Setting that thought aside was like trying to push back the ocean with my bare hands.
Trigger was the one who said it out loud an hour later.
“You’re in love,” he announced, chewing on a cinnamon roll like he was reading my obituary. “It’s over for you.”
Saint laughed. “It’s a crush, Trigger. Calm down.”
Havoc tossed a rag into a bucket. “Feels like love. He’s got that look.”
“What look?” I snapped.
Saint leaned on the counter and pointed at me. “The look of a man who’d fight a bear for a librarian.”
Trigger nodded sagely. “A sexy bear.”
Havoc glared. “Why would the bear be sexy?”
“Whywouldn’tthe bear be sexy?” Trigger shot back.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “All of you shut up.”
Saint patted my shoulder. “It’s okay, Wolf. You’ve been emotionally dead inside for so long that this is actually encouraging.”
Trigger added, “We’re proud of you, buddy. Growth.”
“I regret this entire team,” I muttered.
They just grinned at me like idiots.
Later that afternoon
We were working on the back storage room when Riley Tate reentered our lives like a hurricane.
She swaggered through the door with a milkshake in one hand and trouble in the other.
“Hi, boys,” she purred.
Trigger inhaled his own breath and started coughing.
Havoc muttered, “Oh for f—”
“Language,” Saint said automatically.
Riley hopped onto a crate. “Guess what?”
“No,” I said.
“No thank you,” Saint added.
“Hard pass,” Havoc said.
Trigger whispered, “Say anything you want.”
Riley smiled. “Dad says there’s been break-ins at the old mining access roads up north. Someone’s been poking around where they shouldn’t be.”
I stilled.
Trigger frowned. “Break-ins of what? There’s nothing up there.”
