“That’s not… I didn’t—” She blows out a hard breath.
And I decide I might as well strike while the iron’s hot, so to speak. “Oh, yousodid.”
“Since when is asking if a seat’s taken an invitation to fuck?” She kisses the top of James’s head and sets him back down on the rug.
I shrug. “Don’t shoot the messenger, Princess.”
“A lot of words to say you discuss my sex-life with strangers in a bar.” She crosses her arms over her chest.
“You fucking wish.” I force a laugh, because damn if her words don’t hit a little too close to home.
“I’m just saying…” she singsongs.
I start to fire back at her, but I force myself to rein it in with control I, frankly, didn’t know I possessed. The last thing I want to do is ruin Nora’s carefully planned dinner. But Scarlet’s like a siren, only instead of seductively luring me to my death, she incites ill-timed boners and a shit ton of anger. The woman’s a hellacious mix of my every wet dream come to life and walking,talking rage bait. And I’m the idiot that falls for it, hook, line, and sinker. Every. Fucking. Time.
God only knows how many times I’ve jerked off to thoughts of her over the last week. I’m confused, testy, horny, and, honestly, just on fucking edge. Add in worrying over her safety, too, and yeah, I’m a mess and maybe looking for a fight.
“Well don’t,” I huff, sounding like a put-out toddler.
“Can’t stop me.” She’s driving me up the wall, but I can’t deny seeing the spark back in her eyes and hearing the sass in her voice is doing something to me. Which is dumb.
“Swear to god, Scar.”
She brushes past me, not bothering to reply, as she plops down on the couch, finally relaxing. “Everything smells so good, Nora.”
“Kiss ass,” I mutter, like I didn’t say the same thing to Nora when I walked in. But Nora deserves the praise. It took her a while to warm up to cooking after the hell Atlas’s dad put her through, but now that she’s come into her own, she truly is a goddess in the kitchen.
I grab a water from the fridge, chugging down the entire bottle before joining everyone in the living room.
For some reason, my vision lasers in on Scarlet. She’s made herself comfy inmychair with James in her lap. But the icing on the cake, so to speak, is the way knowing smirk curls her lush lips.
“He’s getting so big,” she marvels, holding my dude out in front of her, smiling at him like he’s the best thing she’s ever seen, while he uses her lap like a trampoline
“Growing like a weed,” Nora agrees, nearly glowing with how big she’s smiling. Motherhood looks damn good on my friend.
At least Atlas is on my side when it comes to Scarlet. He’s polite for Nora’s sake, but his dislike for her greatly outweighs my own.
Maybe that’s why I lied to him about what happened when we watched James. God knows, he’d lose his mind if he knew Scarlet’s stalker followed her here.
“Comfy, Princess?” I ask, slumping into the spare seat.
“Very.” She swivels the overstuffed recliner my way. “You’resosweet to ask.”
Nora shoots Atlas a knowing look, but he shakes his head.
“How much longer until dinner’s ready?” I ask.
“About five more minutes,” Nora says, snapping me back to the present. “I pulled the lasagna out right before you walked in, so it is just about done resting.”
“Thank fuck, I’m starving.”
“C’mon.” Nora rolls her eyes as she stands. “Let’s start making plates.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” I’m up on my feet and trailing after her like she’s the pied piper.
Once were all gathered around the table with our plates piled high, Nora turns to Scarlet. “So, whatever happened with those notes you were getting?”
Be cool, be cool, be cool,I chant internally as Scarlet’s gaze clashes with mine. Her big, dark eyes are blown wide with panic, and I know if I don’t do something she’s going to rat us both out to Atlas and Nora, and they’ll know we lied to them.
