“I’m looking at your stuff,” Lou said, buried in the phone.“Is this inventory up to date?”
“Yes.”Baffled, Chloe glanced at Sawyer.
He shook his head.“Don’t worry about her.Chloe, you need to talk to Knox and Jesse.”
She sighed.“I know.I just don’t know what to say to them.”
“The truth is usually best.”
She stared morosely at the marshmallows floating in her hot chocolate.“Okay, but the truth makes me look like an asshole.”
A smile quirked his beautiful mouth.“No, it doesn’t.”
She snorted.“Yes, it does.‘Hey, I know we had a no-strings agreement, but sorry, I went and fell in love with you, is that okay’ is totally an asshole thing to say.”
“It really isn’t,” Sawyer said.“Not least of which because they’re in love with you, too.”
She stared at him for a full five seconds.“They are not.”
“Oh, they really are.”Calmly, he raised his cup for a sip.“Lou?”
She didn’t look up from the phone.“Hmm?What?”
“Are Jesse and Knox in love with Chloe?”
“Yeah.Can you do these malachite twists in different stones, different metals?”
Chloe blinked.“Ah, yeah.”
“What about the hoops with the amethysts?Different stones?”
“I can pretty much do any stone you want,” Chloe said.“Did you mean it?”
“Mean what?”Lou said absently, then gasped.“Oh, Ilovewhat you’ve done with these seed pearls and the hammered silver.Funky.”
“Lou,” Sawyer said.
“What?I’m busy.”
“Put down the phone for two seconds and tell Chloe that Jesse and Knox are in love with her.”
Lou lowered the phone, her brow wrinkled in confusion.“Of course, they’re in love with you.They tried to beat Sawyer up.”
Chloe gaped.“They what?”
“They didn’t try to beat me up,” Sawyer corrected.
“They wanted to,” Lou said.“If I hadn’t been there, they might have.”
“Why?”Chloe asked, baffled.
“Because they’re in love with you,” Sawyer said.
“Because they thought Sawyer was banging you, and they were jealous,” Lou said at the same time, and shrugged at Sawyer’s exasperated look.“What?It’s true.”
“I was trying to be discreet,” Sawyer told her.
“Why?We all know the deal,” Lou said and looked at Chloe.“You know I know he had a date with you, right?”
