One
It was Friday night – and James Hardy was ready for his weekend to begin. Actually, he’d been ready for the weekend to begin eight hours earlier – but work kept getting in the way.
When you’re the boss, you have to be pragmatic. When you’ve built your own security company from the ground up, you want to make sure the work is done right. When your life keeps getting in the way, you have to make time where you can.
Today, James Hardy had made time and cleared every file on his desk. He figured he deserved a reward – and that reward was headed his way right now.
He took the time to double-check his spreadsheets, making sure that all of the current month’s incoming checks had been cashed and all the outgoing funds had been sent, and then shut his laptop down. The books at Hardy Brothers Security were officially balanced. He wasn’t going to think about work again until Monday morning. Period.
He glanced up from his desk when he heard noise in the lobby, silently cursing himself for not remembering to lock the front door as soon as the clock struck five. If this was another customer, he was going to be hard pressed to turn them away – even if that’s exactly what he wanted to do.
When a familiar figure ambled into view, James blew out a relieved sigh. “Hey.”
Grady, the middle Hardy brother, stepped into his brother’s office. He was carrying a case of beer and a fifth of Jack Daniels – and he had a goofy grin plastered across his angular face.
All of the Hardy brothers resembled each other. They all had the same strong jaw, the same deep-set brown eyes, and the same broad shoulders. While they all boasted the same brown hair, Grady’s was the longest – brushing the top of his shoulders. Their younger brother, Finn, kept his hair cropped close to his head so he didn’t have to fuss with it. James’ hair was somewhere in the middle.
“I’m ready to party,” Grady announced.
“Lock the door,” James ordered. “I just finished up all the paperwork. We don’t want any walk-ins to come in at the last minute.”
Grady dropped the case of beer and bottle of liquor onto one of James’ office chairs and dutifully returned to the lobby. From his spot behind his desk, James couldn’t see Grady, but the sound of locks engaging told him that he had performed the ordered task.
When he returned to the office, Grady looked James up and down. “Did you already order the fight?”
Friday night fights on pay-per-view had been a Hardy brothers standby for years. The weekly tradition had fallen by the wayside in recent months thanks to the arrival of three very different women into their lives. While none of the men begrudged their lady loves any time spent with them, when Grady had suggested they try to get a fight night in this month – they’d all jumped at the idea.
There was something simplistic in the bonding exercise and, the truth was, the brothers didn’t have a lot of time to spend together that included just the three of them these days.
“Where is Sophie tonight?” James asked, referring to Grady’s reporter girlfriend.
“She’s covering that big fundraiser at the courthouse for the newspaper,” Grady replied.
“Yeah, that’s where Mandy is going to be,” James said, smiling when he thought about his feisty blonde. “I figure the fight should be getting over with at about the same time the party is ending. It works out great.”
Both brothers glanced up when they heard the front door of the office open again. Only someone with a key could enter, which meant it was either Finn or Mandy. Grady glanced over his shoulder, smiling.
“How much food did you bring?”
“Emma packed it,” Finn said, stepping into the doorway. “There’s enough food here to feed an army. That means we’ll be safe for a couple of hours.”
The Hardys packed up their bounty and carried it up the stairs to James’ apartment. The eldest Hardy brother had converted the second floor of the security company into living quarters a few years before. It still served as his home base and, even though his girlfriend spent every night there, the space was still overtly male.
Grady reached over, picking up a fluffy slipper in the shape of a shark from the floor, and glanced at James dubiously. “Were you playing Jaws last night?”
Mandy was obsessed with sharks, something that Grady and Finn didn’t seem to understand, but James embraced.
James shrugged. “Sometimes her feet get cold.”
“She’s kind of a freak, you know?” Finn said. “That shark thing is weird.”
“Doesn’t Emma collect those ugly little statues?” James asked. “The ones with the faces that are too big for their bodies?”