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“Used to be?” Aaron arched a brow at his friend.

“It is,” he amended. “Itis. But man, it sure takes a lot of work to keepthings running smoothly.”

“What you need, my man, is a vacation.”

“I don’t know. Maybe. So, listen, how many of those floggers can you have ready by the end of the month?”

Aaron chuckled. “I thought we didn’t come here to talk business.”

Nate gave him a look that was half-wince, half-grin. “Even not talking business becomes business for a guy like me.”

“See! This is why you need a vacation.”

The other man fidgeted in his chair. “I don’t know. Who exactly would run this show if I left?”

Aaron chuckled again. “Wait, that’s not the real reason you brought me down here, is it? I mean, I like being in charge of one woman at a time. That’s more my speed.”

Suddenly, Nate sat forward and the look on his face made Aaron set down his glass. “I’ve been thinking, maybe you’reexactlythe kind of man I need for my second-in-command. Someone who doesn’t care.”

“Hey, I care!”

“Who doesn’t take it all too seriously,” Nate amended.

The thing was Aaron hadn’t just been hired on to Discipline Ranch because he and Nate had been best friends for the past nine years. Nate had wanted to expand their roster to include a master, and Aaron had been in need of gainful employment at the time.

His laissez faire attitude was always in direct opposition with Nate’s type A, yet, it was part of what made them great friends. They could each see things from a side the other couldn’t.

But running Discipline Ranch? The idea sounded far from appealing.

“I don’t know, man… besides. I’m starting to care, a little.”

Nate turned his eagle-eyed gaze on him, hearing what he was reluctant to say. “Oh?”

Aaron shrugged. “Yeah. Maybe.”

“Who is she?”

He registered this question with some surprise. Then he remembered that technically he hadn’t been paired with anyone in a couple of weeks. “It’s not ashe. I just meant, you know. The ranch. The job.”

Nate threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah, right. I don’t buy it.”

Aaron picked up his glass before remembering it was empty. He stared moodily at it before putting it back down again. “Okay, so if you don’t need me for anything else—”

“Wait, wait.” Nate put a hand on his shoulder. “Seriously. Who is she?”

“Some girl here,” he mumbled, avoiding his friend’s gaze.

He could picture Nate in his mind’s eye, though. He just knew his buddy was grinning from ear to ear. He’d been waiting for Aaron to find someone ever since he and Lora had gotten engaged a year ago. The way men did when they settled down—smug and happy to be so, encouraging every other single person in their life to hurry up and be as happy as they were. And convinced that finding a partner was the only way to get there.

Aaron had always disagreed, and vehemently so. But now, he was beginning to wonder. Not that he wasin lovewith Chyanne or anything. But she made him begin to see that it might not be such a bad thing to fall in love. One day. One day in the distant, far-off future.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Only if I get a name,” Nate fired back.

Aaron turned to him and to his surprise, he did not see a trace of smugness, just genuine curiosity. “Depends on how good your answer is.”

The other man grinned, conceding. “Okay, shoot.”