Page 59 of Manhattan Bossholes

“Turf war.” Piper widened her eyes, half amused but clearly feeling the tension. “Someone’s trying to come in and see the space for a future wedding, and Chloe’s not having it. She’s worried about keeping everything under control. Of course we get it, but the folks out on the sidewalk don’t. It’s getting tense.”

Paul straightened up. “Should I go out there⁠—”

“Not necessary, your Lost Boys are handling it, and they’re plenty intimidating,” she reassured him.

“True,” he agreed with a shrug. “One less battle for me to fight, I guess.”

“Aw,” she studied him. “You look like you haven’t slept in a week.”

Paul finally let out a real belly laugh at her unexpected insult. “Hey, thanks Piper! Just what I want to hear before I spend a day getting photographed from every angle.”

“You know I’m kidding,” she said as she slid over to pull him into a hug. “You’re going to be such a handsome groom, and I’m so proud to be a part of your big day.”

“Thanks.” Paul squeezed his eyes shut as he hugged Piper. “Chlo loves you. And so do I.”

The brother-sister moment tugged at my heartstrings. Paul had told me he and Piper weren’t super close since they’d already done most of their growing up before their parents got married, meaning they never spent a lot of time living in the same house and learning to be siblings, but it looked like things were changing thanks to the wedding.

Maybe the tradition wasn’t all terrible?

“Paul! The elevator guy is on the phone,” Chloe called from a distance. “Paul! Get over here, please!”

He jerked away from Piper like he’d been electrocuted. “Hell yes, the answer to my prayers!”

He ran off, leaving me alone with Piper in the stairwell.

“You’re the only one who got him to relax a little, you know that?” I asked her.

Before she could respond, a frazzled bridesmaid whose name I couldn’t remember jogged over to us.

“Piper, Chloe wants you to run upstairs and check if the tables were delivered. The event company claims they were, but they were supposed to text a photo of them to her yesterday, and they never did. She only just remembered.”

“You got it,” she replied with a salute. She turned to me when the woman ran off. “Where is that wedding planner they hired?”

I glanced up the stairs. “Grab your carabiner, it’s time to summit this place.”

Three flights of stairs later, we walked into a bright, light-filled room that was indeed crowded with tables, though not in any discernible arrangement.

“Okay, one less thing for her to worry about,” Piper said with a nod. “Although when are they going to get set up?” She peered around the room. “And where are the linens? Okay, now I’m starting to get worried too. How are they going to pull this off in twenty-four hours?”

“Piper, I’m on it,” I said as I gently grasped her arms. “I have a backup team for all of this, ready to deploy with one phone call. I didn’t want to step in and take over right away, but the minute they need my support, I’m here. There’s no way I’m letting anything go wrong on Paul’s big day.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Seriously? That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard!”

“Nah, it’s nothing,” I said, a little uncomfortable about exposing my soft side, even to Piper. “I just think it’s important to have a backup plan, you know?”

She pushed closer and wrapped her arms around me. “You’re absolutely amazing, you know that?”

The sensation of her pressed against my body was enough to make me go hard instantly. She touched her nose against the base of my neck and inhaled.

“I freaking love the way you smell. And it’s not just the cologne, because I’ve smelled it in the bottle, and it’s different. It’s the way it smells on your skin.”

She inhaled again and kissed the spot, over and over as her hand slid down to my crotch.

“Piper,” I groaned. “We can’t…”

She pulled away to glance around the empty room. “There’s got to be a closet somewhere up here.” She rubbed her hand against my hardness.

“Okay,” I relented. “Maybe a quickie, before anyone can miss us.”