ARROGANT | HS |

ELEVEN

"Hey buddy!" Opening my arms wide, I laugh as he throws himself into my arms.

Harry stares at us and I swear I can see his eye twitch as he clenches his jaw at the same time. "Murphy, we aren't done talking here."

"Looks like we are." Giving him a sickly sweet smile, I turn to tickle Lachlan on his sides which makes him squirm in my lap. "Where's your dad?"

"He's right here!" Looking up, I see Mercer as he walks into the office with Harper sound asleep strapped to his chest. "Lach, I told you not to run! Aunt Murphy could have been in a meeting."

His eyes find Harry who is standing with his hands on his hips, flames shooting out of his eyes in my direction.

"You must be Harry." Standing a few inches taller than Harry, I can see in his gaze that he's thinking about all of the things I've told Mercer about him..

"And you are?" Harry doesn't even try to conceal his attitude as he turns to look at him.

This makes Mercer laugh as he moves closer to me. "Damn, you weren't kidding. He is an ass."

"Harry, this is my brother Mercer and my niece and nephew — Lachlan and Harper." I'm trying not to laugh at the anger rolling off of him.

Silence settled between us in the office, so thick that it felt like I could cut it and serve it with ice cream.

"Alrighty then." Mercer turns toward me as I hold Lachlan. "We were in the city for some stuff and decided to see if you wanted to go to lunch if you weren't busy."

"Actually, we were going over some—"

"Yeah, just give me a few minutes." Sitting Lachlan down, I smile as he walks over and reaches for Mercer's hand. "I can meet you guys in the lobby."

"Perfect. I'll meet you in a few minutes!" Mercer nods as they walk out of the door and down the hallway which leaves just an angry British man and me.

"Are you serious right now?" Throwing his hands out to the side, Harry looks at me with an exasperated expression. "Murphy, we have work to do!"

"Thank you captain fucking obvious!" Grabbing my purse from my desk drawer I look at him. "You act like everything isn't going to be here when we get back. I don't know what fucking crawled back up your ass or why you've been so fucking terrible but figure it out."

I don't even wait for a response before walking out of the office, excited to spend time with a few of my favorite people.

•

"He's... Charming?"

I glare at Mercer over my salad, making him laugh so hard his chest shakes and wakes up a sleeping Harper.

Reaching across the table, I take her out of his arms and let her curl up into me as I take a bite of the leafy greens. "Fuck you."

"That's a bad word! Daddy! Aunt Murphy said a bad word!" Lachlan's mouth hands slightly open as a piece of chicken nugget falls out onto the table. "She's gonna be in trouble!"

"I'll make sure she gets grounded, okay bud?" Mercer tells him, making Lachlan giggle as he goes back to his chicken and macaroni.

"Is Harry always that welcoming?" Mercer stretches his hand above his head before reaching for his glass of water. "I thought you said he was being nicer."

Letting out a long sigh, I push a couple pieces of chicken around the plate. "He was! Like, don't get me wrong.. We aren't close and never will be but I don't know what changed from him being at least tolerable."