“Ballpark,” I say.
He mulls it over. “Minimum, I’d guess, fifteen.”
“Hundred?”
“Grand.” He squints at the expression on my face. “Why do you ask?”
My throat constricts. Cal and Hollywood made it sound so simple. Just switch the rooms, no biggie. But even with the discount Jonah and Austin would inevitably give them, renovating the office would cost them a ton of money.
“No reason,” I say.
Austin’s younger brother, Mike, passes by the doorway and then doubles back to the kitchen. The resemblance between the Pope brothers becomes most apparent when you put them in a small room together. For starters, they’re both built like lumberjacks.
“Sorry about that email, Kenzie,” Mike says. “I tightened the filter restrictions but let me know if it happens again.”
Austin’s gaze hardens. “What email?”
“Nothing,” I tell him, still reeling over the renovation costs. “Just the usual burn-in-Hell shit.”
“That shouldn’t have happened.” Austin turns to his brother. “So how did it happen?”
I finish eating my sticky bun while the two of them go back and forth over the intricacies of email filtering services. When I get up to wash my hands at the sink, Jeremy saunters over to talk to me.
“Hey, I’m meeting some friends at Rudy’s tonight,” Jeremy says. “You’re welcome to join us, if you’re free.”
Rudy’s, the bar and grill across the street, is a regular haunt for the Pope and Parkes crew. Cherise and I sometimes go there for lunch. The place gets decidedly more bar-like as the night goes on, but they don’t check IDs in the early evening.
This isn’t the first time Jeremy’s asked me to join him at Rudy’s after work, and I can tell he’s expecting me to say no. I’m not sure what Hollywood’s planned for dinner, but I can’t help thinking that she and Cal would probably love to have a nice romantic meal, just the two of them.
In a quiet house, followed by a night of loud, kinky sex and uninterrupted sleep...
Of course, the only way that can happen is if I spend the night somewhere else.
I dry my hands on a paper towel and turn to study Jeremy a bit more closely. There’s nothing overtly offensive about the guy. He’s average-looking, not especially tall or short. His hair could use a date with a brush, but otherwise he’s just a regular dude with a one-bedroom apartment.
I’m sure he’d take me home with him if I asked him to. To be clear, I don’t want to sleep with Jeremy. But it wouldn’t be the first time I rented bedspace with my body when the situation called for it.
“Sure,” I tell him. “That sounds fun.”
“Yeah, numbers guy,” Austin barks, rising from his chair. “A bar sounds like the perfect place to bring a twenty-year-old.”
“They serve food, too,” I remind him.
I know Austin would let me stay at his house in a heartbeat, and I'm tempted to ask. I like his house; I feel safe there. But if I go home with him tonight, I’ll have to ask him to drive me back into town tomorrow. If I’m going to inconvenience anyone, I’d rather it be the guy who lives around the corner.
“Don’t worry, Dad.” Jeremy smirks. “I’ll have her home by ten.”
Austin glowers, his jaw twitching at the corners. Jeremy laughs awkwardly and turns to go. Mike holds his position in the doorway, forcing Jeremy to sidestep around him into the hall.
“You good?” Mike asks, eyes trained on his brother.
Austin nods.
Mike backs away, leaving Austin and me alone in the small kitchen.
“Jeremy has a point.” I sit back down, too tired to stand.
“What point is that?” He folds his arms across his chest. I’d be amazed if I could wrap both of my hands around his massive bicep.