Page 39 of Bad Boy in Her Bed

She freshened up in the shower then wrapped a towel around herself while she did her makeup and brushed out her hair.Tiptoeing into the main room, she flipped the switch on the coffee maker and eased the dresser drawers open to grab a change of clothes.

“Hey,” a husky voice muttered from the bed.“I thought the agreement wasnext time you run, take me with you.”

Catching his eye in the mirror, she smiled.“Sorry.I couldn’t bring myself to wake you up.”

He rolled out of bed, scratching his chest lazily as he trudged to the bathroom.“I’m as up as it gets now,” he grumbled, closing the door behind him.

Deciding on comfort over style, she chose her track pants and a fitted green tank then tossed on an oversized sweater to combat the room’s cool morning temperature.Birch emerged a few minutes later, his unshaven jaw a little scruffier than the day before and his hazel eyes squinting against the lamp light.He’d stayed fully clothed when he climbed into bed last night, leaving him with a rumpled shirt skimming the band of his low-slung jeans.Pouring a cup of coffee, he swiped his phone to life, scanned it, and set it on the dinette before coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her.

“Thank you,” he said into her hair, squeezing her tight before releasing her and walking to the door.“All right, I’m out.I need to open the shop in an hour.”He tugged his shoes on and grabbed his wallet, phone, and keys from the dresser.“Come by later?”

Following him to the door, she nodded.“I’ll be there once I wrap up a few loose ends here and stop over at my parents’ place for lunch.Then you and I will figure this out together.Maybe practice our sleuthing skills.”She smoothed his wrinkled shirt out along his shoulders.“Have a good day, okay?”

He hesitated in the doorway for a moment before kissing her, her hand still resting on him.“You too.”

*

Birch scrawled inanother piercing booking for Ryder and hung up the phone, hating the suspicion he felt every time he entered a name into his partner’s timetable.

Logically, he knew not every person calling for an ear or navel piercing was looking to score, but until he knew who was and who wasn’t, everyone who called in asking for Ryder was suspect.

His phone buzzed and he glanced at it, recognizing the number immediately.

“Hey,” he answered, twirling his pen in between his fingers.“How’s it going?”

“Roses and fucking sunshine,” Winter grunted, his response the same every time he was asked.“How are things there?”

Studying the wood grain of his desk, he momentarily debated telling his older brother what was going down, then shut down the idea immediately.“It’s going.Business is still open.River’s ass is all over the internet for some bathing suit ads he’s been doing and his wife is still posting about their lives twenty-four seven.I don’t know much about it, but I guess it’s a good thing.And Grey’s maintaining a 3.87 GPA.”

“Where’s the other .13?”Winter demanded, his need to see the younger Bakers succeed as intense, if not more so, than Birch’s.

“Probably in the cleavage of some coed.”He leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the desk.“Seriously though, he’s busting his tail.”

His brother cleared his throat.“Yeah, well, he better not be slacking off.”There was a long pause as a clamor in the background filled the speaker.“Any chance you could add a hundred to my canteen allowance this month?I want to pick up a few more books.”

The words weren’t totally out of Winter’s mouth, and he was already sitting up and pulling up the inmate deposit website.“On it.You should be able to access it by tomorrow.You sure you don’t need more?”

“Positive.Is the well still pretty stocked?Cuz I’ve been doing the math on the tuition payments, Grey’s scholarships, and all those textbooks you said Grey needed and I don’t want you guys going without.”

Jocelyn’s spreadsheet flashed through his mind and the simmering rage he worked so hard to compartmentalize and channel boiled up fast.

Winter never spoke about his life in prison.He never complained, never vented.He never uttered a single word of bitterness about his situation compared to that of the rest of them.

He wanted a fucking book.And every penny Ryder stole was one less penny Birch could give to the brother who saved the rest of them from Colton Baker’s temper.

“Birch,” Winter grunted into the phone, the poor connection glitching.

“I told you, it’s all good,” he replied, hoping his brother didn’t pick up on the tension in his voice.

Someone called to Winter and his brother exhaled loudly into the phone.“I gotta go.I’ll try and call in a few days.”

The call disconnected and Birch tossed his phone on the desk.He scowled at the floor until the door chimes sounded and Jocelyn walked in, bringing with her a stack of plastic containers.

“My mother wants you to know that if you don’t like mushrooms, you can pick them out and she won’t be offended,” she announced with a smile as she set them on the desk.“It’s some quinoa avocado concoction she found online.”

Shoving aside his homicidal thoughts toward Ryder, he popped the lid off of the largest container, accepted the plastic fork she handed him, and took a bite.“Damn,” he moaned, pulling his chair closer.“Did she take cooking classes or something?This is amazing.”

She perched on the edge of his desk and crossed her legs, her purple skirt riding up her thighs.“No, just a hobby.I’m texting her your reaction right now, so if a woman who looks like me in vintage form shows up and hugs you, don’t scream.”

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