Page 70 of Only Between Us

Goddamn.

Siena tosses him the empty container, which he fumbles, then calmly takes her place behind the counter like nothing happened. “Get the fuck out of my shop.”

They start hustling to the door but hit the brakes when I get in their way.

“You’re forgetting your manners.” I tip my head in Siena’s direction. “Apologize.”

“She covered me in fucking worms, man—”

“I’ll cover you in worse in a second.” I jerk my chin at the checkout counter. “Apologize.”

They mutter their apologies to a deadpan Siena and scurry out of the shop before my next breath. Leaving me simultaneously raging, ready to punch through a wall, and insanely turned on by the way she handled them like the trash they are.

My badass girl can hold her own, and it’s the hottest thing. But Siena is already typing at her laptop, so unbothered I’m once again questioning whether I imagined the whole scene.

Toounbothered.

“What the fuck, Pip? Has this happened before?”

“They’re not the first, won’t be the last. I’ve been dealing with creeps like that since I was a kid. You should meet my landlord.”

“Your landlord?Is he inappropriate?”

“He’s fine. It’s under control.” Unfazed, she reaches for a broom in the corner behind the counter. “Thespreading my legs for millionsthing is a new angle, obviously. For every person who likes us together, there’s another two coming in here swinging their micro dicks with something to say.”

“Jesus.” I rub my face and cut her off before she makes it around the counter, taking the broom from her. “Let me do that.”

“I’ve got it.”

“I didn’t say you didn’t. I said I wanted to do it for you.” I get busy sweeping the earthy fallout into its original container. “You sure you’re all right, Pip? None of that was okay.”

“I’m sure. They caught me on a good day.” Siena pauses her typing long enough to shoot me a smile. “Though I appreciated the backup.”

“Not that you needed me,” I mutter, sweeping up the last of the damp dirt streaking over the linoleum.

“If you’d laid a hand on them it would have been the nail in the coffin for your chances with the Rebels. And men with egos like that? They don’t make a peep about being knocked down a peg by a woman.”

I’m on the verge of telling her exactly how many flimsy shits I give about my chances with the Rebels when it comes to people talking to her that way. But the shop door chimes open ahead of a man with shaggy gray hair, and he’s not three feet into the shop before calling, “Do you have any live bait?”

“For fuck’s sake with the live bait,” I mutter. I replace the lid on the filled Styrofoam container and hand it to him. “Here you go.”

“Oh. Thanks.” The man’s gaze bounces between me and Siena before he inches farther into the shop. “I’m going to… look at a few more things.”

“Take your time.” Siena’s smile falls the second the customer is out of sight. It’s not hard to miss that she looked more alive lighting up those assholes than she does right now. Than she has at any point since I’ve walked into this shop.

It’s like this place has neutralized her.

“What is this, Pip?”

She glances up and seems to gather exactly what I mean by the look on my face, because her gaze immediately falters. I’ve never seen her falter.

“Siena. What the hell are you doing here?”

She takes a breath. “On a normal day? I’m here doing my job running the family business. Today?” To my surprise, she breaks into a smile. “I’m only here setting things up before I get to sail a charter on my family friends’ sailboat.”

I imagine her behind an oversized wheel, big sails ahead of her and the wind blowing in her hair. That’s a lot more like it.

I whistle. “As in, Captain Pippen?”