Will didn’t want to let the woman off the hook, but for Jeremy he’d make an exception. “I’ll give her one more chance. But if she treats you like that again, I need to know about it. Okay?”

“Okay.” Jeremy nodded vigorously.

It was time to lighten the mood. Jeremy needed to move on even if Will’s nerves were still firing like a racing engine. “Now, what do you say we order some Chinese? I know a great place.”

“Yay.” Jeremy clapped, his enthusiastic self again, as if he’d forgotten the whole thing.

Will could only hope that he had.

CHAPTER TWENTY

“I’ll be back in the office tomorrow morning,” Will told Maya, his Human Resources director. It was after seven and he’d had to call her at home. “Thanks for rescheduling our meeting.” Ending the call, Will turned to Jeremy. “Enjoying dinner?”

Jeremy nodded exuberantly. Seated at the breakfast bar in Harper’s kitchen, he was chowing down on yet another helping of sweet-and-sour pork.

“I’ve got another question for you,” Will said. “How would you feel about a new job?”

“For me?” Jeremy asked, his mouth full. Harper likely wouldn’t be pleased with the lack of manners, but Will felt it meant that Jeremy’s guard was down with him. More like a person was with family.

“Yeah. A job for you.”

He wanted to make things better for Jeremy. Will hated it when the big fish picked on the little ones.

Mostly because at one time he’d been the big fish. But that had ended with the Mavericks. It had taken a few years before he’d believed that he truly belonged with them, but they became his brothers. And even if he hadn’t been as careful with other people as he should have been, he’d always fought for the Mavericks and protected them when they needed it.

But it had been a long, long time since anyone had needed him like that. Until Jeremy and Harper.

“What kind of job?” There was a piece of rice on Jeremy’s shirt, which Will flicked onto the bar top.

He’d come by the idea somewhere between ordering the Chinese food and the delivery person’s dropping it off: If Jeremy worked for him, he would no longer be a victim of sharp-tongued checkers. Or anyone else, for that matter. No one at Franconi Imports would dare to call him names. He would be treated with respect, Will would make sure of that. There would be no late-afternoon customer rush to confuse him, either. Sure, the tasks would be new to him, but they’d teach him new skills without the stress of too many people coming all at once. Anyone would have a problem with the environment he’d been in.

“How about working in my mailroom?” Will said. “You can deliver mail, pick up packages.”

Jeremy’s eyes glowed. “You mean like a postman?”

Will nodded, smiling. “A postman for my employees.”

“Wow. Cool.” Jeremy bit off half his spring roll and chewed, his eyes wide.

“You can also pick up people’s papers to put through the shredder, and run office errands, and deliver supplies.” The more he thought about it, the more tasks came to mind that Jeremy could easily handle. “What do you think? Would you like to try it?”

Jeremy nodded eagerly. “I do!”

Harper’s brother was so exuberant about everything that sometimes it was hard to tell if he actually wanted to do something or he merely thought he needed to play the yes man. Which was why Will asked, “Will you miss your friends at the grocery store?”

“Yes, but that’s okay. I like making new friends.” Jeremy shoveled more food into his mouth.

“Great. We’ll talk to Harper and see what she thinks.”

“Okay, Will.”

She opened the front door almost as Will said her name—and he got that special little kick under his ribs when he saw her. Her lipstick had worn off as though she’d been biting her lips on the way home, her suit jacket was crumpled in her hand, and she was clutching a grocery bag that looked ready to topple.

She’d never looked more gorgeous.

Will moved quickly toward her, grabbing the sack before it fell. And then, without a word of greeting, he planted his mouth on hers. The kiss was sweet and closemouthed in front of her brother, but it still made his heart beat faster. Especially when she leaned into him, as though she was glad that he was there to put his arms around her.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said as she drew back. “I forgot we needed milk. The lines at the store were atrocious.”

“I want to talk to you about that. But later. Right now, you need sustenance.”

He took her jacket, laying it over the back of the sofa. Then he stashed the milk in the fridge and pulled out the wine he’d been chilling.

“Oh my God.” She stopped dead in the kitchen. “You did the dishes. But how?”

“Believe it or not, I’ve loaded a dishwasher and washed dishes plenty of times,” he said wryly. She seemed to have the mistaken notion that he’d been brought up privileged. Then again, he hadn’t exactly shared the truth about his childhood with her, had he? So why would she think any differently?

“I helped,” her brother piped up.

“That’s great, Jeremy, thank you,” she said. But she was glancing warily at the dishwasher.

“Don’t worry,” Will said. “I also know the dry soap goes in the machine and the liquid is for the hand-washing.”

“I didn’t mean to doubt your dishwashing prowess…it’s just that you’ve already gone to so much trouble tonight.” She rubbed a hand over her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about what the house looked like when I sent you over or that you’d need to do the dishes so that you could have plates to eat with.”