“Really? What are you, twelve?” Jay slammed the thick binder on his desk in front of Ryden, making him jump.
“You have to admit, it’s an unfortunate surname.” Ryden waggled his eyebrows, but Jay ignored him. He was not going to laugh. Or smile. Or anything.
“Considering the man she married is worth billions,” Jay said, opening the binder. “I’m sure she’s over it.”
Ryden tapped the top page. “I hope whatever’s in here is worth the destruction of a small forest.”
“Cordelia—Angelica’s mother-in-law—seems to think so.”
The suspicion was back, and so it should be. Ryden eyed Jay, and Jay’s grin was evil as Ryden flipped through the sleeve-protected pages, his eyes widening with every page he flipped through.
“No,” Ryden groaned.
“Yes.”
“This is…this is a nightmare.” Ryden’s head shot up. “Youdid this.”
Jay gasped and put a hand to his chest. “I beg your pardon, but are you suggesting that I would be so petty and vindictive as to convince Red that you would be perfect for this job because of your vast ranching experience and ability to connect with children between the ages of eleven and thirteen?”
Ryden narrowed his eyes.
“Why, yes. Yes, I am,” Jay replied. “Congratulations! You’re invited to Ainsley Rusticucci’s Roar-some Dinosaur Ranch. You’ll find the guest list on page 50, and the birthday boy’s friends take up pages 59 through 63. I’ve taken the initiative and given Cordelia and Angelica your number.” He smiled sweetly. “Maybe they’ll give you some birthday cake.”
Ryden grumbled something under his breath, grabbing the binder and marching back to his desk. He dropped down into his chair and opened the binder. His facial expressions as he went through the pages were epic, ranging from horror to bafflement. The man couldn’t hide his thoughts to save his life. At one point, Jay had to turn his head and put a hand over his mouth to keep his chuckle from turning into full-blown laughter. This was going to beah-mazing.
Jay made several phone calls and appointments, spoke with the agents Red needed that afternoon, updated their schedules, gave them access to the client folder, and when lunch time rolled around, he was practically done with his to-do list. When he glanced up, Ryden wasn’t at his desk. The binder was still there, so he couldn’t have gone far. Didn’t matter. It was time for lunch.
Jay opened his top desk drawer to grab his wallet when something black moved inside. What the—? He took a peek and something in the back of the drawerscurried. Jay shrieked and flew out of his chair so fast that he sent it tumbling across the floor. In his panic to escape whatever horror had invaded his space, he didn’t realize his reaction had activated all the former military personnel on the floor.
“What happened?” Lucky asked, Ace on his heels, Saint and Joker behind them.
Jay thrust a finger at his desk drawer. “Burn it! Set it on fire!”
“What?” Joker crouched down and peeked inside the open drawer. “I don’t see—Oh. Looks like there’s a spider or something back there.” He stood and arched an eyebrow at Jay. “Really?”
“Burn it,” Jay insisted, hiding behind Lucky. “I’m sure we have some accelerant in the building.”
Mason walked over. “No one is settin’ anything on fire.”
“In that case, I’ll start looking for available commercial properties, research listings, book a moving company, and order packing supplies.” Jay did not do bugs, especially roaches and anything that resembled them. Angry-looking spiders?Hellno. Jumping spiders were cute. On Instagram. Where they couldn’t touch him. Nope. No way.
“Jay,” Mason said, his tone gentle as he put his hands on Jay’s shoulders. “Breathe.”
Breathe?Breathe?Cowboy was high if he thought Jay would breathe anywhere near that thing. Just in case, he shielded his mouth with his hand. He’d seenAliens.
“There is a hideous, multi-legged thing in my desk that clearly crawled out of some hellmouth.” He gasped as a horrible thought occurred to him. “What if it laid eggs in my desk? Oh God.” He gagged. “What if they’re about to hatch and we’re going to be swarmed by thousands of them!” Where was his peppermint rollerball? Ugh, it was in his desk! He was going to be sick. Wait, he had some nausea meds…fuckthey were in his desk! “This can’t be happening. This can’t?—”
Laughter drew his attention.
No.Noooooo way.
He wouldn’t.
Jay met Ryden’s gaze. The man’s lips curled into a wicked grin, and Jay lost. His. Shit. He shrieked and launched forward, only to be caught around the waist by Mason.
“Asshole! I’m going to murder you!”
Mason sighed. “Ry, come on, man.”
