Page 5 of The Live-In Temptation (Steele Brothers of Starlight Cove #2)

CHAPTER FOUR

CHLOE

It took a lot to make me panic.

Actually, I wasn’t sure I’d ever tipped over into that territory. Life was too short to let all that bullshit weigh on me. Normally, stuff just rolled right off my back. But I could admit a tight, fluttery sensation under my ribs was beginning to seep in.

Chief Growly Pants, Destroyer of Ovaries, had done exactly what he’d warned. Not only had he kept an eye on me to make sure I got out of my sparkle sanctum, but he’d also tattled on me to Dad . Brady Luna’s Husband was scary, but Brady The Sheriff was something else entirely.

I was trying my hardest to stay out of his way while he and Luna were letting me shack up in the guest room until I found a more permanent residence, but glitter was really hard to contain.

Thankfully, he was working a late shift tonight, which meant I could sit in the living room, eat my Lucky Charms, and read my tarot cards in peace.

I ate a spoonful of cereal, then shuffled my deck, one brow lifting as two rogue cards flew out and landed on the coffee table. Judgment and the Three of Cups. Awakening. Transformation. Friendship and community. Well, that was loud and?—

Before I could even finish the thought, the front door opened and in strolled Luna, my moon-worshipping landlord and part-time life guru, and the reason I’d landed in Starlight Cove in the first place.

Her sister-in-law Quinn, the town’s resident doctor who made competence look like a superpower, walked in after.

And last came Sutton—new to town like me, allergic to bullshit, and somehow already living out her small-town HEA with a former pro-football player built like a tank and half as talkative.

My new girl gang, all assembled.

I glanced down at the cards before lifting a brow in their direction. “If this is an exorcism, you should know I just ate my weight in Lucky Charms. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a little Linda Blair action happening.”

“Not an exorcism.” Sutton sat down next to me on the couch and set a charcuterie tray on the coffee table.

It should absolutely not look as good as it did, considering how much cereal I’d inhaled, but I was a slut for cheese.

“An intervention, then.” I lifted my chin toward Quinn and Luna as they strode into the living room, one carrying two bottles of wine, the other four glasses. “In that case, I demand at least two glasses of wine and one scandal first.”

“I can get you started on the wine.” Quinn poured a therapeutically generous portion into my glass.

Luna sat in the chair across from me and leaned toward us, a smirk on her face. “And I can take the scandal.”

I shimmied in my seat and rubbed my hands together, ready for the nitty-gritty. “Lay it on me.”

“Well, let’s just say Brady’s dashboard cam caught a little more than traffic last week.”

I raised a brow. “What does that mean?”

Quinn didn’t bother to glance up from where she was filling the rest of the glasses with wine. “It means sex. Between them. While he was on duty. And his deputy saw the evidence.”

I gasped. “ No !”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Luna nodded and grabbed her glass of wine. “Traeger’s practically tripped over himself to avoid me the couple times I’ve gone into the station.”

“Thank god Atlas didn’t accidentally send our not-so-accidental video to his assistant coach,” Sutton said. “I’m definitely not interested in traversing that kind of awkward.”

“Ohhh…a not-so-accidental video, huh?” I waggled my brows at her. “Sounds like new coupledom is treating you well. Has he cracked a smile yet, or does he communicate solely through shoulder tension and grunts?”

She flipped me off with a black olive perched on the tip of her middle finger, but the corners of her mouth twitched as she ate it.

“No, seriously.” I leaned forward and grabbed a cube of cheese before popping it in my mouth. “I need to figure out where he gets a paycheck for all the full-time glowering he does.”

“If he got a paycheck for it, he’d be a billionaire,” she said with an eye roll.

“At this point, I’d settle for being a hundredaire.” I swallowed the last of my wine and held my glass toward Quinn for a refill because one was definitely not enough tonight.

Luna cleared her throat. “Speaking of…”

I held up a hand to stop her. “Don’t worry, friends. I’m going to intervention myself.”

Quinn raised a brow. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Well, I’m doing it anyway.” I crossed my legs under me, straightened my back, and blew out a heavy sigh. “I need a new place, and I need it really damn quick. If I crash here much longer, I think Brady will literally have an aneurysm.”

“Normally, I’d say Chloe is prone to exaggeration, but this time, it’s true.” Luna shrugged. “Turns out he can tolerate a lot from the woman who gives him blow jobs. Not so much from someone who leaves a path of glitter wherever she goes, like some kind of a hungover trash panda.”

“Not the worst thing I’ve been called.” I shot her a wink as I grabbed another wedge of cheese.

“The trouble with GTFOing is that I need a job before I can get a place. Like, a reliable, full-time job. I’ve done one massage this month—two, if you count the one I was paid for in goat cheese.

Which, while delicious, is not exactly sustainable. ”

“Are you still helping Mabel?” Sutton asked.

“Yeah. Only once a week, but it’s something. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a landlord who accepts payment in vibrators.”

“I’m not sure you’d want that landlord anyway,” Quinn said dryly.

