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Jordan lowered his cup of coffee after taking a gulp. “Who wants ten grand?” Justin waited for her answer, too, even as he envied Jordan his caffeine.
“I’ll find out when I get there,” Marley said.
Justin’s gaze sliced back toward her. He didn’t like her matter-of-fact tone. “Get where?”
“The Forrester site at nine o’clock tonight.”
“You’re not going.”
“Of course I am.” She reached for her mug.
He braced a hand on the counter to block her path. “No. This guy threatened to hurt Nate—”
“Exactly the reason I have to go.”
“What makes you think he won’t hurt you?”
“I’ll have my gun.”
“No way in hell!” Justin exploded. “It’s too dangerous!”
Marley flinched at his outburst. That sounded like he cared—really cared—about her. But that couldn’t be right, because she might be inexperienced and naïve enough to fall for someone so quickly, but the odds were Justin wasn’t.
Sex didn’t mean love to men. Yet another thing she’d learned from watching her father while growing up.
“What right do you have to tell me what I can and can’t do? Especially when it concerns my brother’s safety.” She stepped around him for her tea.
She noticed Jordan at the table, listening to every word, and heard Justin’s frustrated breath as she took a sip from her mug. Lukewarm. She put it in the microwave and jabbed the buttons.
“He’s my brother, too,” Justin reminded her. “But if you even try going out there tonight, Marley, I swear I will—”
She rounded on him. “You’ll what?”
“You quit, remember? You go to that site and it’ll be trespassing.”
Her eyes narrowed at his implication. “You wouldn’t.”
He didn’t blink. “I’ll call the damn cops myself.”
So much for the notion that he cared.
“Hey,” Jordan said from his spot at the table. They both turned to see him soaking up Justin’s earlier coffee mess with a paper napkin. “Maybe instead of trying to out-boss each other, you two could sit down and we can talk this out rationally.”
Justin ran a hand through his hair and dropped down into a chair kitty-corner from Jordan. Marley glared at the both of them, crossing her arms to lean against the counter as Justin took a shot of his coffee.
Men in the kitchen drinking coffee was something she was used to, and yet completely alien at the same time. She’d had breakfast at this very table with her father and brother countless times over the years, but this was the man who’d touched her in the most intimate of ways last night, and his brother. Now they were discussing a blackmailer who threatened to kill Nate. How had her life changed so drastically in just a few weeks?
And what would be the smart way to handle this?
The microwave beeped, and she yanked open the door to grab her mug. Once she was sitting across from Justin at the table, she wrapped her hands around the heated ceramic and met his gaze.
“Okay, fine. Let’s call the cops.”
“Whoa,” Jordan protested with an uncomfortable laugh. “I said rational.”
Justin’s brows rose, but his gaze never left hers. “You going to call, or do you want me to?”
He thought she was bluffing. “You can.”
