Page 47 of Bargain With the Boss

I hopped up onto his tailgate and gulped down half the bottle.

“Does it have something to do with a new redhead?”

“That obvious?”

He shrugged. “We haven’t had much else going on. The last few properties have been smooth sailing thanks to our new version of Jude.”

“Jesus, don’t say that out loud.”

Gavin laughed and took a sip from his bottle. “Not like there’s much going on while we’re in demo. Shuffling around some appointments and the endless drudgery of paperwork.”

“Yeah. She jumped right in. I showed her the plans for here and she had some good ideas about seasonal rentals. She’s more retail minded than I am.”

“Huh. Yeah, that’s a good option. Maybe something rotational between the delicatessen and the other bookend. Have you talked to Tatiana about taking the spot?”

“No, I was slammed yesterday.”

And too pissed off to speak to humans who I didn’t have to. Between seeing Syd with a Maitland and the clusterfuck my Japan call had become, I’d been ready to blow off steam with a few drinks. I figured I could smooth things over with her, but Sydney had other plans—none of them included me for the last few days.

I could still see her as if it had just happened. Windblown and a bit pink in the face from her time on the water. But the way she’d ripped into me and defended the Maitlands had been a topper to the goddamn night.

Gavin finished his water and dug back in for a soda. He passed a Coke over to me. Any caffeine was good caffeine at this point so I cracked the can.

“Gonna elaborate?”

“Since when do we talk feelings?”

“Okay, fuckhead. We don’t need to.” He started to slide off the tailgate.

“Fuck.” I tipped my head back. “Sorry. Sydney made friends with someone.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“Claire Maitland.”

The teasing smile fell away. “Excuse me?”

Buoyed by Gavin’s pure hate for the Maitlands, I went on. “Yeah. Evidently they made fast friends during a shopping trip the other day.”

“Shopping?”

“I know. It’s a long story, not important. But evidently when I went back to the day job, she made friends with Claire. I’m not entirely sure she knew who she was until I told her.”

“Wait, why—back up.”

I sighed and filled him in on the incident at the docks and our less than ideal fight in public. “Then, when I couldn’t find her later I rolled up to the Maitland mansion.”

“You did what?”

“I know, I know. I was worried about her.”

“She’s a big girl, X.”

“I know, but we had a blow-up and what am I supposed to tell Jude if I lost his damn sister?”

“Did you go to Jude’s place to see if she was there?”

No.