AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re just very concerned with us being near each other.” Same.
“Listen—dozens of women I know have been casualties of that particular war.”
My brows clicked together. “I thought he was engaged once? Surely he can be serious.”
“He can be, he just avoids it at all costs. Honestly, Chelsea is probably why. Since her, the only thing he’s been serious about is baseball. God, I hate her. It was so bad, he—” Frowning, she looked around. “Shit, we lost Davis and Henry. Come on.”
My brain exploded with questions as Cass tugged me deeper into the fair, past booths of candles and necklaces and leather goods. Lemonade and pretzels and funnel cakes. My eyes hung on a passerby’s plate and my stomach almost followed them, Remy and his mystery woman forgotten.
“Oh, there they are,” Cass said, relieved as we walked up to an open area where Davis waved back and Henry smiled at me in that way that made me feel like the only woman in the world.
She abandoned me to bound over to Davis, launching herself into his arms. He laughed, leaning back so he could press a long kiss to her lips.
Henry didn’t seem to notice, instead beaming down at me. “Hello, Bits.”
“Hello, Bobs.” I beamed right back like a fool.
“Did the barbarian behave himself last night?” His brows drew together, his smile falling. “I don’t like you staying with him.”
I laughed, savoring the streak of jealously I saw in Henry. Not for cruelty, but because it gave me hope. “You and everyone. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine, and at least now it’s clean. And if he tries anything...well, you know I’m quite capable of defending myself.”
“Sometimes, when I’m having a bad day, I think about that time you nearly snapped a man’s neck in a pub for grabbing Cass’s bum. Classic.” He sighed. “You, I trust. Him, I do not.”
Jealous Henry had my cheeks warm and heart all fluttery. “He’ll be a gentleman, I’m sure,” I lied. “I’ve got nothing on Cass. Just think of what she would do to him if he doesn’t behave.”
At that, laughter burst out of us.
Cass and Davis were busy cooing at each other, so Henry hung his arm on my shoulders and turned me to the fair.
“Well, Bits, it’s your first American fair. What shall we do first?”
I hummed. “I’ve always wanted one of those massive stuffed prizes. Think you could manage?”
“Manage? Darling, I’m a master.” He winked, and I melted into a puddle and died happy. “Come on—let’s start over there.”
We’d stopped right in front of a red dunking booth painted with small black seeds where a little boy was making a valiant attempt at throwing a softball at the target.
Inside of that booth?
A mostly naked Remy.
Suddenly and instantly, all that happiness solidified into a dreadful, lovely sort of heat that lived at the apex of my thighs.
If the sight of his bare, hulking chest wasn’t enough, his thighs were almost completely exposed, thanks to the nearly imperceptible inseam of his swim trunks. And if all that weren’t enough, my eyes met his.
Remy sat on the platform with his hands balled into fists on those thick and taunting thighs, his back slightly curved, hackles up. But it was the violent sort of electricity with which he stared at me under Henry’s arm that left me faint.
I leaned into Henry to keep my balance, and the dark look on Remy’s face went pitch black.
The little boy’s softball hit the booth with a thunk, and Remy let go of the tether he had on me with the shift of his attention. Almost instantly, his face was light as he cheered for the little boy by name, but his sizeable body was tight as a bowstring.
Jealous Remy inspired a completely foreign reaction in me. How I felt angry and proud and spiteful and hot for him baffled me. My ribs weren’t big enough to hold it all—the feelings threatened to crack me open and blast out like fiery confetti.
Remy looked at me with an utterly wicked, slightly unhinged smile on his face.
“Hey, it’s the Duchess,” he shouted. “Has everyone met Her Highness?”
Everything he said was both horribly wrong and unwittingly right.
