Blown Away: A Small Town Military Romance (The Moore Brothers Book 1) by Abby Brooks
Authors: Abby Brooks
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wouldn’t dare show him that he’d hurt her feelings, but he’d touched a nerve. That’s all she ever heard in the business world. You’ve gotta be tough. Don’t let them see you cry. Be stronger than the strongest man. She’d taken all that advice to heart and built a totally impenetrable wall of sturdy resilience around herself and donned it each morning like armor. She’d show Ian Moore just how tough she could be.
Keeping a smile on her face, she crossed the room to lean on the counter next to him, fully aware of the millimeter of space between their shoulders. “Tell me what we have here.”
Ian straightened and Julz immediately missed having him in her personal space. “What we have here, Ms. Lane, is a not so standard rental agreement.”
He walked her through the thick packet, highlighting the fact that Lulu was allowed, but would henceforth be called Chopper. Juliet held up a hand. “Hold on Lt. Moore, I absolutely will not agree to call Lulu Chopper.” The little dog perked up and ran over to Julz, her nails clicking across the wood floors.
“I’m not sure how you came to the conclusion that this contract was negotiable, Ms. Lane.”
“Every contract is negotiable.”
“Fine. How about you can continue to call her Lulu, but I get permission to call her whatever the hell I feel like?” He paused, pen poised over the paper, a charming smile warming up the whole empty house. Juliet couldn’t help but compare this experience with signing a contract with Ian to her Dominant/submissive contract with Michael. It was night and day. Cold and hot. She couldn’t imagine Michael having the confidence to joke around like this.
“Fine, I’ll agree to that,” said Juliet and Ian dropped his pen to the paper, scribbling an addendum into the margin.
“Initial here,” he said, all business. “And here,” he said, pointing to a different box after she scrawled her JL underneath his tight handwritten note.
“Not so fast, my friend. I never sign something without knowing what I’m agreeing to.”
“Savvy business practice, Ms. Lane.” Ian lifted the paper from the counter and cleared his throat, and intoned in a deep, overly professional voice. “The tenant,” he paused and looked up from the paper. “That’s you.”
“Thank you for clarifying.”
“Of course. That’s what I’m here for.” He cleared his throat again and continued reading in his silly deep voice. “The tenant agrees that the owner…” He paused again. “That’s me.”
“I’ve signed a lease before, you know.”
“Just don’t want you to get into anything you’re not prepared to handle.”
“I think I’ve got this. Please continue.”
“Alright. Just trying to be helpful.”
Juliet made a face and slapped Ian on the arm. “You’ve been very helpful. Now, would you please just read the item?”
“As you wish. It says here that the tenant agrees that the owner has the right to furnish the space as he sees fit at any time during the term of this rental agreement. If the owner doesn’t believe that the resident’s furnishings are fit for the space, he has the right to replace them.”
Juliet worked hard to keep her face from showing the great big go to hell that came roaring up from somewhere deep in her belly. How dare he assume that she wasn’t going to be able to furnish the place properly? He sounded like Michael now, assuming that he knew what was best and her stuff most definitely wasn’t. Although, he was going to want to rent this place out eventually. It did make some kind of sense that he’d want to make sure the interior was ready to wow the clients who walked through the place. It wasn’t fair to take her issues with Michael out on Ian.
That didn’t mean she had to like it. With a curt nod, she initialed the stupid box.
“Excellent, Ms. Lane,” he said, drawing out the first syllable of the sentence and rubbing his hands together, looking perfectly diabolical.
“Something
Keeping a smile on her face, she crossed the room to lean on the counter next to him, fully aware of the millimeter of space between their shoulders. “Tell me what we have here.”
Ian straightened and Julz immediately missed having him in her personal space. “What we have here, Ms. Lane, is a not so standard rental agreement.”
He walked her through the thick packet, highlighting the fact that Lulu was allowed, but would henceforth be called Chopper. Juliet held up a hand. “Hold on Lt. Moore, I absolutely will not agree to call Lulu Chopper.” The little dog perked up and ran over to Julz, her nails clicking across the wood floors.
“I’m not sure how you came to the conclusion that this contract was negotiable, Ms. Lane.”
“Every contract is negotiable.”
“Fine. How about you can continue to call her Lulu, but I get permission to call her whatever the hell I feel like?” He paused, pen poised over the paper, a charming smile warming up the whole empty house. Juliet couldn’t help but compare this experience with signing a contract with Ian to her Dominant/submissive contract with Michael. It was night and day. Cold and hot. She couldn’t imagine Michael having the confidence to joke around like this.
“Fine, I’ll agree to that,” said Juliet and Ian dropped his pen to the paper, scribbling an addendum into the margin.
“Initial here,” he said, all business. “And here,” he said, pointing to a different box after she scrawled her JL underneath his tight handwritten note.
“Not so fast, my friend. I never sign something without knowing what I’m agreeing to.”
“Savvy business practice, Ms. Lane.” Ian lifted the paper from the counter and cleared his throat, and intoned in a deep, overly professional voice. “The tenant,” he paused and looked up from the paper. “That’s you.”
“Thank you for clarifying.”
“Of course. That’s what I’m here for.” He cleared his throat again and continued reading in his silly deep voice. “The tenant agrees that the owner…” He paused again. “That’s me.”
“I’ve signed a lease before, you know.”
“Just don’t want you to get into anything you’re not prepared to handle.”
“I think I’ve got this. Please continue.”
“Alright. Just trying to be helpful.”
Juliet made a face and slapped Ian on the arm. “You’ve been very helpful. Now, would you please just read the item?”
“As you wish. It says here that the tenant agrees that the owner has the right to furnish the space as he sees fit at any time during the term of this rental agreement. If the owner doesn’t believe that the resident’s furnishings are fit for the space, he has the right to replace them.”
Juliet worked hard to keep her face from showing the great big go to hell that came roaring up from somewhere deep in her belly. How dare he assume that she wasn’t going to be able to furnish the place properly? He sounded like Michael now, assuming that he knew what was best and her stuff most definitely wasn’t. Although, he was going to want to rent this place out eventually. It did make some kind of sense that he’d want to make sure the interior was ready to wow the clients who walked through the place. It wasn’t fair to take her issues with Michael out on Ian.
That didn’t mean she had to like it. With a curt nod, she initialed the stupid box.
“Excellent, Ms. Lane,” he said, drawing out the first syllable of the sentence and rubbing his hands together, looking perfectly diabolical.
“Something
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