Page 65 of Stuck with my Boss Daddies

Todd must have seen the way my expression shifted because he leaned in, that knowing glint in his eye turning sharper.

“Relax, Sadie,” he said smoothly, propping an elbow on the bar. “I think it’s kinda impressive, honestly. Three of them? Andthosethree?” He let out a low whistle. “Damn.”

I froze.

The playful din of the bar seemed to dull beneath a sharp, ringing noise in my ears.

I knew Todd wasn’t trying to be cruel. Apparently, this was just how he was—quick-witted, effortlessly charismatic, toeing the line between teasing and trouble.

But this? This felt like too much.

Like all the things I’d been overthinking, all the complications I hadn’t quite figured out yet, were suddenly laid bare for the entire town to pick apart.

I barely heard whatever Todd said next—some offhanded joke about me being the town’s “most valuable player”—because I was already moving.

I needed air.

I spun away from the bar, my pulse a wild, uneven drumbeat in my ears, and shoved through the crowd toward the door.

And that was how I ran face-first into a wall of solid, unmovable man.

“Oof—”

I grunted as I bounced back, barely catching my footing before making an even bigger scene.

A strong hand shot out, gripping my elbow to steady me.

“Jesus, Sadie,” Samuel rumbled, his voice warm and rich and entirely too grounding. “Where’s the fire?”

Of course.

Of all the people to run into right now, ithadto be him.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Samuel

Discipline.Control. Order.

I built my life around those things.

I had to. Ever since my dad left and I became the man of the house at eight years old.

Running The Foundry, keeping everything steady, making sure Kai and Adam didn’t burn the place down with their impulsiveness—I felt like it all fell on me.

And I liked it that way.

I liked being the one with his shit together.

But Sadie?

She had a way of tilting my world off its axis. Had from the moment she walked back into town with that wary smile and those big, untrusting eyes.

And now?

Watching her storm toward the exit, her chest rising and falling like she’d just sprinted a mile, cheeks flushed from too much heat—whether from anger or embarrassment, I wasn’t sure—she looked like she was one sharp word away from shattering.

I didn’t like it.

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