily lose. “What about Team Get It On?” I whispered.

“That’s not a thing,” Hazel said.

“It could be. I mean, we all want them to fuck, except maybe Jordan because it could create a mess for him, but if they fucked, it would be hot as hell. Although, then we wouldn’t need to pick sides because we’d be on both of theirs.”

“I see where you’re going with this, and you could be right. This way no one gets pissed at you for not cheering them on. But Get It On doesn’t sound right.”

“Team Angry Fuck? Team Pull My Hair and Tell Me How Tight My Ass Is? Team Choke Me with Your Dick?”

Hazel chuckled. “You have a vivid imagination.”

“You have no idea. I’ve already pictured Jordan grocery shopping, decided he has picked up his own dry cleaning, and pictured him taking Tahoe to the vet.”

“None of the things he would do himself now.”

“That’s why it’s an imagination. He would take Tahoe to the vet though. If that dog got sick, Vail would break. Jordan and I would do whatever we had to so that didn’t happen.”

“What the fuck, Bear?” Reghan growled, interrupting our conversation. I loved that Reghan had a nickname for Barrett. It was so cute.

“Reghan,” Barrett nodded. The only reason we could hearthem over the street traffic was that they were right at the door and Hazel and I were being so quiet now, we could have heard their dicks shift behind their flies if we tried hard enough. “Can I come in or would you like me to talk about the Everharts on the sidewalk?”

“Fuck’s sake,” Reghan bit out and slid aside so Barrett could enter. Rory followed him in.

“That’s my cue,” Hazel said and stood. “I’m taking a long lunch.”

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