Page 26 of Treat

She stared at him for a long moment, then Tilly barked and yanked on the leash, and she rolled her eyes. “Sorry, Tilly.” She put her sunglasses back on and started walking again. “So, what happens now?”

“They’re still sorting it out,” Jude said, matching her pace. “They’ve got a lot of files to go through, to figure out exactly how much he stole from who. And they have to get him back from Saskatchewan, which will take time. But Grant said Chloe figured out how much I owe you, so?—”

“Hold on.” She stopped again. “How muchyouowe me?”

“Yeah.”

She shook her head. “Adam the asshole owes me, not you.”

“It’s going to be months before we’re able to get any money back from him—if we get any,” he pointed out. “I’m not making you wait.”

The line appeared between her eyebrows again. “But how are you the one on the hook?”

“Because I’m the boss,” he said simply. “You’ll be getting a direct deposit sometime in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. After taxes and withholdings, it’ll be about twenty-five thousand.”

Even with the sunglasses on, he could see her eyes go wide. “Dollars?”

The squeak in her voice made him want to smile. “Yeah.”

“Okay. Um.” She turned in a slow circle, wrapping the leash around her knees. Tilly, who was squatting by a tree, squawked in protest. “Shit, sorry.”

“Here, I’ll take her,” Jude said, unwinding the leash from around her legs, then shot out a hand when she sat right down on the sidewalk. “Hey! You okay?”

“Uh-huh,” she replied. Her head was between her knees, so her voice was muffled. “Did you say twenty-five thousand?”

“Yeah.” She didn’t seem to be in any actual physical distress, so he sat down on the sidewalk next to her. “You need anything? Something to drink?”

She shook her head, her hair swishing over her knees. “No.”

He frowned. Her voice was thick, like she was getting a cold. Or crying. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Fine,” she sniffed and picked up her head. Her sunglasses had slid down her nose, and there were tears shimmering in her eyes.

“You’re crying,” he accused and, thinking only to comfort, laid a hand on her back.

Her skin was bared by her dress, soft and smooth and warmed by the sun. Like forbidden fruit, he thought and dropped his hand.

She sniffed. “Sorry. I don’t mean to blubber.”

Struggling to focus, he nodded. “It’s okay. The last few months must have been rough.”

“Yeah,” she said, her voice thick. “I don’t think I realized how rough until just now.”

“That’s understandable,” he said, hoping it was the right thing to say. He’d thought a lot about her situation over the last couple of days, but about how it affected him. He didn’t think he’d realized until just now how much strain she’d been under, broke and technically homeless, and shame washed over him. “Blubber all you need to, I don’t mind.”

“Thanks.” With a wobbly smile, she wiped her cheeks. “I guess I should start looking for an apartment.”

Done watering the tree, Tilly shoved her nose under his elbow and tried to wiggle into his lap. He lifted his arm to let her. “There’s no rush. You can stay with me as long as you need to.”

“Oh. Um. I appreciate that,” she began, her gaze dropping as her cheeks turned pink. “But we’re in your way, so?—”

“You’re not,” he interrupted.

“How is that possible?” she asked, her color deepening. “This morning Tilly snuck into the shower with you. And farted.”

“I shower with twenty other guys on the regular,” he reminded her. “Trust me, she’s an upgrade.”

That made her snicker, but she still looked uncertain.

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