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“Right there.” He gestured toward where the crash had happened. “Weren’t you watching?”
Old anxiety rose in Devin. His dad used to do that, too—reframing everything to make it out like Devin was the one to blame. He had to remind himself that wasn’t true today. Devin had been doing his job, keeping an eye on his team while also seeing to the rest of his duties. “You weren’t paying attention, and somebody could’ve gotten hurt.”
Bryce rolled his eyes. “Terrell’s butterfingers aren’t my fault.”
Forget a headache; the incident report was going to be a full-on migraine. Enough other people would back Devin and Terrell up that Bryce had been the one to let go, but the fact of the matter was that this never should have happened in the first place.
“You not doing your job is your fault.” Devin kept his voice restrained but barely. “I’m not going to turn a blind eye to this BS.”
“Sure you won’t.” Bryce’s smile was mocking as he patted Devin on the shoulder.
Devin shoved him off automatically. He clenched and unclenched his jaw.
He walked away, hating the hot feeling in his chest and the hotter one in his face. The sense of helplessness ate at him, making him feel like he was twelve years old all over again.
Sure, he’d document this entire thing, but there was no satisfaction in that.
How did he protect his people? Stop giving Bryce any jobs where he could put the other members of his crew at risk? Stop giving him jobs at all? Bryce would love that.
The unfairness made him want to punch something. Instead, he drew in a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down before getting back to it.
On impulse, he popped his phone out of his pocket for the first time all morning. A handful of alerts greeted him, and he scrolled through them. When he got to the couple of texts from Zoe, the remaining tension bled out of his body, and he couldn’t hold back the warm smile that curled his lips.
Ugh, remind me why I’m shacking up with a morning person again? I need coffee and it’s all the way over theeeeerre
A photo came with the message, showing her in his bed, her hair a mess where it lay splayed out across his sheets, and he had to suck in a breath. There wasn’t a single inappropriate thing about the shot, but it didn’t matter. The sight of her, all rumpled and gorgeous and soft from sleep… It did things to him.
He just wished he could be there to take advantage of it. To roll her over and kiss that red mouth until they were both breathless.
Or maybe—if it was a day when he wasn’t working… to go make her coffee. Pancakes. Breakfast in bed.
He mentally shook his head at himself. What a sap.
A week now they’d been doing… whatever it was they were doing together. Giving in to the overwhelming force of attraction between them had been the easiest thing in the world. When she was around, it was like all his worries disappeared.
He’d thought it would be weird, going from her brother’s best friend to her friend to maybe something more, but it hadn’t been. At all.
They’d never had to have any intense conversations about what was going on between them, either. Even that first time, when he’d been nervous about risking everything for a night of fun, it was like she’d been able to see right through him. Proving just how well she knew him, she’d just climbed right back on top of him and kissed him senseless, then wandered naked into his kitchen to fix herself a sandwich. She’d called out to ask if he wanted anything, too. Casual—like it was the most normal thing. And you know, he had been kind of hungry after working up an appetite like that.
So she’d just slipped into his life. When they weren’t having mind-blowing sex, they were sharing takeout pizza or introducing each other to their favorite shows. He still wasn’t quite sold onThe Bachelor, but watching her yelling at the TV made him grin, and she was surprisingly receptive to reruns ofThis Old Houseplaying in the background the rest of the time.
His crummy, boring apartment felt warm when she was in it. So warm that he almost forgot for hours at a time that his entire goal in life was to build his house in the woods and get out of here.
His only regret was the same one she had. She worked nights and he worked days, and so there she was waking up at—he checked the time stamp on the message—ten in the morning, while he was up at six.
Shaking his head at himself, he tapped out a quick reply.Wish I could’ve gone and grabbed you one.
Her answer came seconds later.It’s ok, I managed.
The picture that followed was of her at Bobbi’s bakery on Main Street. She was seated at one of the little tables inside, a latte and an empty plate set next to her open laptop.
His smile faded slightly. She’d kicked it up a notch on the job search of late. That or, now that he got regular updates about her life, he was just more aware of it.
Every time she talked about it, a little pit formed in his stomach. Which was stupid. He’d known from the minute she moved back home that it was temporary. She was only here until the right opportunity came along, and he could be a big enough man to hope it showed up for her soon.
Even if, deep down, he never wanted her to leave.
“Hey, James.” Bryce’s voice had Devin jerking his gaze up. “Your girlfriend’s here.”
