By the Tail Read Online Free PDF Page A

accountants tracking down the money and restoring it to the group.”
    “That does look good for him.” Melissa nodded.
    “Well I don’t care,” Stacey said flatly. “The proof is in the doing.” She narrowed her eyes at Joy. “You don’t seem to care about his troublesome history. Fine. I’ll give you this bit of advice though. You want to stay a step ahead of him? Act like you despise him. Men love that.”
    “Seriously?”
    Stacey nodded. “But don’t work your wiles on him. Stay just out of reach, Miss Easy.”
    Joy blinked. “You think I have wiles?”
Oh wow
. Did she? She had the Bermin genes. Men seemed to love her sisters. Maybe she had a buried ability to attract men she’d never known about. She could grab them for sex but never seemed to hold on to her dates after the fact.
    “The point is moot. You can’t have a relationship with him. Remember what he did to me.”
    Joy frowned. “What, exactly?”
    “The man held a knife to my throat and threatened to hurt Miles if I wouldn’t help him. I was devastated. Scared for my life.”
    Joy rolled her eyes. “Please. I should enjoy him for that alone.”
    “Bitch.” Stacey flipped her hair back and gave Joy her infamous death glare, her light blue eyes like lasers.
    “Thanks. Back at ya, Your Highness. Honestly, I don’t know how poor Dean endures you.”
    When Stacey screeched back an insult, Joy fired one back for fun and decided it was past time she returned to Miami. She’d enjoyed keeping one step ahead of Quince, but now she was tired. She wanted to relax, like she had earlier that afternoon.
    Her belly fluttered, and she knew exactly what she needed. Some fun in the sun with Quince to see what the hell was really going on in the pride, and some distance from her
perfect
sisters. Even snarling, Stacey radiated beauty and poise, which was annoying all the way around.
    Melissa and Amy exchanged sympathetic looks while Joy finished packing up to go home. When Dean entered on the end of Stacey’s diatribe about how much she’d given to the poor backwoods people of Cougar Falls while Joy went off to God-knew-where, he took one look at his mate, one look at the rest of them, and advanced.
    “And then I—Dean? What are you doing?” Stacey gasped when he yanked her to him and hefted her over his shoulder. But it didn’t take her long to start swearing like a sailor.
    He turned to wink at Joy. “Good luck. Allow me to translate for your sneering sister. ‘Keep your legs closed, you hussy, and think of your poor little sister and what she suffered’ actually means ‘I’m going to really miss you and I love you dearly. But don’t worry about me, because I married the perfect man.’”
    Stacey smacked him on the ass, pushed up off his back and twisted around to be seen. She shoved her hair aside to glare. “And you, you spiky-haired cretin. Big sister or not, I’ll kick your sorry ass all the way to—”
    Joy cut her off. “Yeah, I’ll miss Your Royal Bitchiness too.” To Dean, she gave a kiss on the cheek. “See you, man-whore.”
    He gave her the one-finger salute, chuckled, then turned on his heel with a slap to his mate’s ass and a warning to tone it down. To their surprise, Stacey sputtered then grew silent and flashed them a grin and a wave goodbye.
    Joy and her sisters stared at one another in the sudden silence.
    “Embarrassing,” Amy said.
    “Such a spectacle,” Melissa agreed. She paused, then added, “Especially because she loves when he manhandles her like that.”
    “I don’t even want to think about where he’s taking her and why.” Amy cringed. “Those two have sex on the brain—”
    “Twenty-four seven,” Melissa ended.
    Her little sister and Dean, a more perfect couple Joy couldn’t imagine. “And you all wonder why I want to remain eternally single.” She shook her head and finished packing, alarmed at the excitement she continued to feel whenever she thought of joining Quince again. “Do me a