Page 56 of Frost and Venom

“None of us are that nice,” Raine said. “Well, maybe Harlow.”

Harlow scowled at her. “I am not going to be the nice one. Sheesh. Raine is nice.”

Laughter burst from the other women in the room, all but Guadalupe, who nodded in agreement. She looked around at the other women and then shook her head. “What do you know about Raine that I don’t?”

Guadalupe seemed to be very comfortable with the women, no matter the subject. She fit. Harlow found herself really studying the realtor. She was smooth. Likable. Every expression was perfect for whatever the rest of the room was feeling. The realization came to Harlow—Guadalupe was exactly the way Harlow had been growing up. The way she most likely was now. She was an actress. A superb one. She could read a room and act accordingly. Guadalupe was exactly the same. She was acting. Those sweet expressions, even her inviting laughter—it was all an illusion. The realtor was such a good actress that it was impossible not to believe her, and yet, now that Harlow had become aware of Guadalupe’s true abilities, she questioned everything she knew about the woman.

“Raine’s a human weapon,” Stella said. “And she’s pretty accurate with weaponry as well.”

Raine lifted an eyebrow. “ ‘Pretty accurate’? That’s insulting.”

The women laughed, and Zahra began moaning, orgasmic moaning, signaling she’d taken a bite of Shabina’s dessert. That caused another round of laughter.

Guadalupe shook her head, laughing right along with them. “I had no idea you girls were so hilarious.”

Harlow did her best to stay in the moment and not speculate on whether Guadalupe was the woman her father had gotten pregnant and then sent away. More and more, Harlow believed she was that young girl. A part of her wanted to beg Guadalupe to tell her what had happened with her brother. Had he died in childbirth? Had the cartel insisted she get rid of him? Had he been sold off for adoption? Was he alive? Did she have a sibling somewhere in the world who might want to know he had someone as well?

“It’s Shabina’s food,” Vienna pointed out. “It makes us all giddy.” She waved her fork in the air. “And then we remember we’re going to have to run for miles to counter the calories.”

Zahra let out another dramatic groan. “Even I would make the sacrifice of running in order to eat this,” she admitted. “Shabina, you outdid yourself.”

Shabina smiled at them. “You always make me feel happy when you like the food I prepare.”

Zahra sent her a smile, sweet and loving. “It’s your love language. No one says I love you like you do with food.”

“Don’t let Rainier hear you say that,” Stella said. “Her café is very popular. Men come from all over the world and eat there.” She turned her attention to Guadalupe. “She gets marriage proposals all the time. And I mean nearly daily.”

“Is that true, Shabina?” Guadalupe asked, wide-eyed and clearly shocked.

“Well, yeah,” Shabina admitted with obvious reluctance.

Harlow was proud that she didn’t look toward any of the hidden cameras when she said this. She rarely mentioned to Rainier the male attention she received at the café unless someone took it too far. He, Wilder and Rush had no doubt heard every word of their present conversation.

“Don’t they know you’re with Rainier?” Guadalupe asked.

That brought on another round of laughter. Guadalupe grinned at them and took another bite of the dessert. The expression on her face changed from that smooth, polished look to sheer bliss. She caught them all grinning at her. “Okay, okay, I surrender. I’m going to ask Shabina to marry me.”

“Get in line,” Raine said.

Shabina laughed, but color had stolen into her face. “Thank you. All of you. I do love to cook and bake. Much more than I love running.”

“Hear, hear, sister,” Zahra said.

It was Stella who circled them back to their excuse for asking Guadalupe to join them. “We’ve been looking at a particular property for some time. It has two amazing boulders on it, no house, but a barn Harlow considers historic. I think it has quite a few acres to it. No one has done anything with the place in years. We’re hoping the owner might sell. We’d need to know about the water and whether we would be able to get a permit to build. We thought we could put a really nice house with multiple bedrooms on it so we can meet up to boulder. It’s not quite at the halfway mark between my resort and Knightly, but we think it would be really nice to have a place we can meet and climb.”

Guadalupe immediately pulled her tablet from her purse, all business. She asked pertinent questions, raised her eyebrows at the address, and shook her head. “That property has never come up for sale since I’ve been working in this area. I’ll do some digging and find out who owns it. Often, the property is inherited, and the family just hangs on to it but has no idea what it entails. I’ll look to make certain the taxes have been kept up as well.”

“Water is important,” Stella reiterated. “If there is no water available, that would halt everything. Also, how difficult it is to get permits. I have firsthand experience with that. It’s a great location, so we could go solar and save money.”

“The boulders are the best,” Raine added.

“Lots of snakes,” Zahra pointed out. When they all glared at her, she shrugged, unfazed. “Just keeping it real. There are snakes and probably coyotes and bears and mountain lions. No one has lived there in decades. I’m not sure anyone ever did, which means they have more sense than the bunch of us.”

“I can see you’re fully on board, Zahra,” Guadalupe said.

“As always,” Zahra agreed. “I am the voice of reason in this group of wild ones.” Her tone carried the slightly haughty, slightly superior note that was all Zahra.

Laughter burst from all the women. “Because she’s not wild,” Stella said.