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When I saw what she’d changed her name to in my phone, laughter burst from my chest. Was pretty sure I scared the shit out of the older woman riding in the elevator with me.
Me: What is it, baby?
Little Hellion: I love you.
My chest squeezed and I couldn’t stop a huge fuckin’ smile from tearing across my face.
Me: Love you too.
26
LEE
My phone dinged with another text as I walked down the back hallway to my office. I pulled it out of my pocket, a smile already creeping across my face.
Little Hellion: We’re going to need more food soon. We’ve been too busy to shop the past few days.
Me: Thought we were too busy to eat?
I shot off the text, then tossed my vest on the hook behind my door and started toward the front desk, only for my phone to ding again.
Little Hellion: touché
That smile was there again, threatening to tear me in two.
Me: I’ll put in an order. Let me get some work done first.
“Holy hell, gorgeous. Would you look at that?”
Without even bothering to look up from my phone, words were already coming out of my mouth. “Dennis, when the fuck are you going to learn?”
When I pulled my attention up from the little heart emoji Kelly sent me, I found Rylan and Joss staring at me—her with a smile on her face, him with wide eyes.
“Learn what, boss?” he asked from where he was sitting on the couch on the other side of the front desk. I could just see him peeking through the space behind Joss’s chair.
“Learn how to leave Joss alone? You’d think a bullet to the leg would have taught you a thing or two about listening to me.”
My phone dinged again, and I found more than just an emoji this time. Kelly’s beautiful face was framed on my screen, a hint of makeup highlighting her pretty blue eyes and gorgeous, high cheekbones. Her lips were tinted, too, though it was so close to her natural color, I wouldn’t have known had I not made a habit of memorizing every last inch of her.
“Fuckin’ hell,” I muttered under my breath before shooting off my own fuckin’ emoji, like I was some teenager and not a man coming closer to forty than I cared to admit.
“Joss, sweetheart, could you help me lie down? I think I’m hallucinating. Is that… Is that a smile on my boss’s face?”
“It sure is.” Joss moved, but not toward Rylan. Just enough to put her elbow on the desk and rest her chin in her hand.
“What the hell are you two talking about? And why are you looking at me like that?”
Rylan struggled with his crutches, and for some reason I couldn’t fathom, I made it easier on him and rounded the desk, facing him head on. He grinned up at me with so much fuckin’ mischief in his eyes that I wanted to look over my shoulder and see who that look was directed at.
Except, there was no one up here but the three of us.
“You’re pussy whipped.” Rylan grinned, not even caring when he plopped back against the couch and his crutches clattered to the ground. “Van told me it was true, but I didn’t believe him.”
“That’s because you’re blind when it comes to romance,” Joss muttered before turning to me. “I take it Kelly’s doing okay?”
“Wait.” I held up a hand. “Van’s talking to you about my sex life?”
“Woah!” Rylan shook his head, putting his hands up in front of him. “He didn’t say anything about you sleeping with her.”
