AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Tootles.” Her lips smack as she blows a kiss into the phone. “Love you back.”
And then she clicks off and I’m left to hurry to get myself ready for a night with Nick’s friend and his wife. I’m nervous as hell, but at least I’ll have some time to figure out what I’m doing with Nick.
ChapterTwenty
Sadie
Trevor and Allie arrive with another man. He stands behind the couple, wisps of golden blonde hair peeking out from beneath a chocolate brown hat pulled low over his ears. Stubble, a slightly darker shade than his hair, grows thick on a square jaw. The man is as tall as Nick, and since Trevor is a few inches shorter, and the man is standing between and behind the couple, I can see that his eyes are an interesting shade of blue-gray, like a storm cloud. They’re also friendly and open, like you could talk to him about anything, and he’d never cast a single stone of judgement. He can’t be older than thirty-five, but he already has laugh lines around those friendly eyes, so I know he likes humor and probably finds something to laugh about in most any situation. And the tip of his head as he regards me, the flash of something mischievous in those blue-gray eyes says he’s playful in a way that Nick isn’t.
I also know that this man isn’t Trevor, because Trevor is holding the hand of a stunning woman with jet black hair that is straight as a needle and long enough to reach the waistband of her jeans. Like the two men, she’s sporting a toque, but it’s not a boring flat color. Hers is patterned red, black, brown and white with tiny pops of green, and when she smiles, her teeth are white and straight. Her dark eyes take me in as her smile widens, and I can’t help but notice she’s striking. Really striking.
My eyes slide to the man I suspect is Trevor, and I find that he’s also attractive. His toque hides his hair—allof his hair—so I figure that if he has any it’s cut short. And since he’s clean shaven, I can see that he also has a striking jawline, and a full mouth. Although he’s not as tall as Nick and the other man, he’s still tall—and he towers over me and his wife. His eyes are also friendly, but not as open as the other man’s.
My eyes slide over Trevor to the man I hadn’t been expecting, to find that his eyes are fixed on me. A nervous twitch attacks my heart, and I feel my cheeks redden. The man sees it and his confident grin stretches even wider.
I can’t help but compare this golden man to the dark, scarred one beside me. They’re both tall, both built wide and thick, and they’re both incredibly handsome. But I feel nothing for the golden man. The first time I set eyes on Nick, I’d felt breathless andaffected. I’d excused the feeling to the insanity of the situation and dismissed it as that. But as the days go on, the pull I feel towards Nick only grows stronger. For this golden man, I feel nothing.
Katie says Nick isn't special, but what if he is? What if he's the special I've been waiting for my entire life?
I shake the thought from my head as the third man moves around Trevor to give Nick a manly clap on the back. His tone is light. His smile wide as he greets, “Hey, man. Long time.”
“Not that long,” Nick grunts. “Saw you just last week.”
The man’s smile doesn't waver. “Like I said, long time.”
“What are you doing here, Will?” Nick asks. His tone is rather unfriendly, and my eyes are big as they sweep to him becauserude!
Will shakes off Nick’s brutal rudeness with an ease that says he does it a lot. “I was getting myself a pizza, going to have a lazy night, kick up my feet, maybe throw on a movie. But I ran into Trevor, here. I figured I'd add my pizza to yours and join in the fun.”
“Figured you join us, did you?” Nick shakes his head. He doesn’t look pleased by this new addition, even though I can sense that these two men are friends.
I don’t figure Nick allows just anyone pat him on the back the way Will did. And I don’t figure just anyone feels comfortable stepping into Nick's home as Will had, like he’s been here a lot. Like he’s welcome here.
Will throws his arms wide as he tosses his weight back a step. “Well, when Allie said that you have a cat—and a woman—” Will’s eyes slide to me and linger, moving up and then down and back up again. “I had to see it all for myself.” He slides his tongue over his bottom lip and Nick stiffens beside me. “Pretty little thing, aren’t you?”
I open my mouth to reply, but Nick shifts and I feel his arm move around me, his fingers curling around the small of my waist to tug me firmly, possessively, into his side.
My heart jolts in my chest as Will continues poking the bear. “I thought Allie was shitting me but when she insisted and Trevor collaborated her story, well,” he gives his arms another toss. “I just had to see for myself the woman you had trapped up on this mountain with you.”
“Trapped?” I blink. “I’m not trapped.”
“No?” Will cocks his head, brow raised. “Then how’d he get you up here?”
“He—”
Nick cuts me off with a rough, “Enough.”
“I’m just making conversation,” Will defends with a devilish wink that tells me he knows exactly how he’s stirring the pot. “We’re all wondering.”
“He’s right, we are all wondering.” Allie steps inside the house, followed quickly by Trevor.
“Yeah. It’s been years since you’ve had a woman here.” Trevor nods his head toward Allie. “Apart from Allie.”
“I just figured you’d finally cracked and were holding this one up here in your mountain fortress,” Will teases. “Though, seeing her now, I can’t say I’d blame you.” He tosses me another suggestive wink and adds, “I’d hold her captive too.”
“Knock it off,” Nick barks, and his grip on my waist becomes more intense. “She’s no one’s captive.”
I nod, but I’m too stunned by the conversation to speak.What in the actual insane-land have I fallen into?
