Page 7 of Smooth Moves
Chapter 2
The next day passed much the way Tuesday had, their stay extended at the Millers’ thanks to the rain. To Cash’s relief, the kids and the dog stayed well away from the property. They finished the job and split the team to cover more moves. For some reason, Reid had paired Jordan up with the new guy—Smith Ramsey, asshole extraordinaire.
At the day’s end, Cash found his brother in the office. He had to bite back what he’d planned to say when he saw Reid was not alone. Instead, he took a seat opposite his brother, watching as a leggy redhead leaned against Reid’s desk. She sparkled with a vibrant personality and killer smile.
He muttered, “Oh, it’s you.”
Naomi Starr had been laughing at something Reid said and turned to regard Cash with a raised brow. “And hello to you too.”
Cash gave her a weak wave, fuming as he stared at Reid. Normally he’d go off on the guy, but he didn’t want to throw any kinks in the works between Reid and his new girlfriend. They’d had a rocky patch a few weeks back, and Cash liked his brother actually having a life despite Reid being such a dick lately.
Reid smiled back at Naomi, and Cash felt a pang at seeing how well the pair fit. Both smart and driven, dedicated to their work and to each other. Cash had a sinking feeling they’d end up getting married. He’d met a few of Reid’s old girlfriends, and none of them came anywhere close to Naomi Starr in looks, character, or that smokin’-hot body.
“Anytime you want to stop leering,” she said, sounding coldly amused.
Reid frowned. “Notanytime. Quit eye-fuc—ah, eyeballing hernow.”
Cash held up his hands in surrender, watching the lovesick pair.
Naomi chuckled. “Nice catch, Reid.” She leaned down to kiss him, and Cash quickly glanced away, weird about catching a glimpse of her fine ass since she belonged to his brother.
At the thought of a fine ass, Jordan immediately came to mind.
No, no. Jordan isn’t attractive. She’s an employee. A moving buddy. Just some chick who works with me.
More likeforhim, but Cash made a distinction with everyone. Working alongside the guys on a daily basis, he deferred to Reid on most business decisions, preferring to get his hands dirty as just another employee—one who owned a piece of the company pie, but a small piece.
Naomi left the office, answering a call on her phone.
Reid regarded him with a quizzical expression, younger by two years yet always acting so much more mature.
“What?”
“I’ve said your name twice already. You high or something?”
Cash flushed. “Ass. You know I don’t do drugs.” The occasional beer, but that was as hard as Cash hit anything addictive. He prized being in control of himself. Growing up the way he had, he needed control to feel sane.
Which brought to mind a conversation they needed to have, but one he’d been putting off. Fucking family drama. Even dead and gone, his mother continued to annoy him. “Ah, I, well… I need to talk to you about something.”
Reid shook his head. “Let me stop you before you get started. Jordan and Smith work well together. Like you, he has a tendency to alienate others. Yet he’s worked well with her before.”
“What?” Not the conversation Cash had expected.
“We need everyone working this week. We’re tapped on time and jobs, and Bro, we are seeing a realprofit.” Reid perked up, his gray eyes bright with excitement. Like Cash, he had dark hair and the Griffith good looks. But he didn’t have the breadth of muscle and height Cash had. No one would ever confuse them for twins, but they for sure looked enough alike to pass as siblings.
“Yeah, that’s great.” Cash paused, rationalizing his need to avoid the uncomfortable topic of their mother with the more important here and now—the job. “But I thought the teams were my responsibility. I had them all planned out.”
“They were. Until you kept pairing yourself with Hector or Jordan on the smaller jobs. We need our experienced movers with the newbies, just to make sure we can trust them. That way in the future we know they’re doing what they need to do when not supervised.” A good point. Then Reid ruined it by sounding dictatorial. “Spread the love, man. The only guys I agree should stick tight are Martin and Tim. I don’t know how they do it, but they’re our most effective unit.”
“That’s because Martin talks for them both and Tim’s a workhorse. Bastard can probably lift as much as me.”
“High praise,” Reid agreed.
They grinned, then Cash remembered to be annoyed. “Look, I appreciate you doing all the office paperwork crap—”
“Because you refuse to do it, and Evan hasn’t quite cut the cord with his job yet.”
“—but you know the people side of Vets on the Go! is mine.” At Reid’s raised brow, he amended, “The people side as in who I work with, not the annoying customers.”
