Her Heart's Desire

“No problem,” she assured him. “The guys are moving right along.”

“Glad to hear it.” He turned to the other women. “How are you ladies?”

“Fine,” Norma Jean replied. “We’re going to dinner. Care to join us?”

“No, ma’am. We’ve got work to do.” He and Cole exchanged glances. His brother nodded. “We’ll be finished by the time you return.”

“Can I bring you something back?” Tiffany offered.

“We’re good, thanks,” Cole chimed in.

Norma Jean swung into action. “You heard the man. Let’s get a move on. I’m hungry, and the lines aren’t getting any shorter.”

*

The moment they left, Ivan turned to his brother.

“How are we really doing?”

Cole rolled his eyes. “Ivan, it’s not rocket science. I’ve got this.”

“Uh-huh.”

He flooded Cole with a barrage of questions. With a loud sigh, Cole brought him up to speed. Walking around, Ivan began spot-checking his brother’s work.

“Top-notch,” he confirmed after a full inspection.

“Thank you, Colonel Mangum,” Cole replied with a salute before giving his brother an “I told you so” look. Ivan was about to walk away when Cole said, “She’s fine, by the way.”

“Cole,” Ivan ground out.

“I’m just saying, she’s a cute little thing. Kind of short for you, isn’t she? But then again, you can make up the difference when you’re horizontal—”

A small box sailed past Cole’s head. He reached out and caught it. He flashed a huge grin at his brother. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

“The next time it’ll be my fist,” Ivan promised.

*

Outside, Tiffany realized she’d forgotten her cell phone in the store. She promised Norma Jean and Milán she’d be right back, then hurried into the boutique and over to the counter. As she grabbed her phone, she overheard Cole and Ivan talking in the storage room.

“She was the reason you were late?”

Tiffany stopped in her tracks. She definitely did not want to be caught eavesdropping, and yet she could not bring herself to move.

“No,” Ivan answered. “I was dealing with that mess Daniels created in Canada.”

“So all is well,” Cole said.

“Not for Daniels. He had two drinks while on duty. Company policy is no drinking while on the clock—no exceptions. He’s on probation.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit hard on him?”

“Hell, no. He’s lucky I didn’t fire him. In our line of work, there can be no distra

ctions, Cole. Situations can turn into life-or-death scenarios in an instant, and my employees have to be prepared—for anything. I can’t risk them being impaired. Daniels was dead wrong, and there are consequences.”

“So where does Debra fit into the scenario?”