Page 57 of Bossy Trouble

He frowned, then shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Me either.”

22

DONOVAN

Me too.

What on earth did that mean?

I wanted to ask more, but I didn’t get a chance to.

The front door was thrown open, revealing Avery, who was practically bouncing in step out of excitement.

Georgia got out of the car, and Avery jumped up and down, up and down. “Mommy!”

“Hi, Avery.” I got out of the car.

“Donovan!” she yelled, dashing into my arms. “You’re here!”

“I am.” I chuckled, sweeping the little girl up. She beamed at me, and I ruffled her hair, feeling inexplicable joy now that I was seeing her again.

I should have been alarmed at the thought. The little girl was getting a hold of me, just like her mother had. It was hard to be too concerned, though, staring at her toothy grin.

I glanced at Georgia, who was looking between the two of us with an odd look in her eyes.

“Did Mommy tell you what I did in school today?” Avery asked, drawing my attention back to her.

“She did,” I responded as I walked into the apartment. “Good job, Tiger.”

She grinned even more. She was so cute. “I didn’t answer no matter how many times they called me. And they had to call me Best Avery too. The other Avery didn’t like that, I could tell. She was mad at me and kept saying that my name was Avery Two, but I pretended like I couldn’t hear her at all.”

“She made a whole scene.” The statement came from a redhead woman who emerged from the kitchen and eyed me watchfully. “The teacher told me all about it when I went to pick her up. Avery was super close to getting suspended.”

“And that’s when my lawyers would have had something to say about that,” I responded. “You can’t suspend her for standing up for herself.” Not under my watch. As long as I was around, no one was touching my girl.

My girl?Avery was my girl now? I must be losing it.

The woman smirked at my statement and then extended her hand. “I’m Macy, by the way. Georgia’s friend.”

“Best friend,” Georgia amended as she walked to the woman and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “And frequent lifesaver. Thanks so much for getting her today, Mace. Don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Macy brushed off the affection but with unmistakable fondness in her eyes. She glanced back at me. “So. You’re the asshole who has been giving my friend ungodly hours at work.”

Her tone was still mild, but there was a threat in her smile that told me she was serious. Also that she wanted to kick my ass. I instantly liked the woman. I was so used to peoplekissingmy ass the first time they met me that her honesty was frankly refreshing.

“I am,” I said. “Although, in all fairness, I warned her from the beginning how hard this job would be.”

“It doesn’t matter if you warn her. There’s this thing called worker’s rights. And having her wake up at 4:30 a.m. to go get you coffee is not only cruel and unusual, but it’s also incredibly shortsighted.”

“Mace—” Georgia started, but I held up a hand.

“No, she’s right,” I said to her before turning back to Macy. “Which is why I was so surprised that your good friend never said no to any of my ridiculous demands.”

There was a second of silence as they both looked at me in clear surprise.

Macy turned toward Georgia incredulously. “You didn’t?”

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