Page 84 of Smooth Moves
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Sunday went well with Reid. Cash finally had his mother’s house cleared of everything but the furniture he still debated keeping. The donations truck had picked up the many items he’d left outside. Reid had taken a few more boxes back to their house for a later inspection. Now Cash had to figure out what to do with the place. Emptied of almost everything, it didn’t feel like the hell he’d grown up in. Could he live here?
Should he keep it? Sell it? Maybe even rent it? Jordan was no help with ideas, deferring to him on everything. Annoying, but she had a point. The house was his burden to handle.
The week passed swiftly. By Thursday, Cash had done his best to treat Jordan like everyone else at work. It helped that Reid had made two formal statements explaining Vets on the Go!’s new hierarchy because Cash still had a problem being Jordan’s “boss”andlover. But now, with Evan heading up a new human resources department and Cash having nothing to do with personnel management anymore, work wouldn’t stand in the way of their relationship.
The others didn’t seem to care either way and teased him about being “the common man.” Then Jordan had reiterated that by calling him an asshole and daring him to fire her.
Which of course he hadn’t. Finley and Funny Rob had taunted him and didn’t stop until he put Finley in a headlock, threatening to drag all their sorry asses to HR for the constant harassment. All in all, it had been a decent week, and he’d managed to mostly ignore Smith and his many sneers.
Now known as the company’s PR liaison when not working regular moves, Cash had a fancy title and no idea what they meant him to do with it. Wasn’t PR what they paid Naomi, owner of Starr PR, to do?
Despite her and Reid being a thing, Naomi had first come to them as a public relations expert. She still worked for them, and they paid her. Reid and Naomi did well separating business from pleasure.
If they did it, so could Cash and Jordan.
He thought about her all the time, and he knew her brother’s distance and odd mood continued to bother her. He decided it was past time to have a talk with Rafi. So after work Thursday, he cleaned up then drove over to Jordan’s. He planned to offer to take Rafi to dinner for some guy-to-guy bonding, knowing Jordan wouldn’t mind. For some reason she considered him a kind of mentor for the kid, and he had no desire to disabuse her of the notion. Plus he wanted to help the boy.
He had a feeling she had no idea Rafi and that Juan kid were hanging out.
He parked and headed to her apartment. But as he walked down the outer hallway, he slowed, hearing an unfamiliar male through her front door.
“I’m sorry,” the man said, not sounding sorry at all. Cash recognized smug when he heard it. “But if you don’t have the money, you’ll have to leave.”
“But Mrs. Alvarez was fine with what I was paying before,” Jordan said. “I have a contract to prove it.”
The smug jerk continued, “The contract is only valid if Mrs. Alvarez owns the property. She’s dead, and it’s mine now. Like I told you, I’m her son. I inherited the building.” A pause. “But I’m sure we could come to some kind of agreement.”
That suggestive tone told him all he needed to hear. Cash saw red.
Behind him, he heard footsteps and turned.
Rafi barreled toward him, a frown on his face. “What—?”
Cash shushed him then motioned to the door. His first inclination had been to bust in and kick the new landlord’s ass. But he figured it was Jordan’s play, so he’d wait it out.
Rafi still frowned but crept closer, keeping quiet, and listened.
“Are you kidding me?” Jordan barked an angry laugh. “Let me get this straight. If I sleep with you, you’ll let me keep my apartment?”
Oh man.Cash couldn’t wait to see what she did to the guy.
“To keep it at the rate you have now. It’s not free.” The man chuckled. “Although if you’re as good with that mouth as you look, we could negotiate the price. Why don’t we find out?”
Rafi looked to intervene, and Cash held him back. He took the key Rafi had in hand and quietly put it in the lock then turned the deadbolt.
“Motherfucker.” Jordan’s rage sounded fierce.
Cash pushed the door open and held Rafi back when the boy made to rush inside.
They watched as Jordan not only disabled the fool, she nailed him in the stomach with a right cross he hadn’t expected before manhandling him to the floor. In seconds, she had removed his belt, turned the guy belly down, and tied the belt around his wrists behind him. Her knee rammed into his back while the dickhead wheezed, still trying to catch his breath.
Jordan had yet to stop cursing.
Love rocked Cash from head to toe. Damn, but she couldmove. He beamed. “Just…wow.”
She blinked up at him and slowly stood. “Cash?”
