Page 47 of Blades and Bone

“We do…but I don’t know if you should be involved since he was watching you. He probably knows you’re mine. I’ll give Ann a call and get her to send someone over.” He pulled his phone out and started typing a text.

“And what am I supposed to do?”

Brodie didn’t glance up. “If the situation were different, I’d send you home, but I don’t think leaving you alone is good for anyone. We will wait here for a Reid to arrive, and then you can spend the rest of the day in my office.”

“Ugh.”

“You can use a computer.” Brodie smiled, the kind that Hamish had already learned meant he was about to find out how much trouble he was in.

“Why does that sound like a threat?”

“Because you need to replace what you stole and damaged.”

Hamish blinked. “You want me to do online shopping at a sex store while you work?”

“Three items. A replacement. Something I will like and something for yourself.”

“This feels like a trick.”

Brodie picked up his cup. “You know how to end it, in which case I’m sure I can find some paper and crayons from the last time my PA brought her kid in.”

That was definitely the safer option. It was the option he should take, but he couldn’t bring himself to apologize for taking the rope. “You need to keep weapons in⁠—”

“No. That is not how we operate. There is no price limit, so feel free to select anything you want from the store. But keep in mind that it will be used on you, so be smart.”

There went his idea of getting the biggest dildo he could find and using it as a baton. He had seen what something too large could do to someone who rushed in and tore. While he was almost sure Brodie was never in a rush to do anything in the bedroom, he was not willing to test that theory. “Sounds like everything is for you.”

He forced down another bite of sandwich, mostly because his stomach was grumbling and he needed food or blood, and he’d had more than enough blood over the last two days, unless he wanted to only be skulking around at night.

“I want to know what you think I’ll like, and I want to see what you like.” He shrugged as if it were nothing.

“And how is this a punishment?”

“I never said it was. I only reminded you how to stop the game.” His hazel eyes looked golden in the afternoon light, and the way his lips curved as if he was enjoying every moment of Hamish’s doubts was maddening.

Hamish wanted to kiss him to shut him up. That was a better way to stop the game. No game, just clear the table sex…except they were in a public place.

And he shouldn’t be thinking about sex with Brodie. He was supposed to…well, if not hate him, then be something else…cordial. Cool. Unaffected.

“Why is it a game? Do you even like me, or are you simply having fun teasing me?”

“I can do both at the same time; it’s called multitasking.”

“Smartass.” He turned his coffee cup before picking it up and having another drink. Did he like Brodie?

Did he have any redeeming features, aside from the way he looked and had held him in the shower… “Why do you like it when I push back?”

“Why do you like pushing back against authority?” He shrugged. “Some people are just built that way. Someone else may get annoyed by it; some will get excited by that glint you get in your eyes when you’re about to dig your heels in regardless of the consequences.”

One of his exes had called him difficult. “Why are you single?”

“If we’re doing this, you need to be prepared to answer too.”

“That’s fine.”

Brodie’s eyebrow lifted slightly as if he didn’t believe it. “I had a human partner for almost five years, but he was jealous of my relationship with my sister and didn’t like the way I let her dictate certain things.”

“He didn’t know?”