Page 53 of Dangerous Men (Fortune City Mafia #1)

SYDNEY

That Sunday is our busiest day yet.

And I finally find out why.

I’m carrying a box of new books out from the back when two customers grab my attention. I don’t mind the interruption at all. I’m never too busy to help the people who come to our shop.

“Excuse me?” the woman asks me in a gentle voice. She’s young, probably late teens. “Can you tell us where the Staff Picks display is? We can’t find it.”

The question momentarily throws me. The Staff Picks are just a fun thing I started doing about a year after we opened, to fill an empty corner of the shop. It’s not exactly something we advertise or expect customers to ask for.

“Uh, sure, of course. Follow me.” I take them to the back of the store, where the display is kept, and show it to them, feeling like a game show hostess as I gesture toward it with a one-armed flourish.

“Awesome!” the woman says, grinning. And then, to my surprise, she raises her phone and snaps a quick picture of it. Her thumbs move quickly across her keyboard as she lowers her phone, typing faster than I’ve ever seen someone type on a screen before. “This is great content, thank you!”

Huh. Weird .

I watch her a moment longer, eyes narrowed in suspicion, as she and her friend each pick a few books from the display, chatting excitedly to one another, before I turn to go.

“Oh!” the girl calls after me. ‘I love your bookstapix account, by the way!”

My… what?

Abandoning my box of books behind the front counter, I ease up next to Jade.

“Do you know who or what a bookstapix is?” I ask her.

She nods, scooping up a chocolate croissant from the bakery case and depositing it on a plate for a customer. There’s a long line today, snaking around the shop and almost out the door.

“Yeah,” Jade tells me. “It’s like a social media app for bibliophiles. Some stores use it for advertising.”

“Do… do we have one?” I ask, feeling stupid.

Jade gives me a long look, pausing her work.

“Not unless you set it up,” she says. “You know social media isn’t my thing. I can barely handle having a dating app.”

As she takes the next customer's order, I pull out my phone, quickly finding and downloading the app. As soon as I’ve made a profile and linked it to my email, I type Book Boutique and Bakery into the search bar.

And sure enough…

“We do have one,” I say, stunned. “But… I never set this up. I didn’t even know this app existed.”

I scroll through the posts on our profile. Yep. That’s my store. Some of the shots even look professional. There are only a handful of posts, each within the last week, but when I click on mentions…

We’re everywhere.

I scroll through hundreds of posts, each one tagging our shop.

“OMG! I can’t get enough of the #bunnycookies at the Book Boutique and Bakery! Everyone in Fortune City, get your tails down here and try this place! Hop to it!”

There are several pictures of our Staff Picks display, some even showing it empty at the end of the day, with crying emojis peppering the photo.

“Okay, but if you didn’t set this up,” Jade says slowly. “Then… who did?”

Alec, I think instantly.

Or…

“Ashton,” I say aloud. Who better to set this up than Mason Alexander Sterling’s chief marketing officer, after all? I flick my thumbs over the screen, going back to the official Book Boutique and Bakery bookstapix profile, and sure enough, there’s a picture I instantly recognize.

It’s me. Holding a single red rose. The caption underneath advertises our wide range of romance novels.

I want to be angry, I really do. Ashton didn’t ask me, didn’t run any of this by me or get my permission, but…

I look around at the crowd of people waiting to try Jade’s delicious baked creations.

The recipes she spent months perfecting when we were teens.

I look at the people chatting and laughing in the bookstore, some of them even wearing our merchandise.

I realize, for the first time, that there’s not a single seat in the store that isn’t occupied.

And I don’t feel angry. Or even upset.

Because it’s everything I’ve ever wanted. And Ashton—handsome, thoughtful, kind Ashton—gave that to me.

Ashton: I’ll pick you up at close, babygirl.

I read the text from Ash again and grin. I must have read it twenty times already since he sent it earlier today.

Honestly, with everything that’s been going on, and with how busy we’ve been, I’d almost forgotten I’d agreed to this date. But I’m glad I did.

It’s almost time to close up, and even though I’m tired, and even though the stress of Dorothy selling this place is hanging over me like a dark cloud, tonight at least I feel satisfied. Happy.

I look around at my little shop—the business that Jade and I built from the ground up with nothing but sheer determination and love—and feel a moment of pure, blissful contentment.

I never thought I could have this. A simple life with simple pleasures, a best friend who accepts me inside and out, my own little business.

