One Bossy Dare

I stick my tongue out.

With a frustrated sound, she walks to the sliding glass door behind the deck and opens it, sticks her head inside, and yells, “Hey, Linc! Come here.”

He’s outside in seconds. His big arms go around her, pulling her into an adoring look on his face that used to be almost as grumpy as Lancaster’s.

Wow.

“Uh, are you guys okay?” I venture.

“Never better,” she says.

As I watch them, I realize having a nice hot slice of man might not be half-bad. Someday.

But I’ll settle for my café first.

Is it too much to ask the universe to deliver a lickable husband who’s just as crazy about coffee as I am and wants to open a little shop where we can live our dreams?

Back in reality, no guy has ever looked at me remotely like Lincoln gazes at his wife. He’s so lost in her it’s almost indecent.

I mean, someone tried once.

Someone who lied brutally well.

Whatever. There’s a reason I stick to coffee over dating.

Dakota pulls away from her husband and gazes at him with moony eyes, until she remembers I’m still here.

“Oh. Linc, tell Eliza what you told me about corporate interview negotiations.”

Lincoln meets my eyes, this hulking bear of a man who always looks intimidating, even when his intentions are pure. “Hey, Eliza. Didn’t see you there.”

Yeah, no wonder.

If Dakota wasn’t one of my best friends, I’d be revolted by their lovesick show, but instead, I just grin.

“Okay, corporate negotiations...” he says, pondering for a moment. “If a CEO is taking time out of their day to meet with you, you can always get more than they offer. Always ten percent, sometimes twenty.”

“Cool. I had no idea,” I say.

He nods thoughtfully. “By the time you’re meeting the CEO, you have the job. It’s a given. Someone would have weeded you out long before then, otherwise.” His face glows when he looks back at Dakota and she passes him the baby. “Am I done? Evermore has a hankering for Paw Patrol and so do I.”

“Oh, fine!” Dakota beams at him.

He leans in and kisses her again before retreating inside their mansion with the munchkin.

“When you two are together, it’s intense. Like, a little scary intense. I’m afraid of getting trapped inside your bubble,” I tease.

She just shrugs happily and sits on the outdoor couch. “Are you going to do it then?”

“The interview?”

She nods.

I groan. “I think I have to, now. Who knows when I’ll get an opportunity like this again? I’m almost short on rent. It’s not like I can turn down the cash.”

“Do you need a loan?” Her eyes glow with concern.

“And have you hate me because it’ll be the year 2100 before I pay it back? No thanks.”

“Eliza, I know you. You don’t like this sort of thing, but I could just give you the money. The only reason I didn’t offer is because you haven’t liked me asking in the past.”

“Thanks, but I’ve got this. I’m just going to have to make the Grumpfather an offer he can’t refuse.”

“That’s the spirit. Go interview, get the job, and then call me ASAP. We’ll figure out how much you need to save to be out of there and running Liza’s Love in six months to a year.”

I hold back a frown. She makes it sound too easy. But if Dakota could do it when she started in a similar spot to where I’m at now...

I can’t say never.

“When I get my own place, will you write cutesy quotes for my cups?”

“Yes, and a full poem for the large size,” she promises.

We both laugh.

Fine. Decision made.

I’ll chisel off a piece of my soul for Wired Cup Inc. and later—who knows how much later—after I’ve made a clean break, I can catch up on penance.

For now, I just need all the prayers before I lock horns with that snorting bull in a suit again.

4

Double Shot Of Dare (Cole)

“Cole? Goddamn, it’s been a century and a half. Can you hear me, boss?” Troy’s tanned face fills my screen, his large sunglasses pulled low over his eyes and a messy smile hanging on his lips.

My Chief Operations Officer looks like he’s just rubbing it.

If only I could’ve handled sourcing overseas and let him take the Seattle role with its dreary weather. Then I’d be the one hanging out on beaches with a perpetual golden tan, and he could stay chained to a desk while rain washes out his windows.

Never mind the accident and the stew of bad memories.

There’s a lot of travel with his role. Jetting around the Pacific and South America wouldn’t have been any way for Destiny to grow up, especially after Aster died.

“I can hear you,” I say, hating that I still go tense when I hear his voice.

I used to love hearing from this man.

About as much as I enjoyed his friendship.