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I hugged her tight. “Bullshit. You’re no coward. You’re a lot of things, Violet, but I’m pretty sure a coward isn’t something anyone would ever call you.”
“Did you know it’s not unusual for women to have multiple partners in Harmony Valley?”
“I’d heard of a few relationships with more than one man involved, yes.” I searched her face. “Why?”
“Do you worry about people judging us?”
Laughing, I ran my hands through her hair and eased her back so I could see more of her. “Violet. Even if we lived in the middle of a town where no one had ever seen anything like what we have, I wouldn’t give a shit. My feelings for you and for Forrest are bigger than what anyone could ever say or think. Here, though? No one bats an eye. If anything, I’ve been approached more since people started gossiping about us. Normally, people are intimidated by me, but now? Now, they just come up and start congratulating me and shit.”
She gawked. “You’re kidding.”
I shook my head. “Nope. I miss the days when people avoided me.”
“I’m torn between feeling horrified and amazed at the sweetness.” Shaking her head, she finally looked around the office and stilled. “Whose office is this?”
I grinned. “Jack’s.”
“As in, the owner’s?” Her face told me how much she hated that idea.
“Yes. That very Jack. He owes me. The least he could do is lend me his office for a little while.” I thought about how he’d used my room one night when we were younger and shuddered. “This doesn’t put us anywhere close to even.”
“I think I wrecked his desk.” She pressed her face into my shoulder and sighed. “You make me lose control.”
“I’ll put his shit back on his desk. He’ll be fine.” I kissed the side of her head. “Come on. If I’m lucky, you’ll let me walk you home.”
She giggled softly. “I’ll let you drive me to Margaret’s to pick up Forrest.”
“Even better.” I stood us up, gently pulled out of her and placed her on her feet. Watching her clench her thighs together made me laugh as I fixed my clothes and grabbed her torn panties. “Problem?”
“You left a mess.” She pulled her dress back over her breasts and shifted from foot to foot. “Seriously, Ben. I feel like if I move wrong, I’m going to leak your come all over this office floor.”
I groaned and rubbed my hands down my face before handing her the panties to clean herself up with. “Even that wouldn’t make me and Jack even. Any other time and I’d take my time cleaning you up, but I don’t want to be late picking up Forrest.”
“That’s so sweet.”
I realized she was serious and shook my head. “We’ve got to raise the bar for you, Vi.”
CHAPTER 28
Violet
“How’d you manage to come alone to the bar, anyway? Normally, you’re all three glued at the hip.” I glanced over at Ben and felt a rush of endorphins. We were walking to Margaret’s house because the weather was beautiful and I wasn’t ready for our time alone to end yet.
“They both had to go into the office. One of our clients had a problem and it’s a client they’ve both worked closely with.” Ben squeezed my hand and smiled. “Unlucky bastards.”
“Coco said you hired her when no one else would. She likes you guys.” I stepped into his side as a cool breeze picked up. “Were you working with a client when you were gone? When I first got to town, I mean.”
“Coco is a badass. Whoever didn’t hire her is a fool. She’s terrifying and I’ve seen her take down bigger men than me.” He wrapped his arm around me and held me close. “We were working on a case when you got to town. It took a month but they don’t all take that long.”
I frowned. “Do you guys leave for work all the time like that?”
Ben must’ve noticed the hesitation in my voice because he stopped and turned me to face him. “We don’t have to do anything. We take the cases we want. We give the others to our employees. In the beginning, we took whatever case came our way, but that was before you and Forrest. We’ve already talked about it. We won’t take a case that’s going to take more than just a few days. We don’t want to be gone that long anymore.”
I nodded, feeling my chest loosen. “Okay. That’s good to know.”
He cupped my face in his big hands. “You and Forrest are our priority now, Violet. We’ll show you.”
A deep bark broke our focus and I looked up to see Captain pulling Mason towards us. General was farther behind with Justin. I grinned and absently rubbed my arm where it was still sore. Ben kissed me quickly and then gently tried to ease me behind him.
