“Is this the first time you had outsiders working for the business?”
Swallowing the bite of food in his mouth, he answers, “No, we’ve had to hire before. I broke my leg once. And we also hired a guy temporarily for a couple of months last summer. Rick normally takes care of that shit. Unlike me, he’s good with people.”
“What? You’re doing great holding down the fort. You’re making sure all the deliveries are made, hiring, and looking out for me. Rick would be proud of you. I know I am.”
“You’re too good for my ego. Yet another reason to keep you around, beautiful. Now who else do we have coming?”
I read the names off to him. They turn out to be a bit of a mixed bag. One man seems quite competent, one is a no-show, another tries to look tough in a fake cut. Then there is the woman who clearly thinks this is some kind of speed dating event. She nopes out the second she realizes we’re wearing matching cuts and mine is a property cut.
By the time we’re down to the last two names, Bear’s coffee has been refilled three times, and I’m picking fries off his plate without asking.
“You got no fear,” he says, watching me swipe another.
I grin. “You gonna fight me over a fry?”
“Nah,” he smirks. “I like a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go for it.”
His words send a tiny thrill up my spine, but I try to keep my mind on the job. I look down and circle two names. “So… Angie Marlow and Robert Rockwell, right?”
“Yep,” he agrees. “They were both a cut above the rest. Rob’s quiet and asked smart questions. I’ll text them and ask them if they’re ready to start tomorrow.”
“Don’t we need to do training with them?” I ask.
Bear shrugs his big shoulders. “Ideally. But they’ve both had experience and we need the help. As long as they can pick up the meds and deliver them to the right people that’ll do for now.”
I watch while he types out messages to each of them. His phone pings, and he glances up with a happy smile on his face. “They can both start tomorrow. Fuckin’ hell, nothing in my life is usually this easy.”
He pays the tab on his business credit card because it was a working lunch, and we head back to the truck. Bear opens my door first like always, his hand lingering at the small of my back as I climb in. “Let’s go see your brother,” he murmurs.
***
When we arrive at the hospital, I leave my property cut in the truck. If Rick wakes up, the last thing I want is for him to see me wearing Bear’s property cut. He made me off-limits, and then I got with Bear anyway. We both fought it, him harder than me, but it happened and I don’t regret a thing. That doesn’t mean I want to throw it in his face the moment he wakes up.
I clutch the gift bag close to my chest as we take the elevator up. Bear’s quiet, but he looks like he’s thinking deeply about something.
“We’re still trying to figure out who did this to him. Once I get some help in place for the business, I’m gonna help ‘em. We won’t rest until whoever did this pays.”
I reach over and wrap my free arm around his waist and give him a hug. “Let’s just take this one step at a time. If not, the stress will keep pulling us down.”
He nods, dropping a kiss onto the top of my head. When we make our way to his room, Bear opens the door and steps aside so I can go in first.
The hospital room is quiet except for the low steady beep of the monitors. My brother is lying in the same position as he was when I left yesterday. He looks lifeless and pale and the wires are still there. I realize I’m not hearing the mechanical hiss of the ventilator and he’s breathing on his own. That’s got to be a good sign.
I step closer and take in bruises sprawling across his collarbone and down one shoulder, disappearing in long scrape marks where his arm made contact with the pavement. The other arm is in a cast.
A strong arm slips around my shoulders and pulls me closer. “He looks better already,” Bear says gruffly. “He’ll be up flirting with the nurses in no time.”
I nod. “Yeah, he’ll wake up soon. I just know it.”
Chapter 12
Bear
Me and Natalie have been sharing a bed for a couple of weeks now. It’s much better than I anticipated. I’m halfway through my second mug of coffee when she finally drops into the chair across from me. I notice she’s wearing one of my shirts under my property cut and that sparks something protective in me. Seeing her in my cut always brings out the best in me. And that’s why I can’t help thinking that the imprint of my hand is probably still on her ass under those jeans.
“You’re runnin’ a little late, sweetness,” I say mildly, to cover my dirty thoughts. “Hope I wasn’t too much for ya last night.”
She steals a strip of bacon off my plate without blinking. “That’s crazy talk. Not only were you not too much but I can’t wait for tonight so we can do it all over again.”
