of exhaustion in his face. “I kept meaning to e-mail you, but things have been crazy. Between trying to get the marina up and running and making sure the family bar stays open for business, I haven’t had a spare second. So when Gray came to me with a preapproved tenant for your place, I jumped at it. I mean, I haven’t even had time to work on my boat since, uh, Michelle.”
A mix of complicated emotions, which had been knotting in Emmitt’s stomach for the past few months, swelled and expanded until breathing became a painful reminder that the gaping holes left behind by Michelle’s absence went further than just emotional. And everyone was struggling to fill the void in their own way.
“Tenant,” Gray said firmly. “Unless you’ve bought a set of bunk beds, she’s not your bunkmate, your bedmate, or even your roomie. And she sure as hell isn’t a person you can ever see naked. Is that clear?”
Emmitt considered that, then smiled. “Can she see me naked?”
“No!” they said in unison.
“That will make things challenging.” Emmitt tapped a finger against his chin, hoping to lighten the mood. “I do love a good challenge. It forces me to get creative.”
“Oh no,” Gray said. “Annie is strictly off-limits.”
“Since when did you become the dating police? You gonna tell me where to piss next?”
“If it keeps you from pissing all over my plans,” Gray said firmly. “Levi is, as you heard, busy and I’ve had my plate full with new patients ever since Dr. Smith retired, not to mention helping out in the ER. Annie is my temp physician’s assistant and, until Denise comes back from maternity leave, she’s the only reason I’m able pick up Paisley after school.”
“I can pick her up. What?” Emmitt said to their disbelieving faces. “She gets out at three—”
“Two.”
“Two. I’m around. I can even get there a little early. Chat up some of the hot PTA moms while I wait. How hard can it be?”
“Hot PTA moms are a bad dad move,” Levi said. “Trust me, you don’t want to go there.”
“Okay, so I avoid the moms and drive Paisley home. I mean, I’m here, I can do it and still have plenty of time to get better acquainted with Anh.” Emmitt forced himself to appear more casual than he felt. He’d love to spend his afternoons helping Paisley with homework, making after-school snacks, kicking the soccer ball around. Getting to know Anh wouldn’t be a hardship either, but he’d mainly added that part to piss off Gray.
“For how long?” When Emmitt started to argue, Gray held up a silencing hand. “You’re here now, which is great. But in a few weeks, when you get bored or a new assignment comes in and you head off to Siberia, we’re stuck without someone to hang with Paisley after school. Because you’ll be gone, and Annie will have bailed even though you told her up-front you’re only capable of casual. Because we all know, when it comes to you and women, they all think they will be the one to change you from globe-trotter to groom. But she won’t. She’ll be heartbroken and then quit. I’ll be out a PA, and a sitter, and it’ll be Paisley who suffers.”
“Annie’s had it rough,” Levi added. “She came here to put her life back together. Not have her heart stomped on by some guy who’s just passing through.”
“Passing through?” Emmitt scoffed. “I own a fucking house.”
“That I spend more time showing to potential tenants than you do sleeping in it,” Levi pointed out. “To be safe, why don’t you crash on my boat?”
“And listen to you snore all night?” Emmitt shook his head. “Thanks, but you’re not my type.”
“Neither is Annie and we both know it,” Gray said, proving just how little he knew about Emmitt.
Annie was absolutely, positively, tight bod with a sharp tongue and soft lips, his type—which was why he tended to steer clear of women like her. It wasn’t his fault fate had a twisted sense of humor.
He wasn’t sure what was going on with Annie’s love life, but based on what he’d heard, he had a pretty good idea. And it pissed him off that his two closest friends would lump him in with a guy like Clark. Emmitt had never once led a woman on. He was up-front and honest about what he was looking for and what he was capable of.
Women knew the score before he even ordered a second round.
“I