Sutton gasped and bolted upright with wide eyes. “Oh my god!”

“What?” I said, glancing around for whatever had caused that reaction. “ What ?”

She leaned toward me, eyes bright. “You like kids, right? You said you were an au pair once.”

I nodded. “Sure. Love ’em. They’re just drunk adults in smaller packaging with more whimsy and tiny socks.”

Sutton glanced at Luna and Quinn before returning her attention to me. “And how do you feel about firemen? You don’t mind them?”

“Oh, I mind them very much.” I shot her a sly grin, memories of the dreams I’d been blessed with the past several days coming to mind.

My subconscious had made Chief Grumble Buns a growler.

And an absolute maniac at eating pussy. Bonus?

He couldn’t talk when his mouth was already occupied, which meant he couldn’t harsh my vibe.

“In the fun, sexy way, if at all possible.”

“Believe me, after your little smoke-filled flirt-a-thon, the entire town knows firemen are your kink,” Quinn said dryly.

I scoffed, my mouth dropping open. “That…” Was absolutely true.

“It’s perfect!” Sutton said, eyes bright. “He’s looking for a live-in nanny—housing and pay included. And the best part? You could start immediately.”

I blinked twice, shook my head, then glanced into my still mostly full glass of wine. Shit, was this stronger than I thought? “Wait, who’s looking?”

“I believe Sutton’s talking about the same man you referred to as Mount Grumpus, God of Scowls and Silent Brooding,” Quinn said.

My brows flew up toward my hairline. “The guy who evicted me from my spa sanctuary?—”

“It was a shed , Chloe,” Quinn interrupted with an eye roll.

“—and threatened my cleansing bundle?”

Sutton cleared her throat and nodded. “Yes.”

I didn’t bother to hold in my bark of laughter. “We’d kill each other. Maybe literally. I definitely wouldn’t last more than a single day before he tossed my Himalayan salt lamp into the ocean and then me out the front door.”

“I think you’re being slightly dramatic,” Luna said. “If Brady survived my moon water in the coffeepot, Xander Steele can survive a little glitter in his grout.”

I snapped my head toward Sutton. “Wait, Xander Steele ? As in grumpy Atlas’s equally grumpy brother ?”

“Yes,” she said hesitantly. “But it’s not about him. It’s about Emma. That sweet little girl needs someone who’s soft and fun and magical. Someone suspiciously like you.”

I tipped my nose up and sniffed. “Your compliments won’t work on me.”

Quinn snorted. “Don’t think all of us didn’t see how you preened under her words.”

“It doesn’t matter.” I shook my head. “That man is one pulsing forehead vein away from a breakdown. I am positive I’m not the vibe he’s looking for.”

“Maybe not.” Sutton tipped her wineglass in my direction. “But maybe you’re exactly what he needs.”

“Or maybe he’d have a coronary the first time he came home to me teaching his daughter how to manifest snow days and burn down the patriarchy.”

Sutton nudged me with her elbow. “Cut him some slack. He’d never admit to it, but he’s drowning.”

“Can confirm.” Quinn nodded. “And that’s coming from my always-looks-on-the-bright-side husband. But Ford said Xander’s really been fumbling. This whole sudden single fatherhood has thrown him for a loop.”

I didn’t know much about Xander and Emma’s situation—only the snippets I’d heard from Sutton in passing—but I felt for both of them.

While Xander was definitely in need of some loosening up, he’d stepped up when the daughter he hadn’t even known existed landed on his doorstep.

And that poor little girl… Losing her mom and everything she’d known, plus being thrust into a life with strangers, couldn’t have been easy.

But I was still almost definitely sure this wasn’t the right direction for me.

I blew out a heavy sigh. “I’ll think about it.”

Luna cleared her throat, setting her phone down on the coffee table before picking up her wineglass and leaning back into her chair. “No need. Your interview’s tomorrow at four.”

I stared at her in silence for a beat. Two. Then, “I beg your finest pardon?”

“I love you, Chlo. You know I do. But I also love my husband’s dick, and right now, it’s holding a grudge. It’s time to GTFO.”

I huffed out an incredulous laugh. “Are you seriously kicking me out for some D?”

She didn’t even have the decency to look repentant. “You’re damn right I am. And any one of you bitches would do the exact same thing.”

Quinn lifted a single shoulder. “She’s not wrong. The McKenzie men are seriously blessed below the belt.”

“The Steele men are too.” Sutton grinned and shot me a look. “Though I definitely shouldn’t tell you that, considering one of them is about to be your new boss.”

I dropped my head back on my shoulders and groaned toward the ceiling. This was my fault, really. I’d asked the Universe for abundance, and that bitch delivered. “You are all emotionally manipulative witches. I hope you know that.”

“But you love us,” Luna said. “Now, finish your wine so we can help you pick out an outfit that says ‘reliable mayhem’ and not ‘mayhem demon.’”

Well, the joke was on her, because I didn’t own any clothes like that. And I also had no intention of changing who I was for Grumpzilla.

He’d take me as I was or not at all.