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    splat several feet in front of them. Luckily they weren’t splashed with the hot liquid. “Oof.” He turned and studied the ground where he’d just walked.
    Dev looked too. There was absolutely nothing there. When he glanced back at Laine’s face it was almost as red as his hair. Dev stifled the urge to laugh. Something told him that he was going to be seeing a lot of such incidents. The man hadn’t been kidding about being a little on the clumsy side.
    Laine grinned sheepishly. “At least I didn’t throw it on someone this time.”
    Dev threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, Lainey, you didn’t.”
    “Oh, yes, I did. Twice actually. The second guy wasn’t nearly as understanding as the lady and her sister from the first time. Now I try to make sure I stay pretty far behind others when I walk.”
    Dev bit his lip to keep from cackling. “You want a drink of my coffee?”
    “Nah. There will probably be some at the shop. Assuming I remembered to buy coffee.” Laine scrunched up his face in thought.
    It was an adorable look, making Dev grin. Caroline was going to love Laine. God, Cole is going to kill me. Laine and Caroline were going to get into so much trouble together. Dev started chuckling again.
    “It’s really not that funny, Dev.” Laine’s cheeks were still pink.
    Dev grabbed his mate’s hand. “It’s not that. I was just thinking you and Caroline are going to love each other. You two are going to keep Cole and I on our toes.”
    Laine’s brow furrowed, his head tilting slightly. “Who are Caroline and Cole?”
    “Cole is my best friend and business partner. Caroline is his mate.” Dev took the last sip of his drink and tossed his empty cup in a nearby trash can without breaking stride.
    Laine started swinging their hands. “What kind of business do you have?”
    Dev halted the momentum, stopping their arms from moving. He didn’t think Laine even realized that he’d started their hands swinging. “We own a construction company.”
    “You’re a contractor?”
    “Yes and no. I am, but we have our own crew that does most of the work. I don’t keep air-conditioning and heating guys or plumbers in employment, we contract out for them. Cole and I oversee the job sites and on occasion, we help out and get our hands dirty too. Cole and I both started out as electricians before we decided to start our own company.”
    “So, you do the electric work?” Laine looked genuinely interested.
    Dev couldn’t help but smile. What a novelty that was. Most men he’d dated could care less about the boring details of his job. They wanted to know one thing, did Dev make a lot of money. Yes, he did and that was why he’d broken it off with the majority of them. Not that there were all that many, most were one-night stands. “No, not usually. We have electricians. Every once in awhile I’ll help out. Cole actually helps out more than I do. Bookkeeping and running the job sites pretty much takes up most of my time.”
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    “Isn’t being an electrician dangerous?” Laine sounded worried.
    Dev shrugged. “No more than anything else I suppose.”
    Laine squeezed Dev’s hand and tried to start their arms swinging again. “Good. I’m not ready to lose you.”
    Dev stiffened his arm, keeping Laine from moving it. “Good because I’m not ready to let you go yet.”
    And he wasn’t. He’d been half afraid that he wouldn’t have a mate. He wasn’t giving Laine up for the world. Dev was already way past attached to him.
    Laine bumped his hip against Dev’s and head-butted Dev’s shoulder with the side of his head. “Good.”
    Laine stopped, turning towards him. “We’re here.”
    Dev looked up at the sign and grinned. “Flower Lane?”
    Laine chuckled. “Grammy named it after me when I was a baby. Kinda cool, huh?”
    “Yeah, real cool. Are you her only grandchild or are you the oldest or something?”
    “I’m the only one. Grammy raised me. My parents died when I was three months old.” When he spoke about his grandmother his whole face lit up. “Actually, I just moved out. I was living with Grammy until last November. I would have moved out sooner, but then we lost my grandpa two years ago and I didn’t want to leave her by herself. You know?