Neat (Becker Brothers, #2)(15)

Feathers, I realized.

And for a split second, all I could think about was lifting that shirt to see the rest.

I blinked, clearing my throat and turning my attention back to my notes as I shot that thought down like a skeet disc.

“How was your weekend?” I asked.

“Oh, as thrilling as it can be in Stratford,” she joked, still looking around my office. “How about you? You get into any trouble?”

“I’m a Becker,” I answered, finishing my last thought on the agenda. “Trouble finds me.”

“I did hear you all made an appearance at The Black Hole Saturday night.”

The Black Hole was the pet name for one of the more popular party spots in town, an old barn with a huge fire pit that was always crawling on the weekends.

“Did you now?” I mused. “And what is the rumor mill saying my brothers and I did this time? Rode a wild hog? Got in a fist fight with twenty, full-grown men? Drove a car into the creek?”

“Actually, they’re saying Mikey threw his guitar in the bonfire, and that you took Sadie Hollenbeck home with you… for the fourth time in three weeks.” She lifted a brow at that. “That’s like a record for you, isn’t it?”

I frowned. “Mikey’s going through a rough time… and that guitar is old, anyway. Maybe he just wanted to give the fire something more to keep burning.”

“Right. Because the mound of firewood wasn’t enough.” Mallory rolled her lips together. “And what about the part about Sadie? That true, too?”

The way she watched me, I would have sworn she was a little jealous that rumor had it I’d taken a girl home from The Black Hole on Saturday night. I would have sworn it — had I been na?ve and ignorant of the kind of girl Mallory was. She’d never had a boyfriend in Stratford — not since middle school, anyway. I’d heard she’d dated someone in college, but he’d never come home for holidays or made an appearance at any of the hometown hangouts.

I didn’t think there was a man interesting enough for Mallory Scooter, and I knew for a fact that she didn’t give a fuck who was warming my bed at night — which, though the town gossip would apparently argue otherwise, was no one. I didn’t invite women back to my place, though I was never opposed to going back to theirs.

Sadie was a good girl, and she was going through a tough break-up with her high school sweetheart — who everyone now knew had been cheating on her for years. He’d already moved on, but Sadie was a mess. So, last month, I listened to her cry at The Black Hole and convinced her that he needed a dose of his own medicine.

I then offered to be that medicine.

So, yes, I’d gone home with Sadie a few times — but we hadn’t done anything we couldn’t do in church. Mostly, it was her testing out her baking recipes on me and me playing shrink, trying to help her heal and move on from her asshole ex.

Still — Mallory didn’t need to know all that.

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “But a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”

She snorted. “Right. And you’re the gentleman in this case, I presume?”

I pressed a hand to my chest, leaning back in my office chair with feigned offense. “I can’t believe you’d insinuate otherwise.”

Mallory just rolled her eyes, nodding at the agenda I’d just finished. “So, what am I in for today, boss?”

My smirk climbed higher when she called me boss, but I subdued it, picking up the piece of paper and reviewing it with her. “You’re shadowing me today, so we’re going to do two tour groups together. The first one, I’ll lead, and you can take notes and follow like you’re part of the group. The second one, I’ll give you a little more of a hands-on role, let you pour the whiskey at the tasting and answer some of the questions.”

Her smile tightened. “Oh, joy.”

“But, before we get started… you’re going to have to change,” I said, eyeing her midriff before I met her eyes again.

“Why?”

“Because it appears a bear got ahold of your uniform.”

She glanced down at her shirt, lifting a brow at me like I was seeing something she wasn’t. “I made it look better. I made it fit, honestly, because it was like a bag on me before.”

“We have smaller sizes in the back,” I told her. “And, it’s pretty chilly today. Let’s go back to the supply closet and get you a long sleeve, and we can see if there are any jackets, too.”

“I’m not changing.” She set both feet on the ground, crossing her arms in defiance. “I look fine. Just because you’re offended by a woman’s stomach doesn’t mean I have to cover it.”

“I’m not offended,” I said flatly. “You’re a tour guide, Mallory. You’re representing the company, the brand, and you’re meeting with tourists from all over. Plus, like I said, it’s forty-degrees outside. You really want to walk around like that?”

“Like what?” she probed.

I threw my hands up. “You know what, fine. Wear whatever you want. You are Mallory Scooter, after all, aren’t you? I guess the rules don’t apply to the princess of Stratford.”

A shadow of something passed over her face then, her expression unreadable.

I stood, snatching my clipboard off my desk and heading for the door without another look in her direction. “Come on. First tour is in ten minutes, it’s time to greet our guests.”