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smiled so big his face hurt, just thinking about Dev. “Grammy, he’s gorgeous. Tall, dark and handsome. Real tall, he’s six-foot-six. His shoulders are sooo wide.” Laine shivered at the thought. “He owns his own construction company, Grammy. His name is Devlin and he’s from Texas. And he’s really nice. He rescued me from Victor and his goons.”
    Grammy groaned into the phone. “Lainey, what were you doing with Victor and those ruffians?”
    Laine’s excitement faded just a little. It was an old argument between he and Grammy. She couldn’t understand why he had anything to do with Victor. “Grammy, I can’t really avoid them. Victor is my Alpha, I sort of have to listen to him.”
    “Your grandfather would have never put up with that nonsense, and you shouldn’t either.”
    Laine sighed. “Grammy, I’m not as strong as Pappy was. But Dev is. He’s not going to let Victor pick on me anymore.” Maybe that would help.
    “Then I like him already. When do I get to meet this young man?”
    “How about tonight? Dev wants to take us to dinner so he can meet you.”
    “He sounds like a thoughtful young man. And of course I’d love to meet him, dear. What is his last name, again? You know I used to know some wolves in Texas, maybe—”
    His last name? Oh man. He had no idea what Dev’s last name was. How embarrassing. “Uh, Grammy, Texas is huge. You don’t know any of Dev’s kin. He’s from around Dallas. Everyone you know in Texas is from Beaumont.”
    “Well, I guess we’ll find out tonight. Where should I meet you?”
    “We can come pick you up around seven.”
    “Are you driving?” she asked hesitantly.
    “Grammy, I haven’t had a wreck in close to four months.”
    She scoffed.
    Laine sighed. “Dev will drive. We’ll pick you up.”
    “In that case, I’ll see you around seven. I love you, Lainey.”
    “Love you too, Grammy.”
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    * * *

    Laine managed to get one of Mrs. Barker’s arrangements done and was about to start on the other one, but he couldn’t hold out any longer. He had to call Dev. He put down his shears and floral tape and bounded to the wall phone by the door. He dialed Dev’s cell number, which he’d already memorized, and leaned against the wall next to the phone.
    “Hello?”
    Laine shivered at the smooth, sexy drawl. He could probably get off just listening to Dev talk. Hmmm?
    “Dev?” Laine asked hesitantly.
    “Yes, Lainey?” Dev sounded happy.
    Laine looped the coils in the cord around his finger, undid it and coiled it again. “Uh, this is going to sound really stupid, but what’s your last name?”
    “It’s Johns. What’s yours?”
    “Campbell.” Lord, that voice was sultry. Laine pushed away from the wall, turning to glance around the room. Maybe he could lock the door and have Dev talk dirty to him.
    “Lainey, I think I found a great place to build a house. I’ll take you to see it after dinner tonight.”
    Oh! Dev wanted him to see where he was going to build his home. “Sure. I’d love to see it.”
    “If you like it, we can put a bid on it and then start talking to architects. Be thinking about what you want in a house.”
    Laine twirled around, barely holding in a gleeful squeal. Dev wanted his help. “You mean you want me to help design it?”
    “It’s going to be your house too, Lainey.”
    Laine turned, doing a little happy dance. He didn’t even try to keep the giggle in this time.
    Dev chuckled. “What about your grandmother? Is she going to have dinner with us tonight?”
    “Yup. Grammy says dinner would be lovely. She’s really excited to meet you. That’s what got me thinking about your last name. Grammy wanted to know what it was. I felt like a real doofus not knowing. I mean it seems like something we should know, yeah? Hey, how’s your meeting going? Did you like the office building on the inside as much as you did the outside?”
    “I’m still looking, but so far so good. I think the office building is going to work, I just need to check out a few more things in it.”
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    “Oh. Am I bugging you? Oof.” Laine was walking—okay spinning—around and the next thing he knew, he was smashed up against the wall by the phone. “Shoot.”
    “Lainey?”
    “Yeah, I’m here.” He looked down at the cord pulled tight across his chest. How