AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good point,” Evan said, scrubbing a hand over his jaw. “So what are you going to do about her?”
“Do about her?”
Evan grinned. “Figured we’d better get to the point instead of beating around the bush.”
“Do you mean about her coming back to Chicago?”
“Yeah.”
Ryder shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I’m letting it play out for a bit longer.”
Evan narrowed his eyes. “Are you hoping she’ll stay?”
The hope sat in the pit of his stomach. “Yeah.”
Evan shook his head. “I can’t imagine her living in a small town.”
“Why’s that? Everyone loves her, she’s great at the job she’s been hired to do, and she’s having fun.”
“It’s just hard for me to picture.” Evan shot him a sideways glance. “You could move to Chicago.”
“I could,” he said carefully. Although it was premature, he’d entertained the idea. But he had a job that didn’t exactly translate to Chicago PD, and his family was in Revival. And, well, he couldn’t quite get rid of the notion that she was supposed to stay in Revival.
It was like she belonged there, if she’d let herself.
Although maybe that was wishful thinking.
He didn’t want to discuss it further, so he shrugged. “We’re a long way from that.”
Evan chuckled.
Ryder raised a brow. “What?”
“Nothing. It’s nice to be on the other side of this.”
“Side of what?”
“When everyone sees how deep in you are except the two people involved. It hasn’t been too long since I was there. It sucks when you’re in the thick of it, but turns out it’s pretty fucking funny from the other side.”
Ryder sat back and didn’t say anything. He knew he was in the thick of it, but he was pretty sure Sophie wanted no part of that discussion. And he was content to ignore it. Content to show her how good it was between them.
The front door opened and Sophie bounded in, followed by a more poised Penelope, who looked at her friend with a loving exasperation.
Sophie dropped about twenty bags onto the floor before rooting around in the middle of them to come up holding a pink and black bag. She ran over, held it out in front of his face, and said, “Do you understand what I hold in this bag?”
Ryder hadn’t a clue. He sat back on the couch. “Can’t say I do, darlin’.”
She shook the bag, which had tufts of tissue paper sticking out of it. “This is going to rock your world.”
He laughed. “And how’s that?”
She shook it again, her entire face practically glowing with excitement. “The contents of this package come from the best lingerie store known to man. Do you understand?”
“I see.” He grinned at her, loving her enthusiasm.
Evan peered at Penelope. “You don’t happen to have one of those bags as well, do you, Pen?”
She gave him a very prim look and crossed her arms over her chest. “Of course.”
