The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [140]
“I appreciate your help, Gabe. Could you believe those tires she’s driving on? And with five kids in the car.” Morgan shook his head, wondering if there was any way he could help her. She and her husband were both hard workers, but her husband had suffered an illness and missed a lot of work in the past year.
Gabe rubbed the back of his neck. “What’s her husband do for a living?”
“He’s a carpenter, I think.”
“Maybe we could barter with him. You still need some trim put on the back deck, and if he could—”
Morgan grinned. “—do the work on a weekend, I could give them some tires.” He clapped Gabe on the back, almost knocking him over. “Hell of an idea.”
Gabe shifted his shoulder, working out the sting of his brother’s enthusiasm. “If you want, I could get hold of the guy, tell him I’m not able to do the trim and see if he’d be interested. It’d probably sound more authentic coming from me.”
Morgan started to clap him again and Gabe ducked away. “I’ll take that as your agreement and get in touch with him tomorrow. I’ll let you know what he says.”
Morgan left Gabe with a smile on his face. But when he pulled into the station, Ms. Potter, the librarian, hailed him. She wanted to know if he’d agree to take part in their annual read-a-thon, where a group of leading citizens would each pick a day to read to the preschoolers and anyone else who wanted to listen in. Morgan agreed, though it wasn’t one of his favorite tasks. The books for that age group tended to rhyme, and his tongue always got twisted.
Next it was two shop owners who wanted to know if he was going to have the county take care of a massive tree limb that was likely to fall on their roofs if a storm hit. Morgan eyed the tree, agreed it needed a good trimming and made a note to get hold of the maintenance crew.
By the time he finally walked into the station he was hot and sweaty and frustrated. He looked forward to seeing Misty, to reassuring her, showing her what a great guy he could be and that she could trust in him. Little by little, he’d win her over. Then he’d talk to her again about her avoidance of commitments.
He walked into chaos.
The noise had reached him even before he opened the door. Laughter. Lots of male laugher and music and a banging noise. Morgan frowned and headed directly for the small desk that Misty occupied during her work hours. He found her sitting there—not in the chair, but on the edge of the desk, her long legs bare, crossed at the ankles. Casey was there, too, with a couple of his pals, and they had evidently supplied the music that was blasting from a portable CD player. Howard had pulled Misty’s chair to the side of the desk and was seated in it. Jesse had his bony butt propped on the arm of the chair. Nate stood in front of Misty, dancing while she cheered him on.
Her tailored slacks had been replaced with shorts. Her white blouse was gone in favor of a loose T-shirt. She was barefoot, and of all damn things, she was licking an ice cream cone.
Morgan saw red.
No one had noticed him, and he watched silently while his temper seethed. When Nate made a turn, Misty shook her head, swallowed a large lick of ice cream and then handed her cone to Casey. Casey, the traitor, just laughed and held it for her.
Misty stood in front of Nate and executed the dance step herself.
Lord, she looked sexy.
Morgan glanced around at the other men in the room and saw his thoughts mirrored on all their faces. The last thin thread of his control snapped. “What the hell is going on here?”
His roar effectively stopped the dance. Nate nearly jumped out of his skin, Casey quickly handed Misty back the cone, and both Howard and Jesse jerked to their feet. The loud banging noise continued.
Morgan stalked into the room. His gaze slid over Misty, then shifted to Casey. “Turn that damn music off.