“Grown-up things?” I stop and watch her study Kane’s image. “Like what?”
“Like unprotected sex and drugs. Ya know, all the fun stuff.”
I slam the filing cabinet closed with a fake laugh and pretend my ribs aren’t killing me. “What do you think the chief will say about that? I’m practically his little sister, Jules. Do you wanna be the one who tells him I’m out snorting pot and selling my body?”
Her beautiful eyes shoot up. “I didn’t say to tell him. Jesus, Lenaghan. Are you insane? It’s our job as women, the clearly smarter gender, to protect the menfolk from the truth. We live on a need-to-know basis, and Alex doesn’t need to know about you whoring around. And just FYI, so you don’t look like a total newb with your new whore friends, you don’tsnortpot. That’ll just give you a sinus infection.”
Biting my bottom lip to hide my smile, I shake my head and try to push the images of Lance – my would-be attacker – out of my head. “Alex is gonna be a daddy soon. Is he mellowing? Maybe he needs to snort something.”
She scrunches her perky nose in a way I wish I could. She looks petite and adorable. I look like Pumba from the Lion King. “I swear, he’s gettingworse. Pretty sure he’s more hormonal than me. It’s weird.”
“But we were totally expecting that, right?”
Snickering, she snaps the file closed. “Right. We knew this was coming. Alright.” With another grunt, she stands from my cluttered desk and tosses the file down. It’s annoying that Kane’s image slides out to watch my every move. “I’m going home. You should leave, too. It’s after five. Time for wine and a sedative.”
“Wine?” I move to my desk and stop in front of my chair. “You’re pregnant, Jules. You can’t have wine.”
“For Alex, silly girl. I need to tranquilize him every night, or he tosses me over his shoulder and goes to town until I pass out.”
“Ew!” I block my ears like a true twelve-year-old. “He’s practically my brother! I don’t want to hear about his–”
“How caveman he gets now that heput his seed in my belly?”
“Ew! Stop!”
“How he screws my brains out every single night because he wants twins?”
“Jules!”
“How he’s good for another round by the time I come back from the bathroom, then again at midnight, then again while the coffee pot fills in the mornings?”
“Juliette! Stop– Wait.” I step back like she hit me. “How’s he going morningandnight? Is there anybody actually guarding our town anymore? Alex is off making triplets. Oz is married and stupid. Does anybody actually work and watch the dispatch phones?”
“Oh, sure.” She waves me off. “Riley’s a superstar and rarely gets laid, which is a damn shame considering how pretty he is. Plus, Alex is still a workaholic. The station’s only three and a half minutes from home. Seven-minute round trip. Five when hecomes in hot.” She thrusts her hips and makes me vomit a little. “That leaves twenty-three minutes per break for the twin-making.”
“So gross, Jules.” I can’t look her in the eye. “You’re my boss and he’s basically my brother. Now I have no appetite. I hope you’re happy with yourself.”
She flashes a beautiful grin and steps to my office door. “I’m seriously so pleased. And it just so happens my pregnancy hormones run just as fast as his.” She ducks into the hall before I brain her with my stapler. “He has staying power, Jess. And I’m just saying, I’m not complaining.”
“Ugh!” I storm around my desk and slam the door. It’s just her and I her left in the building. Everyone else runs out the door at four-fifty-nine. “You owe me new shoes, Juliette! Listening about your sexcapades wasnotpart of my contract!”
Cackling, she pops my door open again. “I wasn’t with Alex yet when you signed contracts. Bet your ass the next evaluation we do will include an Alex clause.”
“No! I won’t do an evaluation.”
“Oh, but you will.” She flashes a trouble filled grin. “You aren’t gonna bust your ass to sit the bar, then not ask me for partnership.”
“Partnership?” My heart hammers now with as much force as it did last night with a knife in my hand. “I… partnership… huh?”
She rolls her eyes. “As if you weren’t thinking it.”
“But I’m…”floundering. “I’m not even thirty. I’ve never… I don’t… I can’t,”stop stammering.
She shrugs a dainty shoulder. “I was your age when I bought in and began phasing Arthur out. He comes in once a week these days.Barely.We’ll have a spare office soon. Are you going to jump the way people jump seats at the dinner table when someone goes to the bathroom, or are you going to stay in here–” she looks around my tiny office like it’s a dungeon of despair and germs “–and let someone else take your seat?”
“But…”
“If I can do it, then so can you.”