“I know but my hands were empty and Aunt Sav was looking around for things for me to do. I could get stuck with cleaning out the fire pit.” I tip my head to the barbecue, where one of the caterers is currently getting sooty as he scoops out the ashes. “Now I look booked and busy.” I start walking toward the kitchen in hopes that Dally follows.
She grabs the bowl and falls in step behind me.
“So the office lounge chairs you wanted, you have a supplier for those?” I call over my shoulder.
“Quinn can order them. I should have the cash flow in a few months to pay you back if I play my cards right. The ad campaign we just launched is having some good results.”
Or I could just buy them for you, but Dally’s big on earning everything herself. “Just add it to my tab,” I tell her.
“The tab seems to be getting bigger instead of smaller. Why is that?”
Because I like it that way. Asking for a capital investment from me was hard. She calls it a loan–as if I’m ever going to let her pay that back. The minute I have no ownership in that company, Dally will kick me to the curb so fast my head will spin.
“Anyway, I’ll go over to Quinn’s office tomorrow and put in the order.” And then I’ll need to run through my contact file to see who can do me the favor of procuring that damn coffee machine. If that’s what my Dally wants, that’s what she’s going to get, even if I have to buy the stupid prototype.
“No!” she practically shouts.
Her outburst takes me by surprise and I nearly trip on the flagstones leading up to the back of the house. Thanks to my quick reflexes, honed during my college football playing days, I manage to right myself without a spill. “What’s wrong?”
Dally rushes up next to me. “I can put in my own order. You do not need to go over there.”
“I’ve got the time.” The nice thing about having money is that you get to do what you want with your days. Most of the time, what I want is Dally focused so I’m either in her lab or office. On the rare occasion I leave, it’s also for Dally—either running an errand for her or closing a business deal on her behalf. Dally, bless her heart, isn’t very good with people. She’s too impatient. They’re often too dumb for her, asking her questions that she doesn’t care much about. It’s the scientist in her, I think. That and the fact that she is smarter than 99.9% of the population. If I had a brain as big as Dally’s, I think mere mortals would irritate the shit out of me, too. Hell, maybe that’s why she doesn’t like me much. I’ve got a big wallet, a big dick, but my brain isn’t even half the size of hers.
“Hey, Dally, do you think I’m dumb?”
“What? Who said that? Did someone call you dumb? Tell me who it is so I can kick their ass.” She looks like she’s ready to throw the bowl at someone’s head. Unfortunately, I’m the only someone around so I hurry to appease her.
“No one’s called me dumb. It’s just a thought that popped into my head.”
“Well, you’re not dumb and if anyone ever calls you that, you better tell me.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why should I tell you? Or I guess, why are you mad on my behalf?” I hold my breath, hoping that she admits that she’s angered because she loves me and doesn’t want anyone slandering my good name.
“Why wouldn’t I be mad? Wouldn’t you be mad if someone called me dumb?”
I sigh. “Nah. Because we both know you’re smart as hell and if anyone called you dumb it was because you probably defeated them in something.”
Dally smirks. “I guess the truth hurts. I am awesome.”
“I know.” I sigh again. “I know.”
Chapter 3
Dally
“I know girls drool over Mack but I didn’t know you’d be one of them.” I look up from the sink where I’m washing my hands. I was thinking about heading out for the night. Maisie is giving me a mischievous smile. I know girls have been drooling over him for years. I saw it happen plenty of times in college. I try to hide how deep my attraction for him is but it’s getting harder with each day that passes. We work in such close quarters that I find myself getting worse rather than better. I’m now around him all of the time, not only personally because of my relationship with Maisie but professionally. I try to reason with myself that he’s only attractive to me because his face is perfectly symmetric. That it is all science. Nothing more. I’ve told Maisie that too. She doesn’t seem to be buying what I’m selling anymore. I’m not sure I am either.