Page 27 of The Huckleberry Bookshop

Before Athena could reach the duo, Chad flagged down a man in a suit, gesturing where to grab the chair on the opposite side.

“Tina, hold his briefcase, would you?” he commanded.

Before she could think or react, she was holding the black leather case, and Chad and the stranger were lifting the chair, passenger and all, straight up the steps.

Athena followed slowly, admiring Chad’s problem-solving skills and compassion. The two men set down the wheelchair and passenger, and Chad pushed the automatic door opener, gesturing for Athena to follow the man inside.

Dang it. She was going to have to rethink her frustration and anger with Chad once again, wasn’t she?

“Hey, Tina.”

Nope. Maybe not.

He was still as irritating as an anthill under a picnic blanket. His agent had obviously coached him to perform enough good deeds that the public didn’t hate or resent him. “You keeping that briefcase, Tina?”

Realizing she was hugging the stranger’s case, she jerked, then thrust it at the amused man. Ignoring Chad, she pivoted and beelined across the lobby, her cheeks burning in embarrassment.

While she waited for the elevator, she heard Chad’s deep voice as he spoke to the security guard posted a few feet inside the doors. “Can you let him out the back exit after his meeting? The front ramp’s out of commission.”

The elevator doors opened and Athena walked in, surprisingly disappointed that Chad wouldn’t be riding up with her. She jabbed the button for Nuvella’s floor.

The security guard’s voice carried across the tiled entry. “We don’t let people in, but we always let them out.”

Male laughter filtered toward her.

Just before the elevator closed, an arm reached out, causing the doors to jerk open again. Chad squeezed his way in. “Hey. Going up?”

“Only direction possible.” She pushed the Open button. “Is your friend coming?”

“Who?”

She gestured to the lobby, where the man he’d helped was still joking with the security guard.

“He’ll catch the next one.” Chad reached across her and hit Close. “Got a meeting? Or do you have an office in here, too?”

“Meeting.”

“Me, too.”

“With Nuvella?” she asked, facing him, dread and hope battling it out in her chest.

“Miranda.” The team’s owner.

Athena smiled, hoping it was that sharkish one he feared. “So today you get fired?”

He scoffed. “Never. I’m also meeting with Dak.”

Miranda’s boyfriend, who ran the team’s sick kids’ charity. Interesting.

She hated to admit it, but all Chad had to do was tenderly hold a kitten and her ovaries would probably claim they had descended from seahorses and, like seahorses, mated for life, and he was their chosen one. Good thing it was too early in the year for a litter of kittens to be dropped into his lap.

“Another photo op?” she asked, filling the silence.

“Nope.”

“Wait…” She felt a wicked grin spread across her face. “The big bad playboy is going to donate all of his fancy cars to the Dragons’ charity?”

He laughed. “Not a chance.”

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