Page 83 of Reckless

“Doyou want me to add this to your federal tax folder or do you have a separate place for your property taxbills?”

I look up from my desk and study Tori, who’s tied up her hair on top of her head with a number two pencil. She’s so sexy, I want to fuck her right now on mydesk.

After a quick adjustment to my jeans, I motion for thebill.

“There should be a separate folder for this somewhere.” Rubbing my chin, I smile sheepishly. “Not sure where it is, though. Maybe check the seconddrawer?”

I’ve been feeling stretched so thin lately, the office was the first to fall into disarray. Because it’s not like I can ignore my children, or the horses, or my employees. But having Tori here to help me get this under control has made such a huge difference, I feel a weight lifting off myshoulders.

Logan strolls in, drops onto the couch, and covers his face with his forearm. “Your kids exhaustme.”

I ignore his whiny ass and continue paying bills. We’ve worked through the bulk of the mess. Tori rearranged the filing cabinet so it’s easy to find the business bills versus the housebills.

Eventually, the fatigue of working my butt off all damn week catches up to me, and I close my eyes, wishing I could sleep into next year, but as soon as the sun goes down, I need to get back out to the barn to finish up inthere.

“You guys ready for Friday?” Tori asks quietly as she walks behind me, pausing to massage myshoulders.

Jesus, that feelsgood.

Grunting, I let my head hang down while she works her magic. Would rather forget about Friday, and this back massage is the perfect way to dothat.

“I can’t do this for long.” She whispers in my ear, “You have bigmuscles.”

I smile to myself, feeling like a puffed uppeacock.

“So Logan, I have a question for you,” she says, still working over my shoulders. “Are you and Joey… youknow?”

This I have to see. I crack my eyes and swing my head to the side. My mother has always wanted those two to end uptogether.

He’s shaking his head, confusion written all over his face. “Justfriends.”

Tori snickers. “Like ‘just friendswith bennies’ or ‘just friendsbut you wanna bang’ or ‘just friendsand you’re both indenial’?”

I laugh, reaching back to scoop her into my lap. “So manyoptions.”

“Right? I’ve been trying to figure them out because Joey is really pretty, and she obviously cares about him, but I’m thinking he’s indenial.”

“Like the river inEgypt.”

“I’m right here,” Logan points out. “And I swear Joey and I are really and truly platonic. Nothing has ever happened between us. She’s like a little sister. I would never corrupt her. I mean, we grew up together, so she knows what I’mlike.”

Joey is kinda sheltered. I can understand my brother’s reluctance on some level. He loves to play the field, but he’d have to be ready to settle down to consider doing anything withJoey.

“Maybe she wants to be corrupted.” Tori coughs. “Justsaying.”

“No way, dude.” Logan rubs the back of his neck. “She might read too many romance novels, but she knows we’re onlybuds.”

Tori makes this sound of disbelief. “So you’re totally cool with her dating someone else? Her being ‘corrupted’ by someone else?” The blood drains from Logan’s face, and Tori’s voice softens. “Maybe you should think about that before you dismiss her as someone you could be interestedin.”

She’s right. One day Joey is gonna wake up and stop trailing behind mybrother.

Tori gives Logan a sympathetic smile. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings. I think you’re a good guy, but sometimes it’s hard to appreciate something that’s been staring you in the face for so long, and I don’t want you to lose out on a great woman because you’re worried it’scomplicated.”

I love that she’s a straight shooter. She’s just expressed everything my family has always wondered about Joey and Logan’s non-relationshiprelationship.

He doesn’t say anything, which is surprising since he always has something to say about everything. After a few quiet minutes, Tori twists in my lap. “Are you feeling good about court thisweek?”

Groaning, I rest my head against her shoulder. “Not really, but there’s not much I can do. We’ve already submitted all of the financial docs the judge requested, which is why the office looked like a tornado had blasted through here.” Gave me a heart attack, trying to hunt down the tax returns while my brother pieced together our profit-and-loss statements for theyear.

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