I’ve worked so long to leave the past behind, and it finally feels like all the pieces are shifting into place.

And I want to fight for that. I want to keep it.

I want to keep them, too, I realize. Ashton and Alec.

After years of feeling unsupported in my career and business choices, years of refusing to second-guess myself because everyone around me, except for Jade, was second-guessing me, I finally feel… supported.

And I think I might be falling in love. With both of them.

Is that insane? Some part of me is screaming, Yes! You can’t be in love with two men at the same time! But…

I’ve never felt this way before. Alec treats me like I’m a princess. And the way he touches me... reveres me, I’ve never felt the way I do with him, not ever.

And then Ashton ?

He’s like a best friend. Everything feels so easy, so light with him.

So what if he didn’t run the account by me? The fact that he cared enough about my store to try to help means the world to me. He went out of his way to support me, and knowing he did that for me fills my heart with a warmth I can only describe as love.

As I slide my phone back into my pocket, I hear a loud bark of laughter from just outside the store. I smile. I’d recognize that laughter anywhere.

Sure enough, when I make my way up to the front where Jade is closing out our registers for the night, I spot them through our store's window. All three of them.

Alec is leaning against the back of his town car, looking as collected and dreamy as always. He must have come straight from the office, and he looks absolutely sinful in his dark suit. I watch for a moment, just drinking in the sight of him.

Next to him, standing with one hand on the largest motorcycle I’ve ever seen, is Sebastian. Unaware I’m watching them, Sebastian says something inaudible to Alec, who shakes his head, looking amused. Sebastian’s face remains as cold and blank as always.

Not always , a voice inside my head purrs.

Not when he’d touched you back in the stockroom. Not when he took your face in his hands and looked at you like you were his whole world. Like he’d kill for you.

I quickly tear my eyes away from him, feeling uncomfortably warm. And standing next to Sebastian, laughing…

Is Ashton. Looking every bit as handsome and perfect as I remember.

“There she is!” Ashton grins as I open the front door to our shop, giving him a small wave. His entire face lights up as he sees me, and it makes my stomach feel like it’s full of butterflies. “Our beautiful girl!”

“Hello, Red.” Alec straightens to greet me as I approach, pulling me against his chest to give me a kiss on the cheek. His hands linger on me as I step back.

“Are you coming with us tonight?” I ask. After that kiss, after smelling his cologne and feeling his hands on me, I’m almost hoping he says yes.

“Fuck that,” Ashton says with a laugh at the same time Alec answers, “Sadly no.”

“Tonight is my night,” Ashton tells me, pulling me away from Alec and kissing my other cheek. “And I’m not sharing with anyone.”

His grin is devilish as he stares down at me. “I have the perfect night planned for us,” Ash assures me. “I made reservations for us at The Blue Sea. They do things with shrimp you would not believe . You’re going to love it.”

Slimy nausea floods my stomach, and it’s an effort to force a smile. Still leaning against his motorcycle, Sebastian adjusts his cuffs, muttering something under his breath.

“What’s your problem?” Ashton asks, turning toward him.

“No problem,” Sebastian says, shrugging a shoulder. “No problem at all.”

Ashton snorts and folds his arms over his chest. “Yeah, right. Come on, spit it out, Doc. Let’s hear it.”

Sebastian gives him a long look over the rim of his glasses. “She hates shrimp,” he tells Ash. Then he picks up his helmet. “And you’d think you would bother to learn that simple little fact about your date before you picked the worst possible restaurant to take her to.”

I don’t have time to question how Sebastian knows that before Ashton turns back to me, his face falling .

“Wait… is that true?” he asks, sounding devastated. “I had no idea.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Sebastian counters.

“Well, shrimp isn’t my favorite,” I say, giving him a small smile.

A half-truth. Frankly, the entire idea of them is so disgusting, I’m not sure I could eat a meal of shrimp with a gun to my head.

They are bugs that live in the ocean, and no one can convince me otherwise.

“But that’s okay. I’m sure they’ll have something I’ll enjoy. ”

“Nope, no, not happening.” Ashton shakes his head. “We’ll just go somewhere else! Easy fix!”

I open my mouth to argue more, ready to insist it’s fine, but then I realize he actually means it. There’s no hidden hostility to his words, no passive-aggressive tone. No irritation that he made reservations for nothing.

“There must be thousands of restaurants in this city.” Ashton laughs. “Why would we go to one you wouldn’t enjoy?”

And it’s so normal, the way he says it. So obvious. Why would we?