“You work here?” I wondered.
“Unfortunately,” she muttered darkly.
“Unfortunately?” Darby asked. “Why do you say it like that?”
“Because my father owns this place and feels like he can call on me any time he needs help,” she muttered, cursing slightly under her breath when she died. Her eyes came up to us as she said, “I have to pay for my tuition by working. And when I work here, I get significantly less money than when I work my other job.”
“What’s your other job?” Codie asked.
Ever curious.
“I’m a stripper.”
We all blinked.
“Well, not a stripper, per se. But I teach the strippers how to strip,” she amended. “I took dancing classes from the time that I was four. And since then, I’ve kept them up. When I turned sixteen, I taught myself how to strip/dance. Now I teach the new strippers how.”
There was a long pause as everyone digested that news.
“Where is the estate section?” I asked.
She jerked her head to the area in front of her.
“We just got a few in last night,” she said. “That one in front is simple like you’re looking for. An older man who looked like he was about to keel over pawned it. He told me his whole life story. Said he bought that ring for the woman he was going to marry, but she died of cancer. Now he’s dying of cancer, and he has a son that’s an asshole who refuses to admit that he’s dying. He told me he is leaving his entire estate to the ex-wife.”
Something eerie swept over me as I heard her talk.
“Did you happen to catch his name?” I wondered.
She frowned, pursed her lips, and tapped her finger against her mouth as she thought.
“Male… Malcolm…” the woman said.
“Malloy,” Codie said softly, her eyes catching mine.
“Yes, that!” She clapped. “You know him? That’s a really unusual name.”
I looked at the beautiful ring and knew in my heart that it was the one.
I also knew that Desi would love it.
***
Banks, Codie, Darby, and I arrived at the bakery/coffee shop two hours later, and thirteen thousand dollars lighter.
“I can’t believe you just dropped that much money on a ring,” Darby said for the fourth time. “Jesus Christ, that’s how much I paid for my truck!”
I grinned. “Maybe if you saved your money that you got from your cut of the ranch, you’d be able to pay your truck off and stop bitching about the money that I’m spending.”
Darby snorted. “I enjoy the finer things in life.”
Darby didn’t get much, seeing as his primary job wasn’t working the ranch like Ace, Banks and me. But he did get a hefty little paycheck.
Then, add in to the fact he also held a fortyhour a week job at a bar when he wasn’t at school, and the kid made bank. Unfortunately, he had a penchant for buying shit he didn’t need. Like a freakin’ twenty-two-hundred-dollar cat.
A twenty-two-hundred-dollar cat that hated everyone but Darby.
“You enjoy blowing money on a goddamn cat that hates everyone and everything. Didn’t I see you bring a cat tree in last night?” Banks asked.
Codie snickered.
“She was on sale!” Darby said. “And she has to have somewhere to sleep. Otherwise she sleeps on my head and tries to smother me with her loose skin.”
Did I mention the cat was a Sphinx? A fat Sphinx at that.
It was a hairless demon that looked crazy as hell.
“I think she’s cute,” Codie said as she bailed out of the truck.
I watched through the windshield as she ran toward Ace, who was talking to Georgia and Nico outside the bakery.
Ace must’ve heard her coming because he tensed just as she launched herself through the air at him.
Codie hit him with a slam, and Ace caught her around the hip and yanked her to his front. Then placed a hard kiss on her mouth before dropping her to her feet.
“Disgusting,” Darby said as he too got out.
I followed suit, bypassed my family at the front door, and walked straight in to chaos.
My eyes scanned the room, boxes and tables for my woman. I found her bending over a box as she pulled what looked like pink paper napkins in the thousands out.
I walked up to her until my body was aligned with hers. Then catching her hips, I pulled her into my crotch and let her feel just how much I liked seeing her bent over.
She turned and glanced at me over her shoulder, then wiggled her ass.
“Hey, baby.” She smiled.
I grinned at her as I said, “How’s it going?”
She stood up straight, then turned in my arms. Her hands wrapped around my neck as she went up onto her tiptoes to press a kiss to my mouth.
“Better now that you’re here,” she answered. “I’m a little overwhelmed.”
I ground myself against her, and she frowned and looked down.