Page 66 of Stuck with my Boss Daddies

Didn’t like the way it made my stomach tighten, the way my fingers flexed with the need to reach for her, to fix whatever had her looking like that.

“Sadie,” I said, low and even.

She blinked up at me, startled, like she’d forgotten I was there.

“Samuel,” she breathed, then grimaced, eyes darting to the bar.

I followed her gaze.

Todd Rivers, smug and easygoing as ever, was still at his post, tossing a towel over his shoulder.

His eyes flicked toward Sadie and then back to me, his mouth already curling into amusement, like he knew exactly why I was standing here, looking at him like I was about to put my fist through his obnoxiously handsome face.

My fingers curled into fists.

Sadie must have noticed because she suddenly grabbed my arm, tugging me outside, toward the alley beside the bar.

“No,” she hissed. “Absolutely not.”

I barely let her pull me two steps before I stopped short, my pulse thrumming. “What did he say?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she muttered, avoiding my gaze.

I let out a slow breath, tilting my head. “Sadie.”

She huffed, shifting on her feet. “He just made some joke about me and The Foundry and—” She shook her head sharply. “I just needed some air, okay?”

Some joke.

My jaw clenched so hard itached.

Sadie sighed, dropping her forehead against my chest before I could process what she was doing.

“Just… don’t, okay?” Her voice was muffled against my shirt. “I really don’t need you starting a fight over this.”

Something in my chest cracked.

This wasn’t a side of her I saw often. Sadie was fire and stubborn pride, all sharp edges when she wanted to be.

But right now?

Right now, she just sounded tired.

I let out a slow exhale, my fists uncurling as I lifted a hand to settle against the back of her head.

“Fine,” I murmured. “No fighting.”

She let out a breath, sinking a little against me.

“But if he says one more thing, Iwillput his ass through that bar.”

She groaned. “Samuel?—”

“That’s my compromise. Take it or leave it.”

A pause. Then, finally, I felt her laugh, soft and breathy against my chest.

And just like that, my world tilted back into place.

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