With Caution

involved.
    Jake cocked his head. “I think you need to tell me more, but yeah, I can do that.”

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    J.L. Langley
    Remi relaxed, feeling better now that he had started thinking of a plan. He had no idea how he was going to come up with the dough to hire Jake, but he’d figure out something. Keeping Sterling from suffering what Remi had gone through was worth it.
    He stood and Jake stepped back further, but not before Remi got a good whiff of the man. Damn, he smelled raw and masculine and—he was doing it again. If he was going to let Jake help him, he was going to have to rid himself of this infatuation.
    Remi shut the door and tried to hand the glasses back to Jake, but Jake shook his head.
    “Keep them, you may need to put them back on.”
    Nodding, Remi shoved them on top of his head. It was probably a smart idea considering Jake’s nearness always made him go haywire. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to my little brother. You can bring your breakfast over to our table.”
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    With Caution

Chapter Two
    Remi stuffed a bite of pancake in his mouth, trying not to laugh at Jake’s expression.
    The poor man. Sterling had taken to Jake right away. And when Sterling was comfortable around someone… Remi hadn’t seen him this talkative in ages, but Jake seemed to be taking the endless chatter in stride. He wasn’t the least bit annoyed at all the questions.
    “Do you ever do skip tracing?” Leaning forward, Sterling put his elbows on the table.
    “You mean like bounty hunting?” Already nodding, Jake took a drink of his orange juice. “On occasion. Rhys does more of the fugitive recovery than I do.”
    “Who’s Rhys?” Remi frowned. Jake had never mentioned him before. Then again, Remi didn’t know Jake all that well. He’d spent most of the last three full moons with him, but they were in wolf form. It wasn’t real conducive to talking.
    “My business partner. You’ve met him.”
    “I don’t think so.” He had? When? Rhys was an unusual name, surely he’d remember.
    “Three weeks ago, while we were hunting.”
    “Oh.” Well, duh, Rhys was a wolf. How was Remi supposed to know the name of a wolf who had met up with them a few hours before dawn? He was a big black wolf, as were Jake and Chay, hell Remi was too for that matter. They all looked the same. Oh, now that was just bad. Remi burst out laughing, unable to help himself. For a guy who’d seen his share of racism, he should be ashamed of himself.
    Sterling’s head snapped around. “What?”
    Jake grinned, looking confused.
    “Ignore me. I thought of something funny.” Still smiling, Remi shrugged.
    “Uh, you know that’s a sign of mental illness, right?” Sterling taunted.

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    J.L. Langley
    Remi took a drink of his coffee, catching Jake’s gaze over the cup. “Yeah, and it runs in the family.”
    Jake made a hmm sound as he chewed a bite of his omelet. “They say it’s more prominent with each generation.”
    “Yeah, I believe it. It’s characterized by excessive talking.” Remi cut his focus to Sterling, who was seated next to him, and raised his mug for another drink.
    Rolling his eyes, Sterling groaned and bumped Remi’s shoulder with his own.
    Remi laughed, juggling his sloshing coffee. Setting it on the table, he used his napkin to wipe a lukewarm drop off his forearm before flinging the cloth at Sterling.
    Caught off guard, Sterling sputtered and flailed his arms. As soon as he caught the napkin, Jake’s came sailing across the table and landed on his head. “Okay, not fair.”
    Sterling yanked the green cloth off his face, trying to scowl at them. “You guys are teaming up against me. And since when do you go hunting, Remi?” He threw Jake’s napkin back at him. “I wanna go.”
    “Uh.” Shit. Remi blinked. How was he gonna get out of this one?
    After catching the napkin, Jake put it back in his lap. “When do you want to go?
    We’ll take you.”
    Remi didn’t know whether to be grateful or not. Now he was going to have to dodge questions about hunting and when he was going to take Sterling.
    “What do you hunt?” Sterling asked.
    How the hell was Remi to know what season they were in? Was it deer season?
    Duck? Quail? Damn, he had no clue. He’d never gone hunting before with a rifle and stuff. “Duck.”
    “Rabbit,” Jake answered at the exact same time.
    Crap. Remi nearly groaned aloud.
    “Well, which is it?”