Page 29 of For the Promise

Dakota rolls her eyes. “You were gone forever.”

Paisley sighs. “Uh oh.”

“Do not exaggerate time by using the word forever incorrectly. We’ve discussed how important timekeeping and time management are.”

Dakota holds up her hand. “I am not having another conversation with you about the importance of time management. I’m still having flashbacks from the previous one.”

Paisley clears her throat. “We’re here to find out what’s going on with you and Jaxon.”

I lift my eyebrow. “I thought you knew. We have an ‘arrangement’.”

Her cheeks darken and she dips her chin. “Sorry. I’ve been preoccupied. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

I let it go. Between the hurricane, relocating the brewing facilities, and her tango with Eli, she has been extremely busy.

Dakota elbows me. “What is going on between the two of you?”

I’m not getting out of this conversation. Not considering the way I badgered Dakota when she was being wooed by Rhett. Payback’s a bitch. But I can use this to my advantage.

“I’ll tell you if you agree to go on an adventure with me.”

Dakota moans. “The last adventure I agreed to go on with you ended up with you fighting a horse.”

“I did not fight a horse.”

“You yelled at the poor thing and called it names.”

“Poor thing? It was stubborn and refused to move when I gently asked it to.”

“It moved just fine when Warren whistled at it.”

“Warren – aka Mr. I’ll OwnSirens & Saddlesonce my dad is gone – was creepy.”

“He’s always been creepy,” Paisley says.

I shiver. “Creepy how?”

“We caught him trying to drill a hole into the wall of the girls’ locker room. I hope he’s better with horses than he is with drills because he had no clue what he was doing.”

“Good thing you caught him,” I say. I am never going toSirens & Saddlesagain. To avoid Warren, not because me and horseback riding do not go together.

Dakota scowls. “Those poor horses. They have to be around a creep.”

“Should we rescue them?” I ask. I’m up for a rescue mission. Anything to get my mind off my real problems.

“And put them where?” Dakota scans my apartment. “You don’t exactly have room here.”

Technically, I have the money to build a ranch for the horses. But I don’t want to touchthatmoney any more than I have to. Touching it would confirm they’re gone. Plus, my lawyer says I shouldn’t use the money until the Alan situation is solved.

“Can we stop discussing rescuing horses and get back to the matter at hand?” Paisley asks.

I rub my hands together. “What adventure are we going on?”

Paisley sighs. “You’re as bad as Sophia, Chloe, Nova, and Maya.”

Those are the women she foundedFive Fathoms Brewingwith. The five are the best of friends and get up to all kinds of trouble. They’re my heroes.

“And you’re innocent?” Dakota asks. “You didn’t get the Raider brothers drunk atMermaid Mystical Gardensand get kicked out of the amusement park?”

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