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“Well,” I said, “thanks, guys, but still, it wasn’t my finest moment. And my boss is not happy. I’m gonna need his favorite drink, too, Walt.”

He nodded and got to work making Theo’s large iced mocha latte. Hopefully, a little caffeine pick-me-up would pull a smile out of my frustrated friend.

“Red pressin’ charges?” Finn asked as he stood and placed his empty cup in the dirty-mug bin behind him.

Walt had been experimenting with serving coffee in reusable ceramic mugs instead of unrecyclable disposable cups with the wax coating lining the insides. It worked well if you stayed at Coffee Shot while you drank your hot coffee, but if you needed it to go, it was kind of problematic. Trying to get Wisper’s residents to bring in their own reusable coffee mugs or tumblers was proving to be a headache.

“He wants to, but Brady’s tryin’ to convince him to work it out with me. I have to pay for the window, of course, but he wants Red and me to switch jobs for a week. Brady thinks that’ll change Red’s mind about Ace’s House. I guess he thinks it’ll make us understand each other better or somethin’.”

Finn chuckled doubtfully. “That’s one theory.”

“You don’t think it’ll work?”

He shook his head and lifted his black cowboy hat from the table. “Hey, Walt, whip me up an iced chai tea latte to go, would ya, please? If Aislinn finds out I was here and didn’t get her tea, I’m in for it. Charge me for a new tumbler.” Looking back at me while he fixed the hat over his long blond hair, he mused, “I wonder if Red has it in him to change the way he thinks. He’s been mean a long time.”

“Maybe Brady’s right though,” Aubrey said. “Nobody knows why Red is the way he is, so maybe somethin’ will shake loose while he’s at Ace’s House. You never know. Here,” she added as she stood, and she handed me a wrapped chocolate chip muffin. “For your good deeds.”

“Thanks,” I said and smiled. “Really, you guys.” I looked around the coffee shop, at Finn and Aubrey, but there were more people sitting at the coffee shop tables, smiling up at me, some whose names I didn’t even know. “Thanks for the support.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

ABEY

Walking into The Red Wild Outdoors Monday morning to make absolutely sure Red didn’t need help—though, as cranky as he had been lately, I knew it was probably a wasted effort—my boots squeaked, and I stopped on a dime when I saw Devo behind the counter.

A devil’s smile crossed her lips. I wasn’t sure if it was because it was me walking in or because I’d found her doing something… naughty?

I narrowed my eyes. “What’re you doin’ here? Where’s Red?”

“He’s at Ace’s House. I’m workin’ here today.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. “Nobody told you?”

“No. What the hell?”

“We traded jobs for a few days,” she said as she walked around the counter. A black and white flannel was tied around her hips, and she wore a fitted, white T-shirt, cutoff khaki shorts, and clunky brown hiking boots.

She looked hot. Normally, she wore jeans or pants. Except for the night we’d made each other come. She’d worn shorts that night too. I would never forget them or how they’d fit her, so snug on her hips.

“Like what you see?” she asked, probably ’cause she’d noticed me drinking her in.

“I do,” I said. I couldn’t lie.

Touching the tip of her tongue to the bottom of her two front teeth, she tilted her head. “Thanks.”

Shaking my head, I tried to clear it. It wouldn’t do to be thinking about her body, not while I was on the job, but then she turned to adjust some hiking hip packs on a display table to her right, and my clear mind became all kinds of fuzzy.

Jesus. The backs of her thighs called to me. I wanted to feel them, wanted to run my hands up and down the smooth skin. Her legs looked strong but not overly muscular, and I remembered how soft they’d been when my face was between them. And right then, it became my mission to get her on her hands and knees so I could lie beneath her and drag her pussy to my mouth, licking her most sensitive flesh while I held those legs open with my hands wrapped around her luscious thighs. She could go down on me at the same time.

Scraping my teeth over my bottom lip slowly while I imagined her in my bed, I was lost in a pussy-fueled fantasy, but she coughed and said my name.

“Hello-o-o?”

My eyes flicked up to hers. “What?”

Crossing her arms beneath her perfect, high tits, she knew what I was thinking. It was evident from the smirk on her face. “I asked why you’re here. You haven’t said yet.”

I cleared my throat. “Right. Uh, I just wanted to check in on Red. I didn’t get a chance yester?—”

“Check on him?” She threw up her hands. “Why? Why are you so concerned about that freakin’ asshole? Why aren’t you checkin’ in on me?”