Page 50 of Dissonance

I nod. “They handled jobs for corporate clients, government staff, that kind of thing.”

He waits, waiting me turn the empty glass in my hand.

“Her father’s company was one of their main contracts.”

He pauses, drink halfway to his lips. “Wait. So how long have you known her?”

“Twelve years. Give or take.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Twelve— Fuck. That day she came here to sign me, I knew there was history between you two, but boss’s daughter? You sly dog. I love it. Then what happened?”

“Nothing,” I say, a significant understatement for the moment I met the only woman who’s ever managed to get under my skin. Long, dark hair falling down her back, a martini in her hand she barely touched.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Cooper asks, giving me a look. “C’mon, Lockie. Tell me.”

“Jesus, fuck,” I mutter, scrubbing a hand down my face. “We slept together.”

He brightens, practically vibrating. “Once?”

“What are we? Twelve-year-old girls gossiping at a slumber party? Want to braid each other’s hair after this, too?”

A bottle of whiskey lands on the table between us with a loud thunk. One eyebrow raised, Declan stands there, already reading the room the way he always does from across the bar.

“Think you need this more than a glass.”

“Appreciate it,” I mutter, reaching for the bottle. It hits my glass harder than I mean it to, liquid sloshing up the sides, before I’m swallowing half in one gulp.

He squeezes the back of Cooper’s neck, then heads back to the bar, his husband watching him go with that unguarded look he saves only for Declan.

“Love you,” he calls out, smiling when Dec’s hand lifts without him turning around, before prompting. “So…you slept together more than once?”

I release a long exhale. “It was bad timing. Every time. If it wasn’t because I inadvertently worked for her dad, it was because she’d just started her own company and the last thing she needed was people saying she got to where she was because of who she was sleeping with.”

“And now?” he asks, nodding slowly.

“There is no now. I introduced her to you. If people started speculating that she only landed the great Reign Cooper because she was screwing his bodyguard…”

“Well, that’s not fair.” He scowls. “And if it’s a matter of approval to date her, then this is me giving it to you.”

“It’s more complicated than that, lad.” I lean back. “But thanks.”

He helps himself to the bottle, head tilting as he thinks out loud. “She’s kind, you know. Genuinely kind. You don’t get a lot of people like that in this world. And she also scares the shit out of most executives I know.”

My lips twitch into a hint of a smirk.

“And objectively,” he muses, “she’s a very beautiful woman.”

“Aye, she is.”

“But that’s not the thing. Is it?”

No. It isn’t. It might have been the first thing—the one that made me look before I found every other reason to keep looking—but it’s not why I’m drawn to Thea Calloway. The way she built her company from the ground up. The meticulous planning, always three steps ahead. Smart, sassy, works harder than anyone I know, controlling chaos and disorder around her without breaking a sweat.

But I don’t tell him any of that.

He grins. “That’s what I thought.”

“I didn’t say anything.”