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Before the man can respond, Lilac interrupts, “Phoenix, it’s not appropriate for your goat to eat the skirts of tourists.”
“It’s not his fault I’m wearing a hemp skirt today,” Gabrielle defends the complete stranger and surprises the shit out of me.
“Thanks.” Phoenix grins at Gabrielle. “But she’s not wrong. Pan here is a pain in my ass.” He leans down and scratches the goat under her chin. “Aren’t you, girl?”
Phoenix and Gabrielle pet the goat together while grinning at each other.
“I heard altar. Are we sacrificing to the gods?” Cassandra rubs her hands together in excitement.
Lilac huffs. “There is not an altar.”
“Because Ms. Fussy Pants won’t let us have one. But if we’re sacrificing to the gods, I vote we sacrifice Love Hill,” one of Lilac’s sisters says as she joins us.
“Who’s Love Hill?” Cassandra asks. “And do we need to glitter bomb her?”
I ignore Cassandra and extend my hand to Lilac’s sister. “Ashlyn, isn’t it?”
She winks as she shakes my hand. “And you’re Beckett, the grumpy boss.”
Cassandra laughs. “We call him grumpasauras, the last living dinosaur.”
“Love it!” Ashlyn grabs Cassandra and Elizabeth’s hands. “Come on. Let’s leave the love birds alone.”
“Whenever Ashlyn is up to her scheming, it’s my cue to exit stage left. I have no desire to wake up to my goats wearing skirts and bikini tops again.” Phoenix shivers before tugging on the goat’s leash. “See ya around,” he says and saunters away.
Gabrielle watches him walk away while biting her lip. Maybe she’s not as afraid of men as I thought.
“You, too,” Ashlyn barks at her, and Gabrielle jumps. “I want you to meet my sisters.”
Ashlyn hauls Cassandra and Elizabeth away while Gabrielle trails after them.
Lilac stares after them. “I don’t believe it’s a good idea for Ashlyn and Cassandra to meet.”
“They’ll be fine,” I say since I don’t want to talk about our sisters.
She purses her lips. “I’m not worried about them. I’m worried about the town.”
I throw my arm over her shoulders and indicate the festivities happening around us. “Forget about them and show me around your town.”
She leans into me for a moment before remembering herself and shoving me away. “You’re my boss,” she hisses.
“We’re not at work.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m aware. You are still my boss even if we aren’t at work.”
“But we aren’t at work, so we can let our hair down.”
She pats her hair, which isn’t in the tight bun she favors at work and is instead flowing down her back tempting me to fist my hands in it.
“I concede your point, but we shouldn’t touch each other. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”
I step closer. “And what’s the wrong idea?”
“Are you deliberately being obtuse?”
“Maybe I want to hear your opinion.”
“My opinion?” Her brows furrow. “The company employee manual contains a no fraternization rule. This is not an opinion. It’s a fact.”
