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Ryden brushed his lips over Jay’s, and Jay couldn’t help his sharp intake of breath.

Then Ryden’s mouth was on his, and Jay had a fistful of Ryden’s shirt in his hand, jerking him closer to taste more.

Oh fuck, it was hot . Hot and warm and sweet, and Jay needed more.

The man’s scent, hard body, and hunger for Jay made him shiver right as a commotion outside made them both jump.

Shit! What the hell were they doing? Nope . No way. Whatever this was, Jay had to stop it right now. He quickly stepped back and held his hand out. “Truce?”

Ryden’s brows drew together, and he frowned at Jay’s hand. “What?”

“I accept your truce.”

“Can we talk about this?” Ryden covered Jay’s hand with his. “Jay, we should….”

“Please.” Jay couldn’t do this.

With a heavy sigh, Ryden shook Jay’s hand, and Jay ignored the jolt of something he refused to name exploding through him. He pulled his hand away.

“So we agree?” Jay asked, hating how shaky his voice sounded.

“Yeah, truce.”

“Okay. Good. Right. I should get back to work.” He didn’t wait for Ryden to respond, just hurried to the door and opened it.

Fuck, it was like everyone had decided to return to the office at the same time.

He did not need anyone asking him about his flushed cheeks, why he was out of breath, or why his lips looked swollen.

And great, Lucky and Ace were in the building, which accounted for the commotion.

The two were huddled together. What was going on? Ooh, a distraction. Perfect!

“It’s finally happened.” Lucky wiped a tear from his eye. He glanced at Ace, and his eyes narrowed. “Bro, don’t think about it. Don’t even look at it.”

“Or what? You’ll murder me?”

“No. Worse. I’ll tell Tía you were the one who threw up in her flowers the night of Checho’s party.”

Ace’s eyes went wide, he spun around, and hauled ass in the opposite direction.

“That’s what I thought.”

Jay couldn’t remember the last time he saw Lucky this excited. He was like a little kid at Christmas. What could possibly—Lucky turned, a small plate in his hands. Ah. That made sense. It was flan, and by his expression, not just any flan, but the flan.

“Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you have ever seen in your entire life?” Lucky asked, walking it over so Jay could bask in its beauty.

Jay tried not to laugh. He was adorable. “It’s very beautiful.”

“Hey, Jay—” Ryden darted out of Red’s office and slammed into Lucky.

It was like watching a movie scene set in slow motion. Jay gasped, Lucky shouted, “ Noooooo!” and Ryden said, “ Shiiiiiit!” And then the flan hit the floor with a plop .

Everything and everyone in the office came to a screeching halt.

Oh. My. God.

“No,” Lucky whispered, falling to his knees. “It cannot be.”

Jay stared at Ryden, who looked confused. Oh, bless his heart, the man was prettier than a peach. Maybe he was seeing his life flash before his eyes, and that’s why he wasn’t moving? Jay leaned over. “Run,” he hissed.

“What?” Ryden moved his gaze back to Lucky. “Lucky, I am so, so sorry. I’ll, uh, I’ll buy ya a new one.”

Jay cringed. Ooh, wrong answer.

“Buy? Buy ?” Lucky lifted his murderous gaze to Ryden. “You think you can buy this? Does this look to you like something you can buy? No, bro. It’s not something you can buy . Do you know who made this? Do you know what kind of flan this was?”

Ryden cringed. “Um, coconut?”

“Yes, it was coconut, made by Graciela’s abuelita, who is ninety-two years old. Do you know how many of these she makes in a year?”

Ryden shook his head and took a step back.

“Not many. And they are always spoken for, but this year… this year was my year, and you…” Lucky finished scooping up what had once been a flan and now looked like a caramelized massacre. He slowly rose. “You did this.”

Ryden was that guy in every horror movie who should have listened to his girlfriend, or friend, or sibling, and not gone alone into the woods, or the basement, or wherever else it was that you knew would lead to him winding up murdered.

The man was a Marine. Surely his Spidey senses should have been tingling.

“Lucky, it’s just a dessert. I’m sure we can?—”

The war cry Lucky let out scared the ever-loving crap out of Ryden, making him jump so hard he stumbled back, hitting one of the desks.

Quickly recovering, Ryden took off, using desks and the people sitting at them as shields.

Lucky’s flan was back on the floor because Lucky needed both hands to strangle Ryden.

“I’m sorry,” Ryden said, faking a left and going right.

Mason came out of King’s office, and Jay felt for him. The guy was probably counting down the days until King returned.

“What am I lookin’ at here, Jay?”

“It’s bad,” Jay replied. “Lucky got his coconut flan.”

Mason was confused until Jay pointed to the floor. His eyes went huge. “Sweet merciful heaven.” He narrowed his eyes at Ryden. “What did you do, Marine?”

“It was an accident!”

“No,” Lucky yelled. “It was an assassination! Asesino!”

“Now I know why King takes blood pressure medication,” Mason muttered. “Ryden, clean up this mess and finish moving into your damn office before King regrets giving it to you. Lucky, in King’s office.”

Neither Ryden nor Lucky moved.

Uh oh .

Mason ran a hand through his hair and rounded his shoulders. “If you two don’t get movin’, I’m gonna call King, and the four of us are gonna have a video conference. How’s that sound?”

Lucky stormed into King’s office, and Ryden didn’t bother to look at what he was grabbing off his desk.

He just got an armful and hurried to his new office.

Jay held back a smile. Mason could be pretty scary when he wanted to be.

Of course, the threat of King hearing about everyone’s mischief had something to do with it.

The door to King’s office closed, and Jay made sure no one disturbed them. He had a pretty good idea of how Mason would get Lucky to calm down. What King didn’t know, wouldn’t make him lose his shit.

Ryden and Mason were promoted just after the holidays, but it took time for everyone to be shuffled around and for the two offices to be cleared out.

Mason had been the first to move into his new office.

With the Kings and Wild Cards deciding to pull back on their work hours to spend more time with their significant others, it meant making a few changes.

Was Jay doing everything he could to not think about what happened between him and Ryden in Red’s office?

Yes. Yes, he was. For the rest of the day, he kept busy and pretended nothing had happened, because it was nothing.

Nothing to see here. He wasn’t going to think about it or wonder why Ryden had kissed him, what it meant, or that Jay had returned his kiss and felt like he would catch fire from the inside out. Nope. Not thinking about it at all.

They’d agreed on a truce, so Jay would focus on getting along with Ryden the same way he did with everyone else at the office. Like the kiss never happened. Just a couple of bros working together. Friends without benefits. It was an improvement on their feud, so he’d take it.

Kiss? What kiss?