Page 10 of Make Me Stay

“And so is my brother.”

“Well, you are the one who does the scheduling, don’t you?”

I snickered. “You are diabolical. I couldn’t do that.”

“Oh, but you could.” She grinned at me, her dimples popping. “Send him to Vermont or something.”

“We don’t have jobs in Vermont, jerk.”

“The way their name is getting around, I wouldn’t be shocked.” She handed me her wrapper, then she turned on her heel and grinned over her shoulder, batting her eyelashes at me. “Doooo it.”

“Go on, get.”

Nicole got in her ageless Honda Civic, peeling out as she beeped at me. I threw out both of our wrappers and made sure there was nothing in my teeth before I crossed the street to where they were still struggling with the banner.

“Think one of you need to get on the roof to tack it up,” I yelled up at them.

Kai grinned down at me. “Hey there, grumpy.”

I flipped him off. “What are you two doing over here, anyway?”

“Mrs. Burnette had a school meeting this morning. Asked us to come back at eleven.” He held onto the sides of the ladder and slid down to the ground, making my heart stutter.

“If you do that, Wyatt Patrick Howard, I’ll beat you.”

Wyatt chuckled as he came down the ladder correctly. “Chill, sis. You have any short jobs for us?”

“Let me check.”

Kai crowded into me as I unlocked the front door. “Did I scare you?”

“Yes, you know you did. You could have fallen.”

“I’ve been on a ladder since I was ten.” His breath brushed my ear. He smelled of coconuts and that indefinable sweet spice. “I like that you worry, though.”

Ignoring him, I finally got it open and stuffed the keys back in the pocket of my dress. I flicked on the overhead lights and went to my desk. The warehouse was literally just a huge echoing space with a bunch of metal shelves on one wall full of lumber, tools, and other various builder supplies.

My desk was in the front where we had a small area for the occasional walk-in. Eventually, we’d have a front-facing office and look a bit more professional, but Murdock Brothers had grown so fast that little things like the warehouse were last on the list. I tapped my brand-new MacBook awake and loaded the jobs program as I sat down andautomatically set out my water bottle, coffee tumbler, and lip gloss on my blotter.

When I looked up, Kai was grinning at me.

“What?”

“So precise, that I want to mess you up.”

“Excuse me?”

He cleared his throat. “I mean, your desk.”

“Right. Of, course.” My heart was pounding in my ears and much lower that I didn’t want to think about. “Let me see what we’ve got.”

Wyatt came in. “Think Lex is right. We need to put one of those grommets in the center. I think I have something in the back.”

“Cool. Let me know.” Kai leaned on my desk. “I’ll see if she’s got a short job for us.”

Wyatt nodded and loped to the back of the warehouse.

My brain played over themess you upcomment repeatedly as I tried to read through the new jobs that came in. I’d scheduled out the rest of them in order of need and emergency. “Um, there’s an air conditioning install over on Liberty Lane. Should only take an hour. Older lady with no help.”

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