I drained half my beer in one swig and met Riggsy’s laughing eyes across the Tavern’s wooden table. “If we didn’t know when I signed the contracts, Hux, I think we got it after the third time you asked do you know when we were still back at the office.”
Hux’s cheeks went pink. “It’s just cool to have a client that’s in my wheelhouse, that’s all.”
“Don’t give Hux too much shit,” Riggs said. “This is the equivalent of me being asked to protect Zac Efron. Or you being asked to protect… I dunno, Ronald Reagan? Whoever was considered hot when you were young, Champ.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him. “I’m thirty-seven, dipshit. As in, only one year older than your… your boyfriend.”
Yeah, it was gonna take me several minutes to get used to saying Riggs and boyfriend in the same sentence. I was happy for him—I was. I just couldn’t imagine finding someone I’d be as eager to tie myself to as Riggs was with Carter. Not again, anyway.
I’d been there, done that, and all I had to show for it was a fixer-upper Victorian I had no desire to fix up and a highly anxious poodle named Hercules.
“Age isn’t just about the number, though,” Riggs teased. “You’ve got that whole older-man grumpy vibe happening—”
“Fuck off.” I wadded up a cocktail napkin and threw it at him.
“No, seriously,” he laughed. “It’s a good vibe. Guys dig that vibe. Or they would if you’d learn to live a little and not scowl like you’re gonna tell ’em all to get off your lawn.”
I held his gaze and shook my head. “Huxley, remind me to fire Riggs tomorrow. For gross insubordination.”
“Hmm? Oh.” Hux looked up from the red plastic Horn in his hands. He shut the device off and returned it to his pocket when he saw my face. “Uh, sorry, boss. The Purple Shag Shepherds of the Northland are revolting, and I’ve been trying to subdue them, but you know there’s only one way to subdue a Shag Shepherd—”
“No,” I said emphatically. “I’ve made it a point not to know.”
HOG Corporate might be my largest client, and it might be my business to learn all about their employees, facility, and now cybersecurity, but I refused to be involved in their game.
“You have to wrestle ’em,” Riggs said knowingly, and Hux nodded.
I shot Riggs a look of betrayal, and he held his hands up in defense. “I know I said I’d never get into it, but the game’s fucking addictive once you start playing it. Especially when your boyfriend plays it too.” His sappy grin made me wanna smile too, but I rolled my eyes instead.
“Yet another reason I will not start playing it.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Nothing wrong with having hobbies,” Hux countered. “Or boyfriends. In theory.”
I shook my head. “Champion Security is my hobby, and that keeps me plenty busy. I don’t have time to waste on silly shit. Especially not on relationships.”
Riggs snorted. “Spoken like a guy who’s about to be hit over the head with a two-by-four of love. Just sayin’.”
I smiled smugly. If Riggs knew a thing about my love life, he’d know that I had a better chance of wrestling a purple… whatever the fuck it was… than falling in love. But unlike these yahoos I considered my best friends, I knew how to keep my shit contained. I would never be caught spreading my relationship drama around.
“Speaking of two-by-fours…” Huxley smirked. “Don’t look now, but there’s a guy at your five o’clock, Champ, and he seems to find your intimidating glower attractive— Hey! I said don’t look!”
But it was too late. My head had already swung in that direction, and my gaze slammed directly into a frank, curious, blue-green one.
I sucked in a breath. The guy was good-looking—okay, gorgeous —with artfully floppy dark hair, puffy lips, and a sharp jaw, but he was tiny—like, five six if I was being generous—when I usually liked guys built more like me. Also, the man wore some kind of complicated getup—a high-buttoned shirt, plaid pants, and a waist pack slung diagonally across his chest—that looked high fashion and probably cost more than my house. The direct-stare, quirked-eyebrow, mysterious-smile thing he was giving off was attractive as all hell, but he looked like the kind of guy who expected breakfast the morning after a one-night stand, sooo…
I turned back to face forward. “Pass. Too expensive for my taste,” I said.
Riggs shook his head sadly. “Too bad. He’s hot.”
“Who’s hot?” Carter teasingly demanded, draping himself over Riggs’s shoulder from behind. “You looking at Dunn Johnson’s ass again?”
“Baby! I thought you wouldn’t be here for another hour.” The honest delight on Riggs’s face when he looked up at Dr. Rogers left no room for Carter to be remotely jealous, and it was clear Carter knew it.