“I mean it, Rose, please don’t place yourself in danger today.”

I grinned at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my chest to his. “How many times do I have to tell you I’ll be careful?”

“As many times as it takes for me to believe you.”

“Ha. Ha,” I teased.

He pulled me closer and gave me a long kiss. “If you change your mind about running off somewhere, I’m just a phone call away. As soon as I finish something up on Friday night, I can take you away. For as long as you want.”

My smile fell. “How much trouble are you in, Mason?”

He studied me for several seconds. “I’m not sure yet. Maybe a lot.”

My breath caught in my chest. “What kind of trouble? Are you gonna lose your job?”

He hesitated before answering, his face grave. “Maybe.” He sighed. “Rose, I’d tell you more about it if I could.”

I tried to figure out how upset he was over that. The night before, he’d insisted he needed to spend more time with me. Was he trying to convince himself he’d be okay with losing his job, or had he really meant it?

I winked. “How good are you at digging?”

He laughed. “Are you suggesting that I should be looking for ditch-digging jobs?”

I cocked my head and gave him an ornery grin. “It just so happens I know this landscaping company that might need some manual laborers this spring.”

He grinned. “You don’t say. Do you know anything about the owner?”

I lifted my mouth close to his. “I hear she can be very demanding. And she might make you work without a shirt.”

“Sounds intriguing,” he teased. “Do you know how I can get an interview?”

I kissed him, and his arm tightened around me. “If you play your cards right, I might be able to get you one.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “For your sake, I hope you don’t need to hire me. I inherited my mother’s black thumb.”

“Everyone is trainable.”

He released a long laugh. “Why do I have the feeling you might be referring to getting me to lower the toilet seat rather than digging up shrubbery?”

“Hope springs eternal, Mason Deveraux.” I swatted his bottom. “Now get to work.”

He kissed me again and stepped back a few paces. “You’re not even my employer yet, and you’re already bossing me around. I think I should just give up now and obey your commands.”

“I knew you were a smart man.”

He started to get in his car and turned back to look at me. “I’m making a run out to the sheriff’s office before I head to the courthouse, just so you don’t wonder why I’m not heading downtown.”

“Is this about the break-in?”

He paused. “Yeah.”

“Okay. Good luck when you get to work.” No matter what he claimed, I knew he didn’t want to lose his job. Not after he lost his job in Little Rock.

Bruce Wayne wasn’t in the office when I got there, and the space seemed lonely without him. I decided to focus on getting our finances in order, which meant purchasing and downloading an accounting program like Neely Kate had suggested. Once that was taken care of, I started to enter in all our information.

An hour later, Neely Kate walked through the door as I was cussing out my computer.

“Whoa, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d been hanging out with my cousins,” she said as she walked up behind me and studied the screen. “What on earth are you doin’?”

I threw my hands into the air. “Trying to put information into an accounting program.”

“Did you link it to your bank account?”

I gave her a blank stare.

She picked up a receipt and read it. “What category are you putting this equipment rental under?”

“Other?”

She groaned as she tossed the receipt onto my desk. “You’re making a mess of it.”

“I have no idea what I’m doin’.”

She chuckled. “That’s pretty obvious. You should have waited for me.”

“So how’d it go last night?” I asked.

Neely Kate rolled Bruce Wayne’s chair closer to mine and sat down. “Fine. I talked to Roger at the bingo hall, and he’s gonna let Granny pay off the damage to the raccoon.”

I still wasn’t clear on what had happened, but I also wasn’t sure I wanted to be. “I was talking about Ronnie and your job situation.”

“Oh, that.” She sat back in her chair. “He was fine with it.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“I told you he wanted me to quit. I think he got tired of hearing me complain.” She leaned her elbow on the arm of the chair. “Now I’ll have more time to cook.”

“Oh.” Crappy doodles.

I stared at her for a couple of seconds. Should I come clean and tell her that her food was disgusting? I didn’t want to hurt her, but I wasn’t sure my stomach could handle any more gourmet delicacies. But maybe there was another way. “You know, Neely Kate, now that you have all this free time, you could use it to decorate Ronnie Jr.’s room.”

Her mouth puckered. “It’ll be another three months before I have my first ultrasound.”

“Maybe not . . .” My voice rose on the end with a playful tone.

She grabbed my hand, her eyes wide with excitement. “Are you serious?”