Her Mane Men (Paranormal Dating Agency Kindle World)(9)

My coffee finally brewed, I poured a cup, adding extra milk so I could drink it right away.

“It’s part of the whole parent thing. I was mostly awake. What’s up?”

“You know what’s up. What did you know about Curtis and Parker?”

“You could do much worse.”

I had no doubt that if I were there he’d be smirking, knowing he was fluttering me with the lack of details I desperately wanted. In so many ways, he treated me like a kid sister, something I had appreciated when he came in and swept Roxanne off her feet. I didn’t lose her, I gained a brother, even if they were not as close by as they once were.

“Not helping.”

“Fine. I grew up with Curtis. He’s good people but was always so serious.” Was? I scoffed. Is. He is so serious. “Then Parker moved into town, and suddenly he was much less so. Only they were destined for a triad, and even though they love each other, they aren’t complete. Looks like Gerri thinks you’re the third. Good on you.”

“You sounded all kinds of not sane there.” He did, too. Why I thought I could get info out of him was beyond me. I knew better. “People don’t just pair off in threes, goes against the whole pair thing.”

“Yet, you are.”

Asshat was right. I was and no part of me wanted not to give it a try. Sure, I was a tad worried I was going to get my heart tromped on, but that was par for the course when dating one person, so no different in that perspective.

“I am. Am I crazy?”

“Not in the slightest. It’s just how you all were wired.” He said it as fact, as non-factual as he was sounding.

“You need coffee. You’re making no sense.” Or all the sense in the world.

“True, coffee is needed, but do all three of you a favor and go with what feels right, not with what you think love should look like. Look at Roxy and me. We shouldn’t work, but we do.”

There was nothing about them that shouldn’t work.

“Shouldn’t work? You two were made for each other. It practically gives me a cavity to be in the same room with you.” Not lying, not even a little bit.

“And yet conventional wisdom would say we weren’t given my –um family.”

“Just give her back to me and get some coffee.” I knew his family hadn’t been too welcoming but for all I knew that was in the past, where it belonged.

“Will do. And Maddie, come visit. Roxy misses you something fierce.”

And I her, probably more than even she knew. We weren’t only friends, we had been coworkers and roomies. Her leaving left a hole in my heart that still hurt sometimes. I was happy for her, but that didn’t prevent me from having a pity party every once in a while.

“Will do. Now give her back.” A plan was already in the works. Next vacation, I was headed her way, hopefully before the baby came so I could help her ready. She wanted me to paint him a mural like I did for, Emily and I already had a sketch ready for approval. I was just waiting for word from George the asshat that I was good to go before booking my plane.

“S-E-X talk over.” Roxanne was back on the line and eww, as if sex talk were going to happen with Barry. Just nope.

“Never started.” She snort laughed, my guess at something her hubby was doing in the background more than my words. I so didn’t want to know. “Your hubby was less than helpful.”

“I was eavesdropping, so believe me, I get it. And, Maddie, he was right, come visit. Maybe for Christmas.”

Thanksgiving was my plan, but I didn’t want to get her hopes up because George was being an ass about vacations and pretty much all things. “If I can get the time off. George is being a shit again.”

“How did he ever get to be a division head? I’m so glad to be outta there.”

“He can be charming when he wants to.” Mostly, he felt the need to be in charge and an ass, but that didn’t need stating, she knew it firsthand.

“Too bad he mostly wants to stare at boobs and make inappropriate comments.”

She wasn’t wrong, but, somehow, he managed to make anyone who complained look like the troublemaker. It was awful, but sometimes you gotta put up with shit for your paycheck and until he crossed an easily distinguishable line, that’s what I was doing—putting up with shit.

“Your boobs, my ass, but same scenario.”

“Mention it to Sue?”

“Canned.” And being the one who put him in his place when things got bad, her loss hurt more than most would’ve.

“What for?” I could almost see the glee in her eyes over good gossip.

“Hand in the cookie jar.”

“No way. Do tell.” And we spent the next hour talking about all things work, but in the back of my mind sat two men. Two men I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with, yet. But I was beyond motivated to figure it out.





Chapter Five


A morning date.

A Monday morning date?

Who does that? Apparently, Curtis and me. That’s who, and getting up at five, was totally worth it when I walked out of my apartment building to see his smiling face. He wanted to come up to “pick me up like a true gentleman” but my landlord had yet to fix the call box, so meeting him it was, and it was so worth it to walk out, just as the sun was peeking out across the city, to be greeted with his beaming face.