Page 107 of Forever in the Country

SORREN: I beg to differ

SORREN: According to the…50k followers on my account—they’re very eager to see if you can match my ‘energy’

HANK: What’s BDE?

HAYDEN: Oh pick me!

EVERETT: You’re not telling my boss what it means

HANK: Never mind—Isla told me

HANK: Said I’m definitely BDE

OTTO: Can we focus please?

SORREN: I’m so glad you’re focused—can’t wait to see what you do behind the camera

CASE: I hate all of you

SORREN: Just when I started tolerating these messages

SORREN: Such a shame…

Ilook up from my phone and snicker before my smile immediately disappears.

Shit.

“Sorren!” Rhea yells from inside her office. Pushing open the door, I see the German shepherd puppy mix tearing around the room, tail wagging and with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. “Come here, you little shit,” she growls, lunging for the animal that now thinks they’re playing a game. “I swear to God if you—”

I whistle and the dog leaps off the couch and races over to sit at my feet. Pulling a treat from my pocket, I give it to Kona before telling him to lie down.

He does and Rhea slams her hands onto her hips. Eyeing her warily, I take a tentative step toward my girl. I’m barely fighting a smile as I reach for her.

She stares at me with her arms crossed. She’s pissed but notupset,and that’s at least marginally better for me.

“Sunshine…”

“Don’t youSunshineme, Sorren Mackay.” She points at the dog still obediently lying on the floor. He’d been one of the first rescues we’d received, and he’d taken to me immediately. He was currently really interested in pulling Rhea’s panties out of the hamper, which she did not appreciate.

“He’s still learning. He’s a puppy and—”

“He sent emails to clients! And my grocery order arrived with, like, five times the amount of cornstarch any one person could ever need.”

“You can order groceries in this town?”

She stomps her foot, and my name is a cry and not the good kind. “Sorren!”

Taking a step toward her again, I smile as she watches me warily but doesn’t move, and I take that as a good sign. I gently pull her toward me until I can wrap her in my arms.

“He’s lucky he’s so cute.”

“I thought I was cute.”

“You’re lucky you can give me orgasms.”

“Listen, Sunshine, I stress about a lot of things,”—eyeing her slowly up and down, I smirk—“but makin’ you come is not one of them.”

“You owe me tonight.”

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