Page 54 of When You Got a Good Thing (Misfit Inn 1)

Kennedy squeezed his arm, setting her chin on his shoulder. “It’s done. Let it go.”

“I’ve got to see him today. We’ve got a department briefing I can’t miss.”

“Frankly, I’m impressed you managed to avoid him for this long. Do you know what you’re going to say?”

“I’ve already said what I’m going to say on the matter.” Xander was more concerned with what his father might say, what additional justification he might attempt to offer. If Buck honestly tried to say he’d been in the right, Xander wasn’t sure he could be held responsible for his response.

“Then, for now, go in, do the job, get out.”

She made it sound so easy. But it was going to take him a whole lot longer to come to terms with his father’s betrayal.

Ari came back into the kitchen. “Ready. If we go now, they might have time to canoodle before Xander has to leave for work.”

Kennedy hurled a piece of toast at her. “You’re not too old to ground, you know.”

“Do you even know what canoodling is?” Xander asked.

“I assume it involves sucking face.”

“Ooookay.” Pru spun Ari around and shoved her toward the door. “We’re going. Xander, have a good day. Kennedy, I’ll probably see you before you leave for work. My client schedule is on the desk.”

“Make good choices!” Ari called cheerfully from the foyer.

Kennedy snorted and the front door shut behind them.

“Well, I guess we’re busted,” Xander said. “By a thirteen year old, no less.”

“I’m a lot less bothered by that than the fact that apparently my mother was aware of our love life.”

Xander froze in utter horror as he imagined Joan Reynolds crossing her arms, giving him The Eyebrow, and asking exactly what his intentions were toward her daughter. “Oh God.”

“She—”

He held up a hand. “No, stop. Leave me with whatever delusions I have left. If people know what we did in that hay loft, I don’t wanna know about it.”

“Fair enough.”

“She’s gonna be a real ball buster. Ari, I mean.”

“She is. And she’s going to have to be hella inventive to get away with anything because, between the four of us, and everyone else who came through here, we’ve seen or done pretty much everything.”

Xander rose and took his empty coffee cup to the sink. “Are you ready for Maggie to know about your plan for the inn?”

“No, but it seems I’ve got about twenty-four hours to get there. Fortunately, that set of test bedding I wanted came in yesterday. I managed to sneak it upstairs, while Pru was with a client. Can I get you to help me shove furniture to the middle of the room before you head out?”

He’d rather test the bedding. “My muscles are yours to command.” He pulled her into his arms, then ran his hands down over her ass.

Kennedy pursed her lips. “We don’t have time for that level of canoodling. More’s the pity. But I’ll see you when I get off tonight. Help me do this, then go to work. Protect and serve. Don’t kill your dad. They don’t offer sufficient conjugal visits in prison.”

Because he knew she was trying to lighten the mood, he worked up a smile. “There’s a motivation.”

She rose on her toes and brushed her lips over his in a lingering kiss that had him wishing he could set his own hours.

“Tonight,” he brea

thed.

“Tonight.”

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