Page 69 of The Reluctant Siren
He was not going to cry. Niall nodded slowly. “I am. He’s anexpert at family trauma and PTSD. He’s roughly our age and he works at a placecalled the Ferguson Clinic. He plays at The Hideout, so he’s lifestylefriendly.”
Jensen grimaced. “Is he another Taggart?”
Oh, he was going to have to get used to those, but at leasthe could spare him this time. “No. His dad is the head of Julian’s security. Ithink you’ll like him.”
“And I want to learn to cook, too.” Jensen seemed to bebuilding steam for this new life they were facing. “I shouldn’t be eatingnothing but sandwiches, and I don’t want it all to fall on you. Harlow… She’snot good in the kitchen.”
Oh, he knew. “Yes, but when she gets it in her head to try,we have to smile and thank her. And eat it all.”
“All right,” Jensen agreed. “Now sit and let’s talk abouthow to take her down. She’s going to be stubborn.”
Niall took his seat. “Yeah, but we’re going to be sneaky andsmart.”
He picked up his fork. He was hungry again.
ChapterTwelve
Jensen closed the door on Harlow’s guests, hopingthat Ruby didn’t actually know how to use that evil eye she’d given him. It wasa powerful stink eye. “She does not like me. She is never going to hire me.”
“You’ll work on her,” Niall promised. “You have some charmwhen you want to.”
Harlow looked so fucking pretty standing there in the yellowsundress she’d changed into after her shower. Her sister and friends had stayedfor a late lunch and helped Harlow settle the bedroom the way she wanted it.Luckily, they hadn’t tossed him or Niall out. There was now a bathroom filledwith all kinds of nice-smelling things like shampoo and conditioner and soapshe’d been told were for different parts of the body. He wasn’t sure. He onlyknew they smelled like Harlow. With the late afternoon light coming in, herhair looked vibrant and her skin practically glowed. “Why would Ruby hire you?”
Niall sank down to the couch. “We spent the day talkingabout the future. He’s going to need a job. I mean if we can keep him out ofjail and alive. Alive is important.”
Strong arms crossed under her breasts, and she looked atNiall with a clear challenge in her gaze. “You have a business. You hire him.”
Niall simply smiled at those bratty words. “I think that’show we’ll go at first, but he’s so much like you, princess. He needs more thana physical challenge. I think it would do him a world of good to help livingpeople.”
Okay, that bit a little, but it was also true.
Harlow looked to him as though he was going to attack.Jensen simply shrugged. “He’s not wrong. I liked helping your client get out.It made me feel…worthy.”
Harlow’s nose wrinkled. “I don’t even know what to do withthat. I have to think about it.”
Hey, she wasn’t kicking him out. He would take it.
Niall also looked like that was their best-case scenario.“Did Ruby have any new information? I mean about the case. She has tons of newinformation about the three of us. The Hideout will be buzzing tonight.”
Having a partner did come with privileges. Like having himcover his ass when he said stupid things. “Yeah, has she talked to Jack atall?”
Harlow’s eyes narrowed, but she took the seat across fromthe sofa. It was an old lounge chair that his mom had kept around because themen she dated tended to like it. She always said they shouldn’t sit on itbecause it was a chair for the man of the house.
He liked Harlow sitting there. But he also thought he shouldget the fuck rid of it and let her completely redo the place. If she wanted to.It was kind of nice out here. He’d sat outside and watched the cows in thedistance and listened to the sound of the river that ran through the backyard.It was peaceful here. He could think, and that was weird. He thought comingback here would be awful. He thought every single step here would remind him ofTommy. And it did, but it wasn’t in a bad way.
This property was something he could offer. It wasn’t toofar from Dallas. A couple of hours and they were in the country, away fromeverything. He might have thought Harlow wouldn’t fit in, but she seemed torelax. He’d heard her talking to Gigi about how pretty it was here. The fieldby the river was lush with wildflowers, and she liked seeing the horses andcattle in the distance.
“Jack is going to be in touch with Ruby if he hearsanything. He hasn’t gone in to work since last night. He’s got a shift tonight,and he’s probably taking over Jensen’s position,” she explained. “He sent areport to her about what happened from his perspective last night so she couldunderstand. I think he also sent it to Big Tag. He’ll be there if we need him.”
“He’s taking my job? Jack’s a bartender,” Jensen complained.It had taken him years to get to dungeon monitor of a big club. It was rude.
“He’s also been in the lifestyle for years,” Harlowexplained. “He’s a member of The Hideout, but he put his membership on hiatusfor the last year. I think he was probably concentrating on his job, likely outof town for a lot of the time. I didn’t know what he was doing, obviously. Butthat’s why Niall never met him. So we should know more after tonight. Howpissed off are you that she showed up?”
That question had been directed at him. Not Niall. BecauseNiall wasn’t the pissed-off one. Niall was the good one.
He had to stop thinking that way. He and Niall had spentmuch of the afternoon walking around what was left of the property. At onepoint they’d hauled out their old fishing gear and caught some catfish thatNiall promised he could cook and talked about Harlow.
That was fucking nice, too. It was nice to be in it withsomeone else, someone he trusted.
