Free The Fountain of Infinite Wishes (Dare River Book 5) by Ava Miles Page B

water into two tea cups.
    “Did Gail mention she offered to foot the bill for my services?” he asked casually as she stirred in the honey he’d produced from one of the cabinets.
    “Yes,” she answered, taking her gaze off the cups and looking into his aquamarine eyes. “It was kind of her.”
    “It was, indeed,” he said, dumping two sugar packets into the dark roast coffee. “I wanted to make sure she was transparent with you. The last thing I want is to be between Gail and a hard place.”
    “She also mentioned you wouldn’t discuss the case with her. I appreciate your professionalism.”
    “I’ve known Gail a while now,” he said, leaning back against the counter and sipping his coffee. “Despite her good intentions, she’s the kind of woman who will run all over you if you don’t establish a few boundaries.”
    “Gail is nothing but well intended,” Shelby agreed. “Does it make you uncomfortable? When she asked you about the case?”
    “I can handle Gail,” he told her. “I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable. This search is already difficult emotionally. You don’t need to be concerned with anything else.”
    The regard he had for her feelings gave her a warm glow, but she told herself he was only being kind. “I’ll be fine. I know how to handle Gail in my own way too.”
    His lips turned up at the corners. “I have to admit, I was surprised to hear that you work for her. I might have underestimated you some.”
    “ Indeed ,” she said, her eyebrow rising as she studied him.
    “You must be more adventurous than I realized, but you also long for order,” he said, his aqua blue eyes intent. “I won’t make the mistake of underestimating you again.”
    She felt like shifting on her feet. This man whom she’d known for only a few days had picked up on something few people ever perceived about her. She was drawn to the wild and eccentric in others—it energized her—but she also liked having a tidy, orderly space of her own to retreat to.  
    “You must enjoy Gail’s company, or you wouldn’t accept one of her outlandish summonses,” Shelby said, lifting her mug of tea and taking a sip.
    “She’s greeted me wearing her Southern theatre costumes before,” he said. “She might dance around the line of professionalism—that’s why I like her—but she never crosses it. Or I wouldn’t work for her.”
    Well, that answered Shelby’s question, one she would never have asked either one of them. It took her a moment to recognize what she was feeling as relief. “You never date a client then?”
    He set his mug aside and crossed his arms, looking at her intently. “No.”
    She felt oddly deflated somehow, even though she agreed it was the best course. It only made her think better of him to know he stuck to the rules of good business.  
    “Not that I’m not tempted like every other man,” he added in a roughened voice that more than garnered her attention.
    Her internal temperature heated like a tin pie plate left out in the sun at a church picnic. So he wasn’t immune to her. Part of her wanted to throw her hands up and cheer like a ninny. “We should go back to your office.”
    “Yes, we should,” Vander said, picking up the coffee mugs while she grabbed the tea for her and her sister. “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier, by the way,” he added. “About wishing at Gail’s fountain. It wasn’t about you.”
    They stopped at the kitchen door, or perhaps Shelby did. It took a lot for a strong man to apologize. She knew that from growing up with J.P. “I knew it was about something else.”
    He looked down, and there it was again, the flash of anger across his face. This time Shelby saw plenty of hurt there too.  
    “What happened to make you stop wishing?” she asked, unable to stop herself.
    “I lost my family when I was a kid,” Vander told her and then walked around her toward his office.
    Shelby watched him walk down the hall, her throat thick with