Page 60 of Into the Lion's Den (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

But he wasn’t leaning to get closer to me. He was leaning to pull his cell phone from his back pocket.

I closed my eyes for a brief second, feeling like an idiot. When I opened them, Reese was reading a text and his body was scarily still.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s Sam. I missed a text from him earlier.”

“Is something wrong?”

“He met with the roofer. We’ve got a breach in the roof over the dining room.”

“Sam mentioned a leak,” I said, remembering our conversation from that morning, “but he didn’t think it was a big deal.”

Reese frowned at his phone. “The whole goddamn roof will need to be replaced before winter.”

“How much is that?”

He shook his head. “Twelve thousand. Maybe more.”

“That’s going to eat into this summer’s revenue.”

“And our credit is locked. This party of yours better be a success, or not even selling the horses will be enough to save us.”

23

REESE

Three weeks later.

Iwalked into the staff cafeteria to find Sarah with her head in her hands, her breakfast uneaten, and a pair of work gloves on the table beside her plate. Weeks had passed since our trail ride, and I’d done everything I could to make good on my part of the bargain. We were friendly professional colleagues and nothing more.

I decided that a friend would ask her what was wrong, because something was clearly bothering her. “Sarah?”

She looked up, and her face was pale. Her body even swayed slightly.

“Are you okay?” The lion’s protective urges rose to the surface as the heat that had plagued my body since our kitchen encounter ticked up a notch.

“The Maddox party is next week,” she said.

“I know.” Last night she’d shown me the Taylor Holt band’s rider and we’d chosen a small room for them to use as a green room.

“The masseuses just bailed.”

“What masseuses?”

“The Maddoxes requested outdoor couples’ massages. We were going to set up two tables by the lake. I was able to contract with a luxury spa in Minneapolis to send up two of their best. But they just called to cancel.”

“Doesn’t sound like a big deal.”

Her head jerked, and she looked at me, horrified.

“What?” I asked. “You’re talking about back rubs, right?”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

“I’ll add it to the growing list.”

“This is something they specifically asked for. I ordered portable changing rooms…”

---