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Reese

“Devon offered to teach you to ride on Saturday,” my boss informed me as we sat in the reception area of the office for Glam Anywhere. “I know you really want to learn to ride, so I told him it was a great idea.”

I gaped at the woman who had become not just a boss but a friend to me.

Devon Remington was Hannah’s brother-in-law, and she adored him.

I, on the other hand, did not want to spend any time I didn’t absolutely have to spend with Devon.

Idid notadore him.

In fact, he was a huge pain in my ass.

“Why would he do that?” I asked her cautiously.

I was certain that Devon didn’t like me, either.

Why would he want to domea favor?

He came to the office fairly often. He probed me constantly about my personal life and my history, something I refused to talk about with him.

My life was none of his damned business, but he tried to make it his business every time he visited Glam Anywhere.

Hannah sighed as she sat in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “Look, I know you don’t exactly love Devon like I do, but underneath all of his bullshit, he is a good guy.”

I snorted as I closed my laptop. “I highly doubt that Devon is just trying to be a nice guy. He antagonizes me every time he stops by.”

It was closing time, and Hannah and I had just finished our business for the day.

I’d been working for the mobile beauty company for months, and the business had grown enormously since it had opened.

We were conquering Montana, but there was still a lot of work to do to make the company go national in the future.

I was the manager at Glam Anywhere, but Hannah was far from an absentee boss. She was engaged in every aspect of her business, and she spent as much time here as I did.

Hannah’s husband, Tanner, had tried to get her to work shorter days because her pregnancy was getting more advanced. But Hannah was an independent woman who wanted her new business to succeed. She insisted that she was feeling just fine, but that didn’t stop Tanner from checking up on his pregnant wife several times a day. He was a little obsessive, but it was their first child, and I couldn’t blame him for worrying about his wife.

“Please just go and let Devon teach you to ride,” Hannah insisted. “He really would be a great teacher. He’s been riding since his early childhood, and he’s a much better rider than I am. I wish I could teach you myself, but I can’t ride while I’m pregnant.”

I nodded, completely agreeing with her comment. Hannah shouldn’t be getting near a horse while she was pregnant. There was too much risk of falls or abdominal trauma. “I can wait,” I told her emphatically. “I’ve lived this long without getting on a horse.”

Yeah, I really did want to learn to ride, but it wasn’tthaturgent.

“It would be so good for you,” Hannah nagged. “You’re relatively new to Montana, and I think you’d love it. You’ve done so much for me, Reese. I want to return the favor. You’ve worked so hard with me to get this business up and running, and I owe some of my success to your hard work. You took care of everything while I was on my long honeymoon in Australia. I just want to do something nice for you. What’s up between you and Devon anyway? You seem uptight every time he comes in.”

Damn!Hannah had been a great friend and boss, and it was so hard for me to refuse to do something she really wanted me to do.

However, Devon was a thorn in my side, and I really didn’t want to shove that thorn in any deeper by spending time in his company outside of work.

“Nothing is up,” I assured her. “We just don’t like each other.”

Hannah’s expression was solemn as she asked, “You do realize that all of his cynicism and obnoxiousness isn’t the real Devon, right?”

I lifted a brow as I looked at her. “It’s not? If it’s all artificial, he seems to have that act down pat.”

“He has a good heart,” Hannah replied. “He just doesn’t show that side of himself to most people.”

Ha!I’d definitely never seen that side of Devon Remington. He questioned me incessantly and never seemed satisfied with any of my answers.