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“Do not let them drive Ian crazy.” I was going to have to call Ian to see if Bishop needed to go rescue his boy.
Fuck.
Did I even have Ian’s number?
Preston scoffed. “I’m the one who suggested he go hide.”
That wasn’t as helpful as he seemed to think it was.
When I made it downstairs, I switched Preston to speakerphone and sent Bishop a quick text to check on Ian. “If Ian is upset, I’m going to sic Bishop on you. He’s not going to be happy.”
“Why?” Preston’s eager tone said he was just as big a gossip as his partner in crime. “Aren’t you their Dom? Have you talked to Ian about what he needs? He’s not a pup.”
Good grief.
Taking him back off speakerphone, I headed into the kitchen. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”
Especially not without talking to Ian and Bishop first, because we hadn’t really discussed what we were going to tell people. I’d thought we’d have more time to figure that out, but clearly I’d underestimated the rumor mill.
“How did you even figure out anything was going on?” Deciding the coffee was still fairly fresh, I poured myself another cup as he chuckled.
“The guy who’s always delivering pizzas here was out at the same Italian place you guys went to Saturday.” Preston seemed to think it was perfectly normal for the pizza delivery guy to be analyzing everyone’s love life. “Eli was talking to him this morning about a big order for later this week and one thing led to another.”
I was calling bullshit on this being normal…how had he even recognized us?
“That’s ridiculous.” God, this town was too small sometimes. “I’m not even going to point out how frustrating this is.”
“Good.” Preston’s smart-ass tone had me wanting to reach through the phone and shake him. “Because then I don’t have to remind you that you’re family and we’ve been worried about you being alone for so long or point out that we’d tried to fix you up with Ian months ago but you said you didn’t want to date anyone at L and L.”
Had we talked about that?
“You try to fix me up once a week.” Besides, at that point, I wouldn’t have known what to say to Ian because I wasn’t a Daddy.
That was Bishop’s role.
Uncle Cohen got to tease and play.
“I’m not going to dignify any of this with a response other than to say you don’t need to worry about me and you need to leave Ian alone.” Bishop really was a big pup at heart, but he’d be fiercely protective of his boy if he got riled up.
Snorting, Preston seemed to take offense. “I’m not letting anyone drive him crazy. Don’t worry about your boy.”
He paused long enough that I knew he was waiting for me to say something about the “your boy” comment, but I just brushed over it. I’d already warned him about Bishop, so it was Preston’s fault if he didn’t listen.
“I’m going to go back to work.” Because I had a date later with my pup and I wasn’t going to be late. “You should think about doing the same.”
Nosy drama queens…every one of them.
But speaking of nosy people, I glanced down at my screen to see that Bishop hadn’t responded and mentally sighed. “Now transfer me to Reece’s office.”
The fucker just laughed before the phone went silent.
Yep, that was definitely going to feed the drama llamas, but there wasn’t anything else I could do about it.
After several seconds of quiet, the phone beeped, and I heard someone pick up the line. “IT.”
“Ian?” I’d talked to Reece a few times in passing, but I was fairly certain Ian had picked up the phone, not that two letters were much to go on.
“Cohen?” Yep, the confused voice was definitely Bishop’s boy. “Is that you?”
“Yes, cutie. I wanted to check on you and realized I didn’t have your number.” We were going to rectify that. “I heard there’s been some excitement around your office today.”
Ian’s sigh was so cute I had to stop myself from laughing. “I’ve had nearly everyone that works here stop by just to see how I’m doing.”
Chuckling softly, I shook my head. “I got a phone call from Preston wondering what we were up to.”
“Oh.” After a second, Ian’s voice dropped to a whisper. “What did you tell him?”
“Nothing, but he’s made a few assumptions.” We should’ve spent less time flirting about dessert and more time actually talking about practical things like labels. “It seems that the gossip hasn’t quite caught up to reality, and no one is sure what the three of us are doing.”
That had a giggle coming through the phone. “I had one of the models come up earlier and ask me if you knew I was little.”
Why the nosy fuckers all thought I must be stupid was beyond me.
