Free Devin-2 by Kathi S. Barton Page B

want to speak to him anyway, so if he hung up—great!
    “I’m at my mother’s house until tomorrow. If you need anything, I want you to call me. How were work and your classes today?”
    “I wasn’t late to either place and I managed to get through the entire day without having sex with any more than a dozen or so men. I just don’t know how I did it. I’m so relieved that your secretary is female, aren’t you?”
    “Listen, Veronica, I shouldn’t have—”
    “If there is nothing you’d like to discuss about my working for you, then good-bye, Mr. Grant. I have things to do, men to seduce, and pies to bake—you know, my list is just endless.”
    “No, nothing. Have a nice Thanksgiving.”
    Ronnie ended the call without acknowledging him or his salutation.
    ~~~
    Devin closed his phone just as Morgan walked into the study where he had gone to speak to Ronnie.
    He nearly snarled at her to go away, but he knew two things about her. One, she would kick his ass if he even tried. Secondly, everyone else in the house would kick it as well. Instead, he said nothing as she sat across from him on the huge couch and looked at him.
    “So...you going to tell me what you did to her or do I have to go call her and ask her what you did to her?” That is what he loved about Morgan. She never beat around the bush when going straight through worked better every time.
    He stared at her; he was sure with an open-mouthed expression. She grinned and he sat back more into the plush couch. He loved this woman with all his heart and would do anything for her. But right now, he was not above strangling her.
    “I’m not even going to ask you why you assume I did anything wrong to her, which I did not, by the way. But I have to ask, what would you ask her if you were to call?”
    “Unlike you Grant men, we women who love you know how to resolve matters. You are sitting in here stewing about whatever it is you think you didn’t do or should have said or might have done to her, when really all you need to do is to say ‘I’m sorry and I love you’ then shut up. If I were to call her, I would tell her that she’s right, that, while you’re cute, you’re wrong, then see if she wants to go shopping with me.”
    He burst out laughing. “Oh, Morgan, why couldn’t you have married me instead of my dumbass brother, Nicky?”
    “Because, Devin dear, while I love you dearly, you’d make me have to hurt you too often to enjoy it. Seriously, what happened between you and your waitress?”
    “Veronica, and don’t worry about it, love. It just wasn’t meant to be, I suppose,” he told her sadly.
    They talked about her business, Pink Bag Creations, for a little while. It was an Internet service that set up and then maintained a web based business for people. She had started it before the twins were born and had done very well for herself with it. When one of the twins started to fuss, she left to go and take care of him.
    Devin stared at the fire and thought about the next several weeks and working with Veronica. He knew she would avoid him and they would probably fight daily about everything when they did come together. But he just could not believe she hadn’t told him about the other men in her life.
    Devin knew one thing about Veronica. He knew without a doubt that he was in love with her. Had been, he thought, since the moment she stood up to him in the restaurant all those weeks ago. He just didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do about it. And he didn’t know if he really wanted to be in love with her, but he was. It did, however, piss him off.
    Caroline had told him Ronnie had been at the office when she had gotten to work at eight-fifteen. Once she had shown Ronnie her new office, she had not come out once. Caroline had checked on Ronnie a few times and had found her on the floor with several of the new law books he had purchased for her spread out all around her. Ronnie had been crawling from one to the