Page 69 of Fierce- Royce

“Looks like there might be a red heart on there that was cut in half. Did someone else get that second half?”

She grinned at Jade. If there was one person she could say something to in the Fierce family it was the woman standing here, but she wasn’t doing it. She’d tell Megan or Raina first and she wasn’t at that point yet.

She and Royce had an addendum to their agreement and she wasn’t going to break it. No reason to jinx a good thing since it was working out so well for them.

“My hand was on the second half,” she said. It wasn’t a lie, which she didn’t like to do. Her hand was on the other half when she cut it this morning and put it in Royce’s lunch that he was making.

It was kind of sweet and domestic that they both grabbed the leftover dinner to have for lunch today. She wasn’t used to spending the night with a guy when she had to go to work the next day and wasn’t sure how it was going to work out, but it was fine.

It seemed everything they did was fine. Better than fine.

“I’m sure it was,” Jade said. “Remember, keep it up.”

She laughed. There was no reason to dispute anything, but she wasn’t acknowledging it either. “I’m sure your father and uncle will be in to see me at some point, right?”

“They will be. Whatever game they are playing with you doesn’t seem to be working for them. I think it’s driving them nuts more than they thought.”

“Not everyone falls for it,” she said.

“Don’t kid yourself,” Jade said. “Everyonefalls for it. It’s just how long it takes and how much pain my father and uncle have to go through before they rub people’s noses in it.”

Jade was laughing when she walked out and Chloe couldn’t argue that statement.

But she’d be damned if she’d let someone else take credit for where she was with her boyfriend...Royce. It was Royce when they weren’t together and behind closed doors.

She got back to work and just as she expected, Grant and Garrett both walked into her office after lunch.

“Gentlemen,” she said. “What can I do for you?”

“We didn’t see you in the cafeteria at lunch today,” Grant said. “We thought we’d make the rounds telling everyone that there are still a lot of cookies left from yesterday.”

They were always good about bringing treats in for holidays. “I might have to check it out later,” she said. “But I had a big brownie this morning.”

She watched as Garrett’s eyes lit up. “Did someone give you a brownie?”

“Nope,” she said. “I stopped and got it at the bakery yesterday. No reason I couldn’t buy myself a frosted brownie with a big old heart on it. Jade even saw me eating the other half. Half last night, half this morning.”

Both of the men looked at each other and frowned. She really shouldn’t take so much pleasure in this.

“If you let us get to work on someone for you, you wouldn’t have had to eat a brownie by yourself,” Grant said.

She smiled at them. “I’m good on my own. I didn’t have to share this way.”

Both of their shoulders dropped. At least they didn’t say Royce’s name. She couldn’t wait until they left so she could text Royce and let him know what was going on. She’d bet he was getting it on his end too, but he’d said he was staying away from the office today. She didn’t have that option.

“Ivan finally got engaged,”Jolene yelled into the phone. Garrett was sitting on the couch with his wife, and his brother and Diane were on the call too with their sister-in-law in Charlotte.

“You didn’t think that was ever going to happen,” Carolyn said.

“Tell me about it,” Jolene said. “I’ll send you a picture of the ring when we hang up. Boy, he outdid himself. I bet it took him forever to find the right deal.”

“Stop,” Diane said, laughing. “We know you’re picking on him.”

“I am,” Jolene said. “It’s hard not to.”

“So how did he propose?” Diane asked.

“I have no idea. I haven’t talked to either of them. It’s been over an hour. I got a picture of the ring and they aren’t replying, but I know they are reading the messages. I tried to call my sister and she’s not answering either. She’s seeing my texts too. I think they are all in on making me wait.”

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