Master in Shining Armor (Masters Unleashed 4)

“No, that was annoying too. It was just a different kind of annoying.”

Dex flipped him off, and Will saw Grant’s hand flex as though he were warming up to spank her.

Varushka’s question about when they’d started sleeping together suddenly popped back into Will’s head. He’d been so distracted with his own life he’d forgotten to examine that idea any further. Hopefully, it wasn’t true. The three of them had been a good team for so long, it would suck if they’d gotten romantic . . . although if they had and it had ended badly, that would explain the new animosity.

Dex turned her back and walked on ahead, her plain black clothes doing little to hide the massive personality her small frame contained. Despite what Grant had accused her of, Dex was anything but a bitch—to everyone except Grant, anyway.

The tension left Grant’s face as soon as Dex was across the room, as though the threat had somehow passed.

“So Juliet talked you into building a stage, huh?” Grant said. “Interesting. It makes you wonder if it’s just something that occurred to her as she was researching, or whether she has a secret interest in exhibitionism.” Grant clapped him on the shoulder and chuckled, startling Beau but thankfully not making her cry. He didn’t want to keep her in here for long though. There might be fumes or too much dust or noise or something. “I guess if you’re keeping Bilbo, you’re never going to find out what little miss Juliet is really into.”

Great, he hadn’t settled, he’d just transferred his dickishness to Will.

“Shut the fuck up, Grant.”

“Are you sure you can’t find people to raise her?” he asked more seriously. “You’re not exactly father material.”

“I’m trying to become father material. I can’t find anyone I trust, so I’ll do it myself.”

“You’re really keeping her?”

“Yes.”

Grant studied him, but eventually shrugged, as though he thought Will had lost his good sense.

“You should give her to Dex,” Grant said, smiling with more teeth than humor. “Maybe having a kid will chill her out again.”

“I don’t think Dex even wants kids.”

Grant mumbled something under his breath that didn’t sound very polite, his eyes scanning the room as though not knowing where she was or what she was doing was unacceptable.

The workers who were framing the stage paused to ask them if they had any questions. As Grant had a short discussion with them about building codes, Will sized up the blond guy, wondering if he was one of Juliet’s brothers. He wasn’t sure why he was so interested, considering it shouldn’t matter to him anymore anyway.

Maybe Grant was grumpy because more of the club work was falling to him lately. In the past, Grant had been able to goof off more. Grant and Dex had hung out and joked around all the time back when Will had done almost everything.

When Grant came back over to him, Will said, “After Beau gets used to Tabitha, I’ll be around to help more again.”

“It’s no big deal. It’s not like I don’t know how to run this place, and you ran it all by yourself for months when I was backpacking.”

“That was years ago, and you know I don’t feel like you owe me for that.”

“I know you don’t, but I do,” Grant admitted.

“You’d have done the same for me.”

“The point is I didn’t have to. You got your shit together without having to go find yourself.”

“Growth is different for different people. You’re also younger than I am.”

They checked out the polished concrete bar top and made sure the thing was sturdy enough for several people to stand on. Weird shit happened at Catacombs sometimes.

“So . . . this Tabitha—is she hot?” Grant asked, more like himself again, although his gaze was still following Dex.

“Under no circumstances are you allowed to seduce or otherwise distract Beau’s nanny.”

“So that’s a yes. Is she kinky?”

Like he could hire live-in help who wasn’t kinky? He owned a fucking club, for fuck’s sake.