Page 76 of Reckless

“Sure.” She smiles hesitantly and sits in one of the chairs opposite my desk, next to mybrother.

He motions toward the kitchen. “Joey’s still here,right?”

She nods, and he darts out of the room for a second and then returns, settling back into the chair. “Joey’s gonna watch the kids for a sec. Okay, so you see this mess?” He waves at the mountain of paperwork in front of me and the files behind me, stacked in precarious piles on the cabinet. “Think you can help us get organized inhere?”

What the fuck?“Logan, really? What did wejusttalk about the other day?” I specifically told him he’s not allowed to ask her to do any more aroundhere.

He jabs a finger on a pile of bills. “I said I wouldn’t give her more work on her current salary, and I’m not. I mean, not really. Hear meout.”

Turning back to Tori, he breaks out one of his flirty smiles that makes me want to punch him in his pretty face. “I was thinking that Ethan and I are great with the horses but shitty with organizing all of this, and we really need to get our act together before that court date this week. I’ve gathered our tax returns and supporting docs for our attorney, but we’ve been so overwhelmed with that and our clients, I’m afraid we’re gonna miss paying one of our vendors or a tax bill or the vet. Who knows? We have a million things we’re not on top of right now, and I generally leave all of this to Ethan, but he’s working at max capacity rightnow.”

Internally, I cringe, because he’s right. If I’m being honest, I could cut out the few hours of baseball Tori and I watch. Except, fuck, when will I ever get a break? Even after enjoying a few innings, I head back to the barn to get all the horses to bed if I haven’t yet. Yes, even horses get tucked in too. Some require blinders. Others might need blankets if it’s raining. All of them like a little soothing talk. A few scratches behind the ear. SomeTLC.

She nods sympathetically. “Makes sense. You guys have your hands full. What would you need me todo?”

Logan practically wags his tail, he’s so pleased with himself. “You worked at a law firm for a while in college, right? You probably have some office experience we could usehere.”

Her face is blank, and she licks her lips. “Yeah, I mean, I didn’t work there long, but I can organize your bills if that’s all youneed.”

“Cool. Your sister mentioned it when she first brought up you working here, and I thought maybe some of those office skills might be handy right aboutnow.”

“Oh.” She seems to breathe a sigh of relief but then furrows her brow and looks down at her hands. She swallows. “I, uh, I should tell you that I got fired from thatjob.”

Logan and I look at each other, and he lifts an eyebrow.Shit.

I rub my forehead again.This is what happens when I let my brother run the background check.Half-assed asusual.

Not that I’d change anything. Tori is amazing with the kids, and I’m pretty damn fond of her myself. She’s done nothing to make me question her character. Even that one argument we had when we met isn’t really her fault. Iwasbeing anasshole.

I almost smile at the memory. Her all feisty and pissed. I love her fiery side. It’s different than Allison’s rage, which is always mean andmanipulative.

No, unless Tori stabbed a coworker with a letter-opener, I don’t care that they fired her. It’s theirloss.

He clears his throat. “Mind if I askwhy?”

She gives me a sheepish smile. “I told off myboss.”

I laugh. “Did he deserveit?”

“Of course. I think in legal speak it’s called sexual harassment, but everyone ignored his behavior. Boys will be boys and allthat.”

“He harassed you?” I don’t disguise the anger in my voice. The thought of some fuckhead being disrespectful toward Tori makes me want to kick that loser’sass.

“No, thank God. He was perving on his secretary who put up with his behavior. I called him out on it one day, and he had me fired for insubordination and a lack of professionalism.” Her eyes tilt down again, and pink tints her cheeks. “I was just a college student, and I couldn’t afford the kind of expensive clothes they expected me to wear. He used that against me. Said I didn’t uphold their standards, and since I was a lowly paper-pusher and he was a senior partner, no one cared what I had to say about any of it. But the real kick in the head is the secretary I stood up for denied anything shady happened because she was afraid of losing herjob.”

“Oh, darlin’, I’m sosorry.”

Another shrug. “Anyway, I wanted to be honest about my level of experience. I’m probably better at mixing drinks than anything requiring a suit and heels, but I can try my best. When do you want me to getstarted?”

I’m curious about this myself since, aside from a few hours of baseball a week, we’ve been working around the clocklately.

Logan gives her a big, charming smile that makes me roll my eyes. “I was wondering if I could pay you extra to stay this weekend and get a jumpstart.”

I let out an unamused laugh. “What do you plan on paying her with? Pizza and beer? Come on, Logan. Get serious. She works enough, going above and beyond every day. Now you want her to give up the time she spends with her sister? That’s notfair.”

“Chill, man.” He scowls like I’ve insulted him. “I have my own money, you know. I’ve been saving. Besides, Joey said she might be able to help us watch the kids this weekend, so it’s the perfecttime.”

“So you’re planning to pay Joeytoo?”

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