“I’ve known you a long time, and it just kind of seems like you’re going the extra mile after already going an extra mile.” She shrugged. “I have to figure that Sloane must be okay to be around because, even to us, you haven’t complained about her at all. Just Ms. Peggy, Roger, and cheap painter’s tape. She must be something special, is all I’m saying.”

Brady neither confirmed nor denied that sentiment. “She’s a means to an end and vice versa,” he said. “It’s nothing but business between us.”

Well, and the brief but hot make-out session you had with her a few hours ago. In private. Which was in no way a part of your plan.

Santana didn’t look convinced. Brady waved the pad of paper in his hand at her.

“You’re borrowing trouble when we should be focusing on the task at hand.” He thumped the pad back onto the bar top, then made a show of looking out at the main room. “We’re about to go from under capacity to over at this party. If we’re lucky. That means we need to make sure we have everything stocked, ordered, and problem-solved by then. No more focusing on how I’m, apparently, usually a dick to women in need.”

Dixon laughed, but Santana raised her eyebrow at him.

“Everything you just said was a deflection. I hope you realize that.”

Brady rolled his eyes. “Deflection or not, if Sloane and the Robertsons manage to deliver a crowd to us, we need to make sure we’re ready for them.”

No one argued that. They spent the rest of the night looking over supplies, checking on pending orders, and brainstorming what they might need that they hadn’t thought about yet. The pad of paper filled up, and by the time Brady and Dixon left for the apartment hours later, it felt like they had had a productive time of it. Even outside their front door, Dixon was still in planning mode.

“Toilet paper,” he said, leaning against the wall while Brady fished out the key. “We need to make sure we have a lot of it. And plungers. And…tampons?”

Brady passed him a questioning look. “Tampons? But we don’t have a tampon dispenser to fill.”

“Maybe we can get a little basket or something to put on the counter. We can buy different kinds and make it all look really nice. Give the ladies some options while they party if they need them. I bet The Drinking Spot doesn’t do that.”

“The Drinking Spot has brand-spanking-new bathrooms. ‘Modern chic’ is what Santana described it as. I don’t think an assortment of tampons in a wicker basket is going to really impress anyone.”