Page 14 of Flirting With Forever
“Because we have a kid sister, and we wouldn’t want her or any of our employees out there and in danger,” Cole said.
In that instant, Gage knew what he had to do. Because Cole’s words reminded him of his own thoughts that first night when he’d seen her. “Two weeks,” he said abruptly, surprising himself with the words but knowing he’d already lost the battle.
One of the reasons he’d been out for a run so early that morning was because he couldn’t sleep due to worrying where Sloane had wound up. Where she’d gone to sleep. If she was safe.
Despite this being a problem, at least he’d know she was safe. “She can stay downstairs for two weeks while you find, hire, and train someone else.”
“And if I don’t want to live with you?” she asked Gage.
“You’d rather ride out a hurricane in your car?”
Sloane gaped at him, seemingly taken aback by his question.
“What hurricane? There’s going to be a hurricane?”
“Unless it shifts course, yeah,” Gage said. “We’ll either get the brunt of it or a side swipe, but we’ll get something early next week. Maybe sooner if it picks up speed.”
He could practically see her mind churning over that news.
“I-I hadn’t heard.”
“So what’s the decision?” Cole asked.
“I guess staying with him would be better than floating out to sea.”
Gage was glad to note she had some sense of self-preservation.
“What about rent?” she asked.
While he was all for making money, he knew she didn’t have any or she wouldn’t be sleeping in her car. “If you’re so good at organizing things, maybe you could do the stuff in that bedroom. It’s kind of taken on a life of its own.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” Cole told her in a stage whisper. “Take him up on that at your own risk.”
Sloane huffed out a small laugh and shifted her attention back to Gage. He felt the full force of those big green eyes like they blazed fire.
“That bad, huh?”
He shrugged. “You’ve seen my schedule. I don’t get to spend a lot of time at home, so things get tossed in and left for later.”
“A later that never comes,” Cole added.
Gage watched as she nibbled on her lower lip and thought over her options, not that she had many. She could leave and go inland before it hit, but where? At what risk? If a hurricane stalled once it reached land, sometimes the flooding and damage were worse inland than on the coast.
“Okay. I’ll stay there, but I’ll earn my room and board by organizing the mess. Professional organizers get paid really good money, so I think it’s a fair trade.”
“Deal,” Gage said with a nod.
“Not so fast. Just so we’re clear, this isn’t a housing-with-benefits situation,” she stated bluntly. “I don’t want a repeat of my last job just because I have a complicated personal life.”
Gage crossed his arms across his broad chest and glared at her, anger spiking that he’d been lumped into that class of moron. The kind of man-child who thought just because he was bigger and stronger meant he could do—take—whatever he wanted.
Sloane didn’t back down and held eye contact, though Gage noted the uptick in the pulse point at her throat. “This is strictly a business arrangement until you find a place of your own.”
“I can vouch for him, Sloane,” Cole said. “Gage will keep his hands to himself. He knows better. If he didn’t, he’d answer to all of us.”
Cole might be a stranger to her, but Sloane had spent more time with him, and apparently, she took Cole at his word.
“Well, I suppose since I don’t have a lot of options… We have a deal. For the time being. Though if what you’ve said about organizing the room is true, I might not be able to finish it in two weeks.”
