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The thing was, she did the same thing for me all the freakin’ time.
Sure, not on as big of a scale that I was doing for her lately, but she’d done the same thing for me quite a few times.
“Honey, it’s the governor,” I whispered. “This isn’t an opportunity that you can afford to pass over.”
“Not to mention,” came Booth’s reply. “What this could mean for your business. More employees. More dogs matched with veterans. More income. Recognition. You have to do this.”
I loved him.
I watched as Delanie turned to face him. Neither she, nor I, had heard him come in.
Yet, there he was.
I smiled at my man, who had Asa asleep on his shoulder.
“I miss my baby,” she whispered.
Booth’s smile was soft.
“He misses you, too,” Booth said. “But it’s only for another four days. And it’s a six-hour drive home. It’s worth it. And we’ll keep doing the FaceTime thing. Just know that I still don’t cut his peanut butter and jelly sandwich crusts off right, so he’s going to complain.”
Delanie laughed and wiped her eyes.
“I’m so tired of driving, though.” She sighed. “Taking that big ass truck through rush-hour traffic literally makes me break out in hives.”
I saw the moment that Booth was going to take the leap.
“Bourne’s going to Austin for two days,” Booth said. “He has to go down there to pick up some equipment that’s being donated to us from Austin SWAT. He has to take a trailer to get it all back. He can stay an extra two days with you.”
Delanie immediately started to backpedal, but Bourne walked in the door then, having heard his brother’s suggestion.
“I don’t mind,” Bourne said. “I wanted to get a tattoo from a man down there anyway. I can use the extra time to do that.”
Delanie opened her mouth to say no, but nothing came out.
With all three of us looking at her, offering her perfect suggestions, she really couldn’t say no.
“Okay,” she said carefully. “Umm,” she hesitated. “Tomorrow, I’d have to leave around one. They want me to be there early the next morning and I don’t want to chance not being there on time.”
Bourne rolled his eyes. “I’ll get you there, don’t worry.”
As they talked, I allowed my eyes to linger on Booth.
He walked into the living room and laid Asa out on the couch.
When he stood up, his pants had sagged slightly, and that was when I realized that he wasn’t wearing a belt.
The gap in his jeans allowed me to see the white band of his underwear.
The large bold lettering read ‘Fruit of the Loom.’
I grinned and allowed my eyes to linger on the way I could see a flash of skin.
Skin that I would love to run my mouth along.
“…Dillan, are you even listening to me?” Delanie asked, sounding amused.
I blinked. “I wasn’t. Why?”
She rolled her eyes. “Your phone is ringing.”
I sighed and stood up, walking over to the phone that was ringing on the counter.
Technically, I wasn’t on the clock anymore, so I didn’t have to answer what I assumed was another special order.
But, with me changing hours, I was taking everything that I could get.
Special orders were huge because they made me a pretty penny.
I lifted the phone to my ear and said, “Hello?”
“Hello,” a man said into the phone. “This is Green Stephens with Rusk County’s health department. We’ve had an anonymous complaint of rats in your kitchen by an employee. I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to launch an investigation. Since it’s only three in the afternoon, we would like to go ahead and do an emergency check of your facility now. That way, if you pass, you can still open tomorrow.”
I swallowed hard and stared at the wood table.
I’d stained it myself.
Honestly, it needed some work, but I adored it because it was one of the first things that I’d done after Delanie and I had moved out.
“Umm,” I hesitated. “I can meet you there in about fifteen minutes, is that okay?”
There was a short pause. “You don’t want to give yourself any more time?”
The way he asked made me feel like maybe I should have asked for more time.
Yet, I didn’t see any reason to delay it.
Which I told him in the next moment.
“As much as I’d like a few minutes to tidy up, it’s not necessary. I keep a clean kitchen,” I said with a matter-of-fact tone that relayed how confident I was in that fact.
“Okay,” Green said. “Fifteen minutes then.”
I hung up the phone and turned to the room. All of them, even Asa now, was staring at me.
“Apparently one of my employees called the health department on me due to their working conditions.” I paused. “And I’m meeting the health inspector there in fifteen minutes.”
Delanie stood up with a squawk. “That’s insane!”
I shrugged and went for my shoes, slipping them on to my feet before looking for my purse that I’d set down after arriving home today